Having had some serious back pain recently, I've been looking for answers. Chronic pain can be treated in many ways. A multi faceted approach seems to work well for most. Combining medical treatments with lifestyle changes and psychological strategies can help.
Nerve blocks and radiofrequency ablation also help. I just had an epidural (my second in a month) and I am getting some relief. For seriously chronic conditions, DBS, or deep brain stimulation is being met with good results. Electrodes in the brain reduce chronic pain by delivering target high frequency electrical impulses to specific brain regions. These pulses disrupt abnormal pain signals effectively blocking pain transmission to the conscious brain.
Meditation, yoga, acupuncture, and biofeedbacks are complementary therapies that may also help with pain.
I often listen to Sanjay Gupta's podcast, Chasing Life, as I walk in the morning. Recently he talked about DBS, and the good results from this treatment. One of the points he made was that opioids are not the only answer, in fact doctors are looking for alternatives. If one treatment doesn't work, we have to be willing to try something else. Since Celebrex came on the market in the late 1990's, almost no new pain medications have been approved by the FDA. We need to look for alternatives, and hopefully find something that breaks the cycle of pain.
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