Prescribing Life

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity...it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Chronic Pain happens when pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months, or years. There may have been an initial mishap -- sprained back, serious infection, or there may be an ongoing cause of pain -- arthritis, cancer, ear infection, but some people suffer chronic pain in the absence of any past injury or evidence of body damage. Many chronic pain conditions affect older adults. Common chronic pain complaints include headache, low back pain, cancer pain, arthritis pain, neurogenic pain (pain resulting from damage to the peripheral nerves or to the central nervous system itself), psychogenic pain (pain not due to past disease or injury or any visible sign of damage inside or outside the nervous system.

Anyone who takes opioids is at risk of developing addiction. According to the CDC and Stanford University school of medicine 25% of patients taking opioids for 3 months will become addicted. Drug addiction is defined as an irresistible craving for a drug, out-of-control and compulsive use of the drug, and continued use of the drug despite repeated, harmful consequences. Opioids are less harmful when used for three or fewer days to manage acute pain, such as pain that follows aggressive surgery or a bone fracture. If you need opioids for acute pain, work with your doctor to take the lowest dose possible, for the shortest time needed, exactly as prescribed.
If you’re living with chronic pain, opioids are not likely to be a safe and effective long-term treatment option. Many other treatments are available, including less-addictive pain medications and non pharmacological therapies. Aim for a treatment plan that makes it possible to enjoy your life without opioids, if possible. Prescribing Life provides effective solutions to acute and chronic pain management with our the use of opioids or steroids.

Are migraines caused by unhealthy guy bacteria? Research is increasingly pointing towards the importance of gut-brain axis in regulating our health. Unhealthy bacteria has being linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, it has been also linked to mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Now, it seems to influence migraines too. Suggestive findings show that there is a link between what we eat, our gut bacteria and chronic migraines. Probiotics provide healthy gut bacteria but everything we eat is also “feeding” the gut bacteria we already have. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains are preferred by healthy gut bacteria while unhealthy gut bacteria prefers processed foods and sugar.

Pain is a physical and emotional signal of bodily harm that strongly motivates behavior. Sleep is a behaviorally regulated drive that maintains homeostasis and optimize function across the entire body. Humans require both pain and sleep for survival; however, chronic pain can have a negative impact on health and well-being by disrupting your sleep pattern. Some activities like yoga, walking and meditation can improve the sleep pattern even when it is affected by chronic pain and in turn can decrease the intensity of the pain.