Tips On Handling Chronic Arthritis PainThe pain of various forms of arthrits, such as ankylosing spondylitis, can be either acute or chronic. Acute pain is defined as pain that comes on suddenly. Chronic pain would be that which has been present for an extended period of time. Chronic arthritis pain can really take over your life if not treated effectively. There are a number of different strategies for handling chronic pain, and they're usually different from those used to treat short term pain. While the main pain of arthritis is caused by inflammation, there may also be other factors coming into play. Some of those are: muscle strain (sometimes as a result of your muscles working overtime in an attempt to take the load off the inflamed joint), damage to the joints (either from the disease itself or from normal wear and tear), and even the fatigue of the disease. While fatigue doesn't really cause pain per se, it many times will wear you down and make the existing pain seem worse. Methods for handling chronic pain will vary from person to person, because the pain itself will feel different to everyone. Some people just have an inherently higher level of pain tolerance. Also, there are a number of mental factors that can affect the level of pain or how it is perceived, such as your attitude towards the disease, your previous experience with chronic pain, and your cultural background. It's also possible to get on a treadmill whereby you become depressed because of chronic pain, which leads to pain to seem more intense, which further depresses you, etc. One thing you can do to help with pain is to learn about arthritis and take an active role in the management of the disease. This will enable you to have a feeling of control, which helps to control depression, which will help to curtail pain. On a similar note, habits developed by some arthritis sufferers promote a negative attitude and depression. These habits can include spending all day in bed, overusing pain medication, and drinking alcohol to excess. Doing these things can also cause your overall health to slide, which will cause your self-esteem to decline further, increasing the possibility of depression and more pain. Some proven antitdotes to chronic pain are exercise, acupuncture, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), the application of heat and/or cold, biofeedback, hypnosis, guided imagery, massage and glucosamine and/or chondroitin. All these modalities will not work for everyone (exercise is almost universally recommended, however)but almost anyone can find something that will help them to tolerate the chronic pain of arthritis. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "I Cured My Arthritis - You Can Too" A Natural Arthritis Remedy... No Drugs... No Secret Formula... 43-Year Sufferer of Arthritis Shocks Her Doctors (Who Predicted She'd Soon Need A Wheelchair) With Her Natural Arthritis Cure Without Expensive Medication Or Surgery (And Challenges You To Do The Same!) Yes, the story of this lady's arthritis cure seems almost impossible. And incredible as it seems, it's all true. I'm about to let you in on the secret that got her thrown out of an arthritis convention - For trying to tell the truth - that the arthritis sufferers attending DIDN'T NEED the expensive drugs and treatments they were being sold... Now YOU can learn about the natural arthritis treatment that the medical community wants to keep from you - because it's not profitable to them. Read the secret that got this lady thrown out of the arthritis convention. Ankylosing Spondylitis Privacy Policy Contact Us Legal Information |