If you suffer from chronic pain you know how difficult life can be. Daily pain takes a toll on you not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. You are likely desperate to find chronic pain solutions that work. Depending on the cause of your pain you may have undergone surgery, steroid or other injections, physical therapy and pain killers including opioids. You may have had varying levels of success with these, but often the pain remains. Many people have resigned themselves to a diet of pain killers to at least knock down the pain to a livable level.

However, pain killers have many undesirable side effects. NSAIDS can cause GI damage, liver damage, kidney damage when used long term. They also may have limited ability to handle severe pain. In this case many people turn to opiods. As we all know this can lead to dependence and the potential for abuse. Other concerning side effects of opioids are constipation, depression, suppression of the respiratory function.

With the current opioid crisis many doctors are limiting access to these pain killers or even weaning patients from the medications they counted on for years to control their pain.

What can a pain sufferer do? It is indeed a difficult and concerning question.

It isn’t easy talking about pain because each person’s pain is unique. Each person experiences pain in a different way. There really is no one size fits all solution and it often requires some experimentation to find a solution that fits an individual. Pain specialists can often help, especially if they are willing to listen to the patient and work with the the way they experience the pain.

As an acupuncturist I have often found that pain patients experience relief with acupuncture treatments, even sometimes when other methods haven’t given relief. For chronic pain a regular schedule of acupuncture treatments over time can help retrain the way the body experiences pain. It can help to regulate the pain pathways and how your brain controls and modulates how you experience pain. In other words, it can help to change and reduce the pain you experience. An increasing number of scientific studies support the fact that acupuncture for chronic pain is effective.

If you are a chronic pain sufferer, acupuncture may vary well be one of your chronic pain solutions. It is a viable alternative to other methods of pain control. Particularly in light of the opioid crisis, acupuncture is a safe choice for many people.