THE MAGICAL TIN FOIL CURE FOR PAIN

I'll admit.

I can be a tad gullible.

But this?

No way.

For those of us who have been lucky enough to have been inducted in the Chronic Pain Hall of Fame, I have stumbled upon a treatment that is easy, inexpensive and "WORKS!"

Can't you just feel the sarcasm?

This treatment involves isolating the painful point on your body and then covering it with tin foil. You should cover the painful point and keep it there all day and night for 12 days. Then take a break for ten days and repeat as necessary.

The tin foil has an anti-inflammatory effect. 

Really?

Now, I didn't find a lot of information about this and I'm not surprised. Let's look at this logically. We would have to make ourselves into the modern day mummy and totally wrap our entire bodies in foil. Most of us can't isolate a few spots that have pain. That fact alone makes this "treatment" unrealistic. Can't you just see wrapping yourself in foil from head to toe??

When I was sixteen someone told me that I could evade radar if I put tin foil in my hubcaps. So, what did I do?  I stuffed my hubcaps with the stuff and took off down the street. Speed limit? What speed limit?

Everything went well until I heard the sirens and saw flashing lights do a u-turn in my rear view mirror. Well, I did what any sixteen year old would do. I took off down the streets. To my credit, I lost the cops. I was lucky enough to find a detached garage with the door open. My niece and I hid in there until we were sure the danger had passed. 

Very slowly, I made my way home.

I just forgot ONE, TEENSY-WEENSIE little fact. My father had put my name on a personalized license plate. Fortunately, back then, Las Vegas was kind of like the wild west. By the time I got home the cops had already filled in my dad. Trust me, I would have preferred dealing with the police than my father.

I lost my keys and got grounded.

Last time I believed that tin foil could be the answer to my problems.

I can't believe I fell for it the first time.

So when I saw this.....

ask me if I believed it.

NOT A CHANCE.

The tin foil cure

TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE

Now I've heard it all.
And I'm shaking my head.
Unbelievable.

Has anyone heard about the Bee Sting Therapy? Now, I know we'll try a lot of things hoping to relieve the pain of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. I know that I'd probably wash my face in sewer water if it would help. There are many weird and alternative therapies that I'd try in hopes that the pain would say bye-bye.

But not in a million years would I try this.

What mastermind came up with this? 

Okay, let me get this straight. In a body that already has neurological pain issues, we are going to add to the mix, a bee placed on strategic points and let that lovely little creature sting us. Now, I don't know about you, but even before all of this chronic illness mess hit me, I would absolutely flip out before I'd let a bee sting me. Now that the pain thresholds are lowered, can you imagine how that would feel? What possible good could come from this?

I'd call whoever thought of this a Mensa candidate but sub-moron is too high for this group.

I wonder what these geniuses charge for this kind of therapy? Well, I googled it. One place had a deal. I could get acupuncture and apitherapy for an hour for $120 and other sites going as high as $500. Now, to be fair apitherapy uses bee products (all kinds) to treat medical conditions. Bee venom therapy is a part of that kind of therapy. I'll agree on some of the products but letting a bee sting me?

Not only no, but hell no.

There is another question that I need answered. This therapy states that the bee venom therapy is getting stung by bees in a "controlled setting." Can you tell me how that is going to be achieved? How can you possibly control bees? It must be that the bee stings trigger the bodies anti-inflammatory response. These people think that the bee stings will get your immune system up and running and fight the Fibromyalgia. I can't even type this with a straight face. I guess doctors have come out against this therapy because one of the little, tiny, very small, minor drawbacks is that too many bee stings can cause bodily harm and even death.

Sounds like anaphylactic shock to me. 

What a winner!

I guess you get anywhere from 20-40 stings per sessions and you do this three times a week. I also read that it's used for depression as well. Don't even get me started on that one! Nothing like getting over depression by letting bees sting your body. Can you even imagine the pain? Can you imagine the pain you're in by the time you hit 40 stings? I guess the disclosures state that there could be some "discomfort" from the stings. 


I think I'd rather have a massage.

I read that a study was done and the symptoms, believe it or not, GOT WORSE. Gee, ya think? The cost must be pretty high because people are ordering bees and administering the therapy themselves. (stupid)

I think it goes without saying that insurance won't cover this.

Also, there could be a minor issue (death) if you're allergic to bees.

Is this what they mean by the bees knees??

JAGGED LITTLE PILL

Pills.

Supplements.

This is what I feel I'm made of.

Just one more.

Maybe the next one will do the trick.

I feel like all I do is take pills. When I wake up in the morning I take pills and when I go to sleep at night I take pills. It doesn't matter that they are all prescribed or supplements. It's just more pills than I can handle.

Where do I start? Well, let's start with the thyroid medication in the morning. Before the car accident I went to the neurologist because my hands were cold and tingling. The neurologist wanted me to get an MRI to rule out neurological problems that could cause those symptoms. It turns out that it was my thyroid. And I was hypothyroid with a vengeance. I thought that once I started the medication I'd lose weight. It didn't matter to me in the slightest that the tingling and coldness in my hands went away. All I cared was the weight that I couldn't seem to lose would come off once I started the medication. Maybe I'm naive but if the weight stays because your thyroid is off balance it stands to reason, at least in my mind, that once it's regulated the weight would come off. I still don't get it.

After that, the supplements are taken en-mass. The alphabet vitamins. The A,B,C,D and E.,  DHEA, CoQ10, multi-vitamins are gulped down with a protein drink. Every morning I look at those and just wonder if I can swallow them again. Pain medication is taken so the stiffness and pain that comes in the morning can be tolerated. You know what's funny? I have been asked why the strength of the pain medication that I've been taking for years is the same. That is a really easy question for me to answer. I've always been afraid of the amount of medication that I'd have to take to get rid of the pain.  I don't want to be zonked out and a zombie. It's just not a good place to be so I've resisted upping the strength of the pain medication. It's a double edged sword.  It's almost implying that if I'm on the same strength the pain must be the same and that's not it at all. It's fear plain and simple. Well, let's keep going on.............

Then comes the morning coffee. Or some semblance thereof. My coffee is mostly vanilla powder and sweet and low mixed with a little bit of coffee. My daughter shudders when she watches me make my "coffee." 

Do the supplements work? I don't notice any difference but, funnily enough, I am a little afraid to stop taking them. After all of the pill taking I massage Topricin in my hands and feet. Believe it or not, this is what it takes to get moving in the morning. 


If you haven't tried Topricin you should. It's a homeopathic cream for pain. I got it a Whole Foods but you can also buy it online. I've included the link so just click on the name and you can read all about it. Topricin recently received a patent for the treatment of Fibromyalgia pain. It's an amazing product and it really seems to help.


By the time the evening arrives it's time for the last round of medication. The evening includes magnesium, pain medication and muscle relaxers. I try to get through the day without loading up on the muscle relaxers but that depends on the severity of the muscle spasms. Then I start the ritual for sleep. This involves lavender aromatherapy and pillow spray. Lavender vanilla cream is massaged into my arms and then I take Mid Nites. They are melatonin melt away pills that help me relax and drift off into sleep. 


Well, do they really?  


I still have a problem sleeping. I can sleep for a few hours and then I'm up. Where I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat before.......well, there are a lot of things that I used to do BEFORE.....


Before what you ask?


Before Fibromyalgia.
Before the car accident.
Just before. B-4??


Bingo.

ALTERNATIVE METHODS TO MANAGING PAIN

Today is a departure from my usual posts.

I have a guest.

Welcome Eric Stevenson!

Alternative Methods for Managing Pain

Western medicine is often poorly equipped to deal with chronic pain.  Health care professionals tend to subscribe to a “battle” perspective on illness – fighting and vanquishing the enemy disease – rather than one of constant vigilance and management.  Whether dealing with a chronic illness like fibromyalgia or symptoms of mesothelioma, an incurable cancer, people with pain-causing disease often must look elsewhere for help.  Maia Szalavitz, correspondent for MSN’s Health and Fitness, researched the following non-pharmaceutical activities for managing pain:

Massage

Receiving a massage can help alleviate some kinds of body pain, but giving a massage can actually reduce stress hormones.  A 1998 study showed that elderly patients who massaged infants were less likely to need to visit their doctors.  Most doctors recognize that touch is a factor in social support, which is crucial to living well with chronic illness.

Volunteering

Offering your time or giving gifts to others can counteract feelings of helplessness that sometimes come with unmanageable pain.  Scientists at Boston College actually found a direct link between volunteering and pain reduction after six months.  Depression and pain-related disability decreased, as well.

Acupuncture

While acupuncture has not shown to be significantly effective in clinical trials, part of the reason may be that, unlike giving a sugar pill, it is extremely difficult to fake acupuncture in order to conduct the required trials.  Though acupuncture may not work for everyone, anecdotal evidence suggests it is sometimes helpful for pain.  Even the placebo effect provides some relief.

Exercise

Daniel Clauw, director of the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center at the University of Michigan, points to exercise as the most effective treatment for the chronic pain of fibromyalgia.  He is quick to mention, however, that overdoing it can make the pain worse, and he therefore recommends starting slowly and building up to more strenuous activities at your own pace.

Therapy

Treating pain with psychological therapy is not the same as saying “it’s all in your head.”  Mood and thought can increase or decrease perception of pain, and some cognitive behavioral techniques can help chronic pain patients manage feelings of helplessness and regain some control over their attitude toward their illness.  

Meditation

Meditation practices that promote “mindfulness,” or being in the moment, can also reduce perception of pain.  Wake Forest University neurobiologist Fadel Zeidan found that even as few as three 20-minute meditation training sessions helped college students withstand greater amounts of pain.

These methods may not be appropriate or helpful for everyone with chronic pain.  For example, someone with mesothelioma symptoms like shortness of breath may be unable to exercise, and someone with chronic fatigue syndrome who requires all her energy to work may be unable to volunteer.  However, when pharmaceutical treatments have proven ineffective or insufficient, it is worth looking into alternatives.

Thanks Eric for your post!