That's the title of an excellent article, by Loolwa Khazzoom, in the December "AARP Magazine". The link is
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/health/d...onic_pain.html

Dr. John doesn't allow extensive quotes of copyrighted material, so I'll do my best to summarize.

There is growing evidence that "alternative" therapies reduce or stop chronic pain (I can personally attest to that!).

Current brain researchers have found that while acute pain appears in brain areas connected to tissue damage, chronic pain is connected to areas of the brain used for memories, especially emotional memories. Often, the chronic pain continues long past the time when the original tissue damage has healed.The brain pathways that support the chronic pain patterns can become self sustaining, and can last a lifetime. Drugs do not stop these chronic pain patterns (DC-that's me, Wings42). Alternative techniques, in contrast, can build new nerve pathways and reduce or eliminate the chronic pain patterns.

There are more than a dozen alternative therapies that have been scientifically demonstrated to ease or eliminate chronic pain where drugs have not succeeded.

Drugs have a place in pain treatment, allowing people to function and live their lives while healing therapies are applied.

Few doctors have specialized pain management training, so if you suffer from chronic pain (don't we all in this forum?), we have to become our own experts, captains of our own ship of health. That's a daunting task, and we need the help of friends, family, and support groups like this forum to devise and put into practice a personal healing program even while we suffer.

Make sure your healers are willing to work together and work with you. Start with the most noninvasive approach, and then go on to more invasive approaches if needed. If a therapy doesn’t give you relief within a few weeks, try something else (I saw an acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist for a full year with no relief, an expensive mistake, before trying yoga…DC).

Realize that while in severe pain, you are desperate and vulnerable, so make a special effort to think critically. If they promise a cure or if things just don’t feel right, feel free to quit, and then spend your time researching the next alternatives to try.

Alternative Treatments That Work on Pain
Research shows these therapies can ease discomfort. For more information visit the website of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Movement-Based Therapies:
• Physical therapy
• Yoga:
• Pilates
• Tai chi
• Feldenkrais

Nutritional and Herbal Remedies:
• Anti-inflammatory diet (low glycemic index, low fat, high antioxident diet-DC)
• Omega-3 fatty acids
• Ginger
• Turmeric
• MSM
• (Selected vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, and other supplements that have demonstrated nerve healing properties-DC)

Mind-Body Medicine:
• Meditation
• Guided imagery
• Biofeedback
• Relaxation

Energy Healing:
• Acupuncture
• Acupressure
• Chigong
• Reiki

Physical Manipulation:
• Massage
• Chiropractic
• Osteopathy

Lifestyle Changes:
• Sleep hygiene
• Positive work environment
• Healthy relationships
• Exercise

Some warnings and cautions are in order. First, this is my summary of a much longer and better written article. Please don't do anything based on my summary without reading the article it came from. I tried to be accurate, but in my picking and choosing what to summarize and what to exclude, I may have omitted something that you need to know. Second, I am not a doctor. You need to talk with your physician regarding the safety of whatever you want to try. If your doctor isn't good to talk with, he or she can't be effective for your chronic pain problems. In that case, you need a different doctor. Third, what worked for me, yoga, supplements, anti-inflammation diet, exercise, meditation, and Eastern philosophy may not do much for you or could even be harmful. Lastly, there are no single magic bullets for chronic pain or the conditions that caused the pain to start in the first place. To change our life requires a committed multi faceted life-changing approach.

As somebody on this form once said, and I paraphrase, "Learning to deal with this has been a wonderful adventure, not one I would have chosen, but wonderful all the same." That's been my experience also, as I slowly learned to deal with the awful pain, hopelessness, guilt, and fear bordering on panic the first few years of having PN. There is hope, you can deal with this, and you can substitute fear with action and healing.

Good luck and Godspeed.