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Chronic pain medication can be highly valuable for individuals who need it.
Chronic pain medication can be highly valuable for individuals who need it. However, there are other things you can do to reduce your chronic pain without necessarily increasing your dosage of pain medication. In some cases, these tips may even help you be able to lower your medication dosage. This can result in fewer side effects as well as less pain.
Learn Meditation & Deep Breathing
Meditation and deep breathing once or twice a day can help individuals relax, relieve stress, and even ease chronic pain. Of course, simple meditation is not going to cure your chronic pain but it may be useful for soothing it. You may find during times of heightened pain that deep breathing can actually prevent you from having to take additional medication.
Exercise More
It may sound counterintuitive because the immediate effect of exercise is to increase pain. However, in the long run, by strengthening your muscles, exercise can decrease chronic pain. At the very least you should try your best not to let chronic pain force you to be sedentary. A lack of exercise can have detrimental health effects in the long term.
Cut Back On Alcohol & Avoid Smoking
A lack of sleep is likely a problem for individuals with chronic pain. In addition, alcohol can make it harder to get good sleep which compounds the problem. Before you know it, you may end up sleep deprived and stressed out. This can worsen your chronic pain. Additionally, smoking can cause circulation related chronic pain to worsen (not to mention the increased risk of cancer and heart disease).
Keep Stress Low
Stress can easily turn moderate pain into severe pain. It’s important to keep stress low in your life. Things which help reduce stress like exercising, meditating, spending time with loved ones, and even joining a support group, can all end up helping to ease your chronic pain.
If you are suffering from chronic pain, call Garden State Pain Control. Our New Jersey chronic pain doctors have been helping patients for decades and they are ready to help you too. Call 732-376-0330 to book an appointment.