Pain isn’t an illness in itself. Designed with a great super-intelligence, pain is the body’s signal to tell us something’s not going right inside us, and we need to do something about it.
Instead of addressing the cause of pain, modern attitudes toward the body have had us supressing it, essentially telling our body and nervous system to shut up and go stand in the cupboard while we get on with whatever is more important to us than our own living.
Instead of reacting to pain by working towards healing, we have been taught to react to pain by stretching for our wallets and taking a trip to the chemist.
Pharmaceutical drugs for pain are not natural, our bodies do not recognize them as part of our habitat and therefore, even though they might have their temporary effect of numbing out nerves, the body resists them and goes into war-mode. The end result of regular use of prescription drugs therefore is a body that is feeling violated, swinging between over-stimulated and tired out, and not able to manage it’s daily affairs properly. So we have a whole slew of conditions from lessened immunity to sluggish digestion and every thing in-between.
Herbs are a wonderful way out of the prescription drug mess. They’re our natural healers, we were born together into this eco-system. We’ve got generational knowledge (despite all the attempts to break our racial memory of natural healing), and for the most part we’ve got a good sound working base of information we can use to go natural again.
The best bit is that while relieving pain, herbs heal and repair as well. Take Skullcap (Scutellaria Baicalensis – and I thought my name was hard to pronounce!) for example. It relieves pain in the head and nerves amazingly. I’ve tried it so I can say this without a doubt. But it also has the minerals and nutrients to speed up healing in the brain and nervous system, so while you’re lying down feeling a lot better about life in general, it’s providing the body the specific nutrition it needs to trigger nerve healing.
Now, a good number of the grand old herbal pain killers have been classified as dangerous or illegal in most countries. So for now, we’ll have to speak about and use the legal herbs, which may not give us a glimpse of heaven in other realms, but will help this one feel a whole lot better.
An effective holistic approach to relieving pain is:
5) There nearly always is some emotional trauma associated with pain, and facing your emotions while supporting your soul with energies from flowers can make a big, big difference. Bach Flower Remedies can help here.
6) Find out what caused the pain and make the changes you need to so it doesn’t happen again. You don’t want to spend big chunks of your life fighting pain anymore.
I know someone who had severe migraine headaches for years because of wearing tight clothes. Because we get used to things so quickly, especially if our profession demands it, it’s possible to wear something too tight and not know it. So check again.
You already know slouching and hunching over isn’t going to help either.
Here’s my Pinterest collection of some quick visual guides to correcting posture for pain relief.
Injury or surgery whether accompanied by dramatic bleeding and long hospital bills or not, cause a big drama in the body. The nerve sirens go off full blast, the body’s defense system goes on alert sending supplies for repair to the area, and everything else slows down to see what the commotion is all about and how they can help. Herbs, our friends from the natural world, are a sweet gentle way to aid recovery.
Hops, Chamomile, St. John’s Wort, Skullcap, Passion flower, Valerian, Vervain; These are all gentle herbs that you can take as tea or in herbal tonics or in creams to apply over the area in pain. Beer is made from Hops (need anything more be said?). All the other herbs are quite easily available.
A lot of the pain we feel is tense and tight nerves and overheated nerve endings. Finding out which herbs work well for you as as a tea or tonic you can take every day will help.
Pain can be relieved in a big way by herbs that reduce the inflammation that is the cause of the pain. Arthritic pain or sciatic pain for example are greatly helped by these powerful herbal anti-inflammatories.
White Willow, St. John’s Wort, Vervain, Valerian, Mugwort, Devil’s Claw are some of them. The gracious White Willow tree (Salix Alba) is where Aspirin comes from (except the pharmaceutical Aspirin is an isolated ‘active ingredient’ instead of a whole extract so it is imbalanced and has side-effects). Devil’s Claw (Harpagophytum procumbens) is another one with a very good reputation despite its name and people say Mugwort is a good herb to have on hand if Medicinal Cannabis isn’t legal or available where you are.
These herbs are very strong and if you want to truly benefit from them, getting us to make an effective combination that doesn’t over-burn or over-sedate you is recommended.
A body ache that hangs on, increasing sometimes, decreasing sometimes (especially when you’ve had a drink) can be addressed by giving the body some nutrition in the form of adaptogen herbs like Withania Somnifera, Spikenard, Ginseng and Gotu Kola.
For people with low energy, taking one or a few of the adaptogen herbs mentioned above will result over a few weeks in a very different energy profile from when they started out on the tonic.
The Bach Flower Remedies are famous. They are very gentle essences of flowers that support a person in dealing with emotional pain and trauma by offering a sort of cushioning effect energetically. You have to try them to experience how they work for you.
The most popular Bach Flower Remedy is the ‘Rescue Remedy’. It is used in crises and can calm horses in a panic, help people recover from epileptic seizures and keep dogs calm in stressful situations.
When we’re in pain, a drop of Rescue Remedy can help us calm down and put things in perspective. Everything is easier when we’re calm.
Bach Flower remedies have been used for years along-side the powerful herbal extracts. These are some he uses often:
Recovery from Injury or Surgery: Bach Flowers Rescue Remedy, Mimulus and Clematis
Pain due to Inflammation: Honeysuckle, Vine, Walnut, Rescue Remedy
If you’d like to get off prescription drugs or pharmaceutical products to treat pain, start with wearing comfy clothes, correcting your postures, introducing some calming herb teas into your day, as well as strong herbal extracts to heal any inflammation or lack of vitality that might be causing the pain. Emotional pain is real and addressing it is a big part of pain management.