There Is More Than One Way To Deal With Pain And Disability
Longfellow accurately spoke of the human condition with the following words:
“Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.”
Such thoughts are surely part of the mental landscape of those suffering from chronic pain and longterm disability. It is never fair, never easy, and there is never a good time for it. Nor are you ever really ready for it. Disability just happens. One day you are the homecoming queen; the next day you are permanently in a wheelchair and lucky to be alive.
While it may feel like your life is over, whether you are the homecoming queen in your teens or an octogenarian, you do have options. Here are a few that can help you deal with your new reality.
Technology For Getting You Back Into The Game
Your own two feet are a great mode of transportation, but they are not the only way for you to get around. We can all suffer the temporary or permanent lack of mobility at any time. That can be particularly inconvenient when you live in a house with stairs.
That does not mean you have to relocate your bedroom to the downstairs floor. You can climb the stairs using technologies like a stair lift system, which enables a semi-mobile person to continue enjoying their home as before with only a slight modification to the stairwell.
For those with less outdoor mobility, power chairs have come a long way. They are smaller, lighter, easier to get in and out of cars, and have longer-lasting batteries. Going out for a stroll easily converts to going out for a roll. Dealing with a disability by using technology to reclaim your life is one of the best options available. And it only gets better as technology advances.
Natural Remedies
The easiest way to control pain is via powerful prescription drugs. Unfortunately, every one of those drugs has powerful side effects that can decrease the quality and quantity of your life almost as much as the pain. Herbal allies for pain relief also exist and some are quite effective. This is not about fad cures and quasi-religious healings based on pseudoscience. It is about tested wisdom and new discoveries about plants and herbs that have beneficial health implications.
Before medicine goes out of a store with a label, it often starts out in the jungle, but even common plants like peppermint and lime are natural healing powerhouses. If your pain is motivating you to look for alternative and safe avenues of relief, they are readily available in the herbal world. Check online, read books, and take herbal classes.
Increasing Tolerance
Our bodies have the amazing property of being able to increase tolerance for pain over time. Your broken arm hurts less today, not because it is less broken, but because you have increased tolerance for the pain than you did at the initial injury. Prevention magazine offers 5 pain-relieving yoga poses as a starter for exploring ways of using your body to relieve pain.
When rain falls in your life in the form of pain, reach for technology, natural remedies, and mind-body techniques to fight back. Prescriptions are not the only way to deal with pain and disability.
Ashley Andrews is a San Diego-based freelance writer who blogs on a wide range of green living, business, health and technology topics.
See also:
Balance Your Body To Relieve Pain
Kick Pain To The Curb Through Detoxification
