Home made candles

Chronic Widespread Pain Syndrome

Chronic Pain Syndrome is quite often misunderstood as a diagnosis.  This is as much due to the fact that often specialist can't explain the how's and why's of chronic pain.  There no established causal factors and no confirmed effective treatments.  This is something we should find concerning as the first thing they do when you are diagnosed with chronic pain of any sort, is stick straight on various kinds of anti-depressants.

The term Chronic Pain relates to any persistent, long-term pain resulting from anything from were-and-tear or injury.  This pain can often persist long after the injury that caused it has healed.  Current theories as to why this is case tend to relate to scarred nerves or fashion in which the brain processes pain.  Suffice it say there is no one globally accepted reason for chronic pai to persist after a injury or strain has healed.  It is this lack of accepted explanation that makes Chronic pain harder to treat.

Common treatments that are currently offered for chronic pain include anti-depressants, various pain-killers and anti-inflammatories, and, everyone's favourite treatment, pain reduction therapy involving counsellors.  The treatments that we are offered will very much depend on what the suspected cause of the pain is.  Speaking from experience, certain treatments will be more effective then others on the basis your own personal chemistry and background.  I personally found paracetamol is a personal favourite for those days where the joint/back pain is getting too much to continue working with.   I alos notice a sharp rise in my awareness of pain if I forget to take my daily dose of Amitriptyline (Which, ironially, I was very wary of taking to begin with.)  I was offered a trial with a pain management clinicwhich was run by trained pain psychologists however I did not find that there was any benefit for me, although others have found this a recommended option.  Pain management is certainly an important factor in dealing with any pain long-term.

Pain management is a tricking business because we all find different things effective.  I find that taking a joint complex formula contain calcium, Vitamin D, Glucosamin and Chronitin as well as a B complex tablet.  I find this helps repair both the connective tissues around the joints while aiding the repair and function of the nervous system (Which is primarily responsible for the conduction of nerve signals to the brain, and therefore pain signals to the brain.)  Simple changes to your lifestyle can also help, such as correct manual handling of heavy items, or replacing an old or poor mattress for something that is more suited to supporting your back.  Even solutions as simple as getting orthopaedic insoles for shoes can make a world of difference.  The key is to begin looking at the lifestyle you lead and look at things that may be aggravating or even causing pain and making a change to the situation.

Every little change you make helps.  Other important areas to look at are Diet and exercise patterns.  Certain healthy activities aren't actually recommended for certain types of pain eg. thoes with joint/back pain are not recommended to engage in yoga.  However, exercises such as swimming and walking are highly rated as gentle but effective exercises.  Exercise is a necessary part of pain control as it helps achieve a chemical balance in the brain that can reduce pain levels.  So choosing a safe exercise and doing it regularly can increase your general enjoyment of life.  Diet can not be ignored either.  Having a healthy number or fruit and vege in your diet is the quickest way to help your body heal itself.

The ways in which can deal with chronic pain are numerous but nothing will make it leave altogether.   However, you can make life easier for yourself.

Wow, just wow

Today this site hit a personal record.  We had a fantastic page view spike.  It was a amazing -when I check yesterday I had all of three page views. Today page views have hit 51 and the has not even ended.  I don't what's going on, but I think I like it!

Thanks for that :)

Orgran

Orgran egg replacer is a natural alternative to eggs.  It can be used in cakes, muffins meringues ect. the list goes on.  I can't say it's an ideal substitute for eggs, however it mimics the addition of eggs quite nicely for a powder that is made primarily of potatoes.  I have found it improves the texture of my gluten-free recipes nearly as well as eggs with the horrible after affects of having the eggs themselves.  It's no worse the substituting soy milk for cows milk.

Orgran no egg can be found in most health food stores, and if you haven't tried it I suggest looking it up.

Home made soap

This is what happens when I get bored; I make stuff. :)  This is my first completely successful batch of soap.  To the left is an example of one that has just come out of the mould.  It is free from unnatural colours and fragrances and made from Virgin olive oil, water and 100% pure lavender oil.  It smells so nice.

Then problem is I now have too many so I'm attempting to offload some on ebay.

Making soaps seems almost theraputic in some ways.  It was fairly okay except I wasn't as careful when mixing the caustic soda as I should have been.  Got myself a mouthful of the gases that came off the water.  The irony is when I did the first batch I didn't have that problem because I was right next to a large open window when I mixed the soda with the water.  The second batch I mixed in the kitchen with a open window and an open door but the ventilation in the kitchen is no where near as good as in my bedroom clearly.  However, I choose to mix the soda with the water in the kitchen so I didn't damage any of my things if it spilt.  Will just have to give up and wait for my mask to get here.