Newpharmablog. Health News

The pain can sometimes be helped by the wise use of antidepressant medication, which causes an increase in the body’s natural production of pain-killers — the endorphins.

The most common form of treatment is a combination of physical therapies and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Dolobrid, Indocid, Brufen, Naprosyn, Voltaren, Orudis, Clinoril and Feldene. Aspirin and Paracetamol are also useful as pain killers and as drugs controlling inflammation. Specially coated or slow-release forms of aspirin have been developed to reduce the gastric problems associated with long term aspirin usage. These include Ecotrin, a specially coated tablet which releases its aspirin into the small intestine and not the more sensitive and fragile stomach lining.

Other drugs used in the treatment of arthritis include the cor-tico-steroid or steroid drugs such as Prednisolone and Depo-Medrol. These can be taken by mouth or injected directly into the joints.

Physiotherapy has a major place in the treatment of pain associated with arthritic conditions. Gentle mobilisation of affected joints together with the application of heat and cold to the joints will help keep those with advanced arthritis mobile.

Water-based exercise in the form of hydrotherapy and the more vigorous aqua-aerobics takes the strain of gravity from the painful and stiffened joints.

In the later stages, when joints are burnt out, surgical procedures are carried out to help those with artificial joints or to fuse joints which are too painful to move.

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What is a ‘pain game’? It is often an expensive and emotionally exhausting experience for the patient and family and a long-standing disappointment for the medical profession. The term ‘game’ to doctors specialising in pain relief refers to the patient’s ways of behaving and reacting, as well as the family — and even the doctor. All have developed in reaction to the pain itself. When patients allow their suffering to control their behaviour, they are playing a ‘game’. There is thus little chance of relief. And there are no winners. Pain is more than just a hurt. Strangely, for many, it is a way of life. It may begin as a short game but sometimes it takes over and patients can find themselves trapped in the role they have unwittingly created for themselves. The symptoms can become a habit and this can then slide into a lifestyle. From the patient’s point of view, the therapy and treatment have usually been ineffective, sometimes destructive and often very costly.

Some build their lifestyle around their pain. They actually enjoy their poor health. While every day and night is an ordeal ranging from discomfort to downright agony, they at the same time find it as comfortable as putting on an old pair of slippers. Their pain has the comforting ring of normality. Relieving the pain actually disrupts their attitude-behaviour system. At the very least, pain behaviour is a mindless bad habit. It can be broken, but, it can also become an addiction.

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Pain is also common in patients suffering from depression. Psychological testing shows depression in up to 80 percent of chronic pain patients. Patients should be aware that they may be suffering from masked depression. Treatment of the depression frequently greatly reduces pain. In turn, a decrease in pain may also cause a decrease in depression.

Recent research confirms that dietary manipulation may be possible. Certain natural substances appear to be the forerunners of brain chemicals important in pain control. For example, the amino acid L-Tryptophan is a substance that is converted to Serotonin (also called 5HT), a brain transmitter substance involved in pain perception. When taken orally, it may help to modify the experience of pain and to encourage natural sleep. Some caution in the administration of L-Tryptophan may be necessary.

At the time this book was written disturbing reports of abnormally increased number of eosinophils (white blood cells) due to L-Tryptophan have been received in the United States and in Europe. This has led to the withdrawal of L-Tryptophan containing preparations in America and Australia. Another amino acid, D-L Phenylalanine, blocks the destruction of the natural opiates — endorphins — produced by the brain.

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Chronic pain is that which is persistent or recurrent and lasts longer than the usual expected time after illness or injury. Low back pain is by far the most common form of chronic pain, comprising about

80 per cent of cases. Millions more suffer other chronic pain conditions such as the excruciating facial pain of trigeminal neuralgia,TMJ (temporo-mandibular joint dysfunction syndrome) affecting the jaw joint, post-herpetic neuralgia and phantom limb pain. Many cope with headaches, arthritis and other musculo-skeletal problems without excessive invalidism, medication, or health care. Unfortunately, a significant number of chronic pain sufferers have a complex variety of feelings, thinking and behaviourial symptoms.The financial costs of chronic pain may well be the highest of any health problem.

It includes the costs of social security payments, treatment, workers compensation and the loss of productivity. In New South Wales, 1984-85 figures showed that ‘sprains and strains’ accounted for 49.5% of claims for workers compensation, a total of 48,751 cases. The NSW compensation payout had risen from $286 million in 1980 to $666 in 1984-85. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures quoted in a leading article on pain in The Bulletin magazine showed that over 20% of compensation claims in Australia were for the condition of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) consisting of work related synovitis, bursitis and myofascial pain disorders. A further 20% had other problems of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissues. Apart from industrial deafness at 42% of claims, no other condition exceeded more than 4% of the total.

The ABS survey showed that headache due to unspecified or trivial causes was the most common Australian complaint. Some 10% said they had suffered one in the two week survey period. According to the Arthritis Foundation of Australia, one person in 12 in this country suffers from arthritis. This means that 1.3 million Australians have pain as a major disability. Arthritis accounts for more lost work days (over 7.5 million man hours) than any other medical condition and exceeds those lost due to industrial strikes.

The social costs of chronic pain are even more tragic, with so many young sufferers incapacitated for life, and the subsequent disruption to the family, the individual and society as a whole. Rather than brand sufferers as ‘neurotic and hysterical’, a more enlightened approach is called for, with early treatment, research and ultimately prevention.

Chronic pain in Australia is also a major issue in law suits and disability-benefit decisions. Whether or not a pain sufferer is typical of a hospital’pain clinic, or of a private practice population, the behaviour of pain patients gradually becomes less consistent with organic pathology.

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Hay-fever sufferers may feel sorry for themselves as the summer months approach, but they are envied by those afflicted with perennial rhinitis, who have to endure similar symptoms all year round. In their case it is usually airborne allergens, such as mould spores or house dust, which trigger mast cells in the nose. If the eyes are also affected this will cause conjunctivitis. It is almost always airborne allergens that affect the eyes, but the nose is also susceptible to allergens from other sources, including food. For the full range of allergens that can provoke rhinitis.

Problems caused by rhinitis

The nose is intimately linked to several other organs and problems here are likely to have effects elsewhere. Because the nose is connected to the middle part of the ear by a tube (the Eustachian tube), perennial rhinitis can affect the ears as well. The Eustachian tube’s function is to drain any fluid from the ear and allow air to get into the ear so that the pressure on either side of the eardrum is equalized. If the tube becomes blocked with mucus from the nose, air can no longer reach the middle ear and the air already there becomes replaced by a thick, sticky secretion produced by the ear itself. This mucus sticks to the delicate bones that play a vital role in our hearing, and thus causes deafness. The condition is known as chronic secretory otitis media (CSOM) or glue ear, and although it may be caused in other ways this is undoubtedly an important one. The problem is particularly common in children.

Children suffering from this problem are likely to complain of popping or itching in the ears, or say that their ears feel ‘blocked up’. The first signs of deafness are sometimes mistaken for disobedience because they fail to do as they are told. In younger children there may be little outward sign of the problem, although some shake their head in a characteristic way or repeatedly scratch at their ears. Deafness may result in the child being slow to begin speaking – often the first indication that anything is wrong. Needless to say, there are a great many other reasons for delayed speech, and it would be a mistake to jump to conclusions on this basis alone.

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Inflammation of the nerves (neuritis) may also be treated successfully with Symphosan. In fact, wherever there are painful parts in the body, or wherever there is any sensitivity to pressure which manifests itself in the peripheral nerves, Symphosan can be recommended as a simple, natural and efficacious remedy.

It is extraordinary what a regenerating influence Symphosan has on the skin. Wrinkles, crow’s feet and other signs of premature aging will be regenerated by its continuous use. As far as age allows, it is possible to have a firm, youthfully fresh skin. Symphosan is therefore a valuable cosmetic and should not be missing

from the dressing table. It does more than improve the appearance, it promotes good health, and true beauty is identified with health. If Symphosan is used for cosmetic purposes, it should be alternated with a good skin oil.

Abrasions, cuts and injuries which take a long time to heal will respond favourably to Symphosan and heal more quickly. It relieves pain and is anti-inflammatory, and also helpful for haema-tomas, that is, blood blisters and swellings filled with effused blood.

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After some great physical strain or effort, particularly at the end of a day of heavy housework or gardening, people often complain about their aching back. Yet the cause of the pain is not necessarily connected with general tiredness caused by the work. Many other causes can be responsible for backache and if it keeps returning it is advisable to look for the true source of the problem.

If the pain is relatively high up, causing a feeling of contraction, the person may actually be suffering from kidney trouble. Should the pain be felt a little lower down it may be the symptom of prostate (in the case of men) or bladder trouble. Backache can also stem from a degeneration of the bones, for example in a case of ‘arthritis deformans’. A change in the position of the uterus can also trigger backache, and even muscular rheumatism may be interpreted as backache, as can sciatica when it starts higher up.

Backache being a nuisance, the sufferer seeks to get rid of it quickly. For this purpose use a good warming ointment. Apply Sympbosan for a change. It is also beneficial to place some moist, hot hay flowers or camomile, tied in a cloth, on the painful area. Should this treatment not alleviate the pain and improve the condition, it is advisable to consult a doctor in order to identify the real cause of the pain, which can then be treated accordingly.

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If we touch a piece of material with our fingertips, trying to find out whether it is pure silk or linen, twenty-five tiny structures cooperate to help us test the fabric. We could catch a finger in the door and feel nothing at all if it were not for the 200 sensation structures per square centimetre of skin that communicate the injury to the brain via the sensory nerves. Scalding, burning and a Baunscheidt (stimulation) treatment can cause the formation of large blisters filled with fluid, with the top layer of skin becoming separated from the one beneath it.

The outermost layer is called epidermis and consists of cells. The deep inner layer, the corium or dermis, is much thicker and consists of fibrous tissue. The epidermis has more than twenty cell layers that contain no blood vessels, which is why the skin does not bleed when it is rubbed off, nor produces any sensation of pain. However, when the dermis, which lies under the epidermis, is touched or brought into contact with water, there is an immediate reaction. When engaged in physical work, handling earth, sand, lye and the like, soapy water rubs off several layers of the epidermis when the hands are subsequently washed. But on the following day there will already be the same number of layers as before, because the epidermis is continually replaced from underneath. Once this function is disturbed, we get hard and horny skin or abnormal flaking, with loose scales of dry, dead skin, as is so often the case with the scalp. If you wear the same underwear for too long, the offensive smell is due mainly to millions of dead skin cells and dried sweat.

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This peculiar parasitic plant likes to live on certain trees and is also known as Viscum album. It, too, has proved to be a good plant remedy for cancer, because of its effect of stimulating the cell metabolism. As this is generally very weak in cancer and arthritis patients, mistletoe preparations are beneficial for both diseases. Mistletoe can be given in the form of drops or by injection.

Celandine, also known by its botanical name Chelidonium, is a further effective help, as are preparations made from Podophyllum, Boldocynara, Lycopodium, barberry and all other plants that stimulate the liver. Cancer patients always suffer from liver insufficiency, so it is understandable why plants that stimulate the activity of the liver can help to improve the patient’s condition. Since there is usually a vitamin Ñ deficiency as well, we recommend that the patient take Bio-C-Lozenges, in addition to a diet rich in vitamins.

This plant has proved its reliable effect on all kinds of inflammation and is therefore a good supportive remedy. It can be used internally and externally.

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For a change, take a bath in the hot springs of a grotto. These natural sauna baths are widely available in these Italian spas. It is a good idea to sweat in the bath one day, and then to have a fango treatment the following day. This programme may prove to be rather strenuous for some patients, but it will be easier than having to put up with the dreadful consequences of arthritis when it is not treated naturally. The natural way is always the best way. As to the question of diet, as the suggested regime could be a little difficult to follow in Abano or Montegrotto, it may be advisable to take some crispbread, raw cane sugar, honey and raw carrots with you, or try to obtain them locally.

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