Banish Pain ©Deborah Barr

Are you suffering with chronic pain?  Is it affecting the quality of your life?  Side effects from long term use of pharmaceuticals can compromise your health in many ways.  Some of those effects include gastrointestinal bleeding, heart attack, high blood pressure, rebound headaches, cartilage destruction, liver toxicity, skin reactions, stroke, and more.

There are safe, effective solutions that do not cause more health issues.  I have helped many, many people reverse pain problems using professional herbal medicine, nutritional therapy, attitudinal healing (unresolved negative emotions translate into physical pain eventually), and shiatsu therapy.

Most people fail to recognize the profound effect food has on all aspects of health, including the health of joints, tendons, muscles and bones.  Nutritional Healing is not the same thing for each individual.  What heals one can hurt another.  The truth is, there are no good or bad foods-only cause and effect.  Are your food choices causing the effects you want?

Because we are in the midst of winter, this article focuses on pain conditions that are the consequence of cold patterns in the body.  Cold patterns can elicit arthritis pain in hands, arms, feet, knees, lower back and shoulders; and a stiff, inflexible body.

Other signs of cold patterns are: aversion to cold, craving warmth and warm foods, pale complexion, cold limbs, poor circulation, fatigue, mental lethargy, lack of sexual desire, irregular menses, clear vaginal discharge, sterility, impotence, frequent urination, incontinence, clear urine, inability to urinate, edema, asthma, and impairment of hearing and eyesight.

What causes cold patterns?

Ø  Too much fruit, salad and raw food;

Ø  Icy cold foods and beverages, including ice water;

Ø  Yogurt and Milk—cold, soft cow’s milk products;

Ø  Excessive use of salt;

Ø  Too few warming foods;

Ø  A weak, unhealthy vegetarian diet;

Ø  Lack of exercise;

Ø  Excessive fear, insecurity, and/or isolation.

This is not a comprehensive list of causes.  Keep in mind that seasonal factors have a strong influence on your health.  Living in a bitterly cold climate and eating a lot of the above foods will put you out of balance in many ways, including cold pain problems. 

If you live in a climate with cold winters it is necessary that the blood be thicker as the weather grows cold; consciously preparing for this change can help make the winter a time of beauty and comfort instead of a time to dread.  This process comes in part by knowing how to choose and prepare food according to the seasons.  Generally, you need warming foods, longer cooking times, a little more fat, and some warming spices.  Even if you have cold symptoms in a warm climate, you should still emphasize warming foods.

Traditional Chinese Medicine views coldness as the yin principle associated with the water element, kidneys, and winter. Your pain may be the result of cold kidneys which causes poor circulation of blood and energy, weak adrenals, anemia, and arthritis. Your kidneys generate warmth and energy to all systems of the body.

Your organs and bodily systems need nourishment and warmth.  Stoking your body’s warming element will add fuel to your bones and joints, making them stronger.

Warming solutions for cold-type pain

Ø  Balanced intake of good quality unrefined sea salt and other minerals from food will improve bone and joint health; click here for article on balanced use of salt

Ø  Herring and mussels can relieve cold-type pain;

Ø  Small amounts of anchovies used as a condiment a few times a week;

Ø  Homemade soup with bones, tendons, animal components from butcher shop or a health food store like Whole Foods will give nutrition to bones and joints.  Use chicken or beef and buy drug-free animal products.  Add lots of vegetables, bay leaf, and a small piece of kombu; 

Ø  Roasted Winter Vegetables – click here for recipe;

Ø  Zesty Split Pea Soup (if you don’t like split peas, substitute lentils) click here for recipe;

Ø  Use dried ginger powder regularly in tea and in cooking;

Ø  Use these culinary herbs and spices regularly:  cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, garlic, ginger, rosemary, turmeric, black pepper, crushed red pepper, horseradish, and mustard seeds;

Ø  Eat oats cooked with cinnamon, a pinch of ginger, and a pinch of unrefined sea salt often.  Cook real oats rather than the instant, microwaved variety.

Lifestyle Factors for Reducing Pain

Ø  Go to bed early and get plenty of sleep.  You need more in the winter;

Ø  Keep warm, especially lower back, legs, and abdomen;

Ø  Get deep massage or other therapies for releasing subconscious, hidden emotions;

Ø  Slow down; relax and reflect;

Ø  Learn and practice deep, diaphragmatic breathing;

Ø  Don’t let your exercise habits hibernate. Yoga and Tai Chi are excellent forms of exercise that encourage deep breathing and healthy circulation.

Ø  Brisk walking is beneficial in every season and helps circulation and joint health.

Herbal Supplements for Eliminating Pain

There are many safe and effective herbs and supplements for treating pain.  I’ve listed a few of them on my website.  You can click here to learn about them.  I don’t list many of them since proper TCM diagnosis and treatment protocol by a practitioner knowledgeable in Traditional Chinese Medicine is essential to the effective use of herbal products.

I recommend you schedule a consultation to determine the best herbs and supplements for your unique condition.  Call 412.361.8600 or send an email to Deborah@wholehealthresources.com to schedule.  You’ll save yourself a lot of time and money by doing so.  Surfing the internet and buying the popular product of the day is costly, time-consuming, and ineffective at best; harmful, at worst.

Pain can be the result of heat, dampness, liver stagnation, certain digestive disorders, some immune issues, and other factors.  I invite you to join me on January 30 for my Pain Treatments Naturally Teleclass.  You’ll learn to assess your condition and the causes of your pain, and receive a wealth of effective solutions.  Click here for details.

I know you’d like a simple quick fix.  I believe what you really want is to remove the degenerations that are causing pain, and rebuild the health of bones, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments. Think about it.  Do you want band-aid, short-lived relief, or a plan that works to regenerate your health, end pain, and yield permanent results?

Your response to holistic and natural medicine is individual and relative to other factors, including your personal psychological make-up, constitutional strengths and weaknesses, all health conditions, emotional state, age, activity level, lifestyle, and more.  It’s important to be flexible when treating pain and to know when to switch gears and refine the methods you are using.

Learn to be proactive in your health care.  This does not mean stop seeing your physician or eliminating your medications.  It means educating yourself and learning about your body and personal imbalances from a holistic perspective.  If it makes sense to you, then begin to implement gradual changes.  You can get to anywhere that you want to be.  Small, consistent changes will get you there.

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Call 412.361.8600 to schedule a 30-minute consultation/evaluation and save over 50%--regularly $75; for a limited time only $35.   Wouldn't you like to create a plan for reversing these and other health conditions in safe, effective ways?  Sessions can be done by phone or in my Pittsburgh office.

©Deborah Barr, 2000-10.  All rights reserved.