Holistic Chronic Pain Management: Natural Therapies and Supplements

I have had a significant flare up of my bursitis, which has led me to a help that I have never considered.

Yesterday was a lovely day and I went out to the porch to swing and crochet in the sunshine for a little bit. I realized my pain was not bothering me as much. Certainly sunshine and something to do with my hands was a pleasant distraction, but then I considered the rocking.

Parents and caregivers naturally rock and sway to sooth babies and little children. Perhaps rocking is soothing for humans of all ages!

I did a little research and found that studies have found that rocking in a rocking chair has many health benefits.

It helps to decrease cravings of addicts in rehab facilities. It improves balance among the elderly in care facilities, it also reduces requests for pain medicines, and reduces agitation. Rocking can release endorphins, which can help with pain.

For the elderly, rocking in a chair improve blood flow and gives a bit of exercise to muscles.

Rocking chair therapy has also been used to improve outcomes after some surgeries.

My take away is that it makes sense to ensure that the elderly have an available rocking chair. And that anyone, no matter the age, may benefit from some rocking chair time to relieve anxiety, pain, and cravings.

Maybe rocking chairs are a way to restore some calm to our society which has become increasingly frenetic.

Happy Rocking,

~Mama to Many~

You just made a lightbulb go off in my head. I, like my old grandpappy, am a chronic rocker. I have almost no anxiety, no depression whatsoever and am really healthy for my age. Could it possibly be my rocking chair? That is so interesting. I've always wondered why everyone is so sick and I'm not. I eat whatever I want, don't exercise that much but have never been on any medication except the occassional antibiotic in my youth. Instead of prescription meds, they should hand out rocking chairs!

I found this pain reliever on YouTube. I was very skeptic, but tried it as I had both ingredients, yes two ingredients, in my cabinet.

Get one 14 oz jar of extra virgin coconut oil and Celtic Sea Salt. It has to be Celtic, no other sea salt works. You can find Celtic Sea Salt at a health food store or you can order it online.

Mix the two ingredients together then let it sit for 72 hours. It needs to marry/blend together. Then put it on an ache or pain.

This has worked for all but one person I have recommended this to. I have recommended to many and they have passed it on to their friends and family. It's AMAZING. If you try this I pray it works.

It's cheap compared to other remedies. My friend told me I had saved her $80 a month on CBD oil and the coconut oil worked better.

I have found that horsetail and solomon's seal tinctures both work for pain with arthritis and lost cartilage and as well as pain, they also aid in healing, I have been told horsetail is known for regrowing cartilage, I know they help me a lot.

Hi Ron,

Thank you for your post! Besides trying out Palo Santo essential oil based on your other recent post, I also ordered solomon's seal tincture to check out (Yep, it's the fun part of my job as owner/moderator of Earth Clinic! )

I tried Solomon's Seal a few times, taking only 3-5 drops each time based on Amazon reviews even though the dose on the bottle was 30 drops! The first time, within 30 minutes my sinuses opened up and drained. Didn't know there was anything to drain, but apparently, there was. It didn't happen again.

Also I can confirm Solomon's Seal is not a MILD diuretic like many articles report, but quite a powerful diuretic. For anyone trying the extract, get ready to pee a lot... On the second day of testing the herb, I awoke with a headache that lasted all day. Finally figured out it was probably from dehydration even though I was drinking plenty of liquids. After gulping down a large glass of water, the headache promptly went away.

I also read about Solomon's Seal being safe and fabulous for dogs with arthritis, so I added just 3 drops to both of my elderly dogs' dinner one night earlier in the week. One dog did fine with it, but it set off a series of bowel issues in my other dog, who has a sensitive stomach, leading to a massive amount of diarrhea, leading to blood and anal discharge, leading me to rush him to the emergency vet and a $1500 bill! Turns out he had an anal abscess that started draining and leaking all over the place. I'm guessing it was simmering beforehand and just 3 drops of the herb accelerated the body's clearing of it... Poor guy. That was a rough few days.

I think one should be careful with this herb as it's extremely potent. That's my feedback on Solomon's Seal based on my first week. I'll update again on it in the future as it's a very interesting herb. But I won't test it out on my dogs again, just me! I bought the non-alcohol formula from Amazon, by the way...

Thanks again for posting!

My mother has suffered from back, knee and body pain for more than 10yrs. She had to have surgery on her back 7years ago to ease the pain and she was fine for a few years. She recently began to get the pains again and this time she had knee swelling as well. She would wake up at night very sad and in pains. Sometimes she would shed a few tears of frustration as she didn't want to have another surgery.

One night, unable to sleep from the pain, she suddenly remembered that a neighbour had once told her about a boy who had leg swellings that defied conventional medicine so his family decided to mix equal parts olive oil and black seed oil and rubbed on his swollen legs and he was healed. My mother remembered she had both oils on her dressing table so she got some, mixed and rubbed on her her and knees. WOW! She said that the relief was almost immediate. She said she was asleep in less than half and hour and even over slept the next morning! She hasn't looked back since.

She told me this and I was happy for her but didn't really think about it until I also had serious back and leg pain from walking around so much and lifting heavy suitcases while on a holiday. Things got so bad that I would toss and turn for hours before I could sleep. Then I remembered my mother's remedy and went out to but the two oils the very next day and mixed them in equal parts. Again...WOW! I rubbed it on my back, legs and knees and slept off. I didn't even think about it the next day until around 10pm when I started getting agitated over the prospect of tossing and turning in bed and it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't spared a thought to my back and knees all day!!! My husband told me that he had been meaning to tell me that I didn't turn or toss AT ALL when I slept that night before and he was pleasantly surprised. I have used it since then too and have been very satisfied.

My husband used the mixture on his swollen calf two days ago and the pain and swelling was down by half after just a few hours. As of this evening, all swelling is gone and the pain is less than 10%. Just google Black Seed oil and its benefits. Its available in most health store. It's an ancient Aran/Asian medicinal oil.

Hello Earth Clinic,

As ORH has desired for us to do I have been studying. I am a big woman and do little exercise until I get to the subway steps. (Mama and Michael I tried). Never the less I shall keep trying to pick up on the exercises.

It seems I'm dealing with two problems during the sitting; A numbing pain from poor circulation and Tailbone pain.

To cut to the chase, I just want to say that Lysine has helped my Tailbone pain more than any pain killers I have tried. Amazing!

I had wanted to cry after doing some traveling, and then rushed to a service. Before I knew it, I was back in the house and had fallen asleep and not taken my supplements.

I don't know if it was the good Lord or not, but it came to my mind you have not taken your Lysine. I got up and took two 1000 mgs because I was in PAIN! I fell back to sleep and when I awoke, no pain. I had a feeling before that it was the lysine that was giving me relief when I took it, now I know.

There is plenty of information about lysine and viruses, but very little information of lysine as an anti-inflammatory.

Healing Benefits of L-Lysine

https://www.medicalmedium.com/blog/healing-benefits-of-l-lysine

I was discussing a very simple mixture on another forum for topical pain relief that is easy to make and fairly effective so I thought I would mention it here since many people here at EC probably already have the ingredients.

The mixture is coconut oil and eucalyptus oil. I am not a big fan of the smell of eucalyptus oil so I thought I would not like this topical that initially smells much like Vicks, but what I found is that the smell faded away in about 5 minutes and seemed to work fairly well as a topical pain reliever. It is warm right now so my coconut oil is in a liquid state which made it easy to mix with the eucalyptus oil. I just used 15 drops of eucalyptus essential oil in about a half ounce of coconut oil. I just mixed it and applied it so I don't know how lasting it is, but so far it seems to be working fairly well and I can't smell the coconut oil or eucalyptus oil. Also, the eucalyptus oil seems to help the coconut oil soak in quickly which means that it doesn't leave you feeling oily or greasy by the time the smell goes away! It also leaves the skin nice and smooth!

I suspect this may be useful for other things like sinus issues, but you can just let your imagination go to work!

Art

I am new to using BSM...4 weeks ago had an MRI which showed I had a torn meniscus in the right knee, along with arthritis. Orth doctor said at this time, there is no need for surgery. He recommended I take 500mg of calcium a day to help heal the knee and help the bones. This got me very down because I am very active. I was not going to wait around so a friend in Ca. said how BSM was good for tons of things. I found Earth Clinic and I referred to it several times. I LOVE to research and research. Living in Louisiana, we have many sugar cane mills. I found thru friends a gallon of BSM from the mill. And OH YES.....it is nasty. BUT, every morning I take a Tablespoon right down....no time to play with mixing it in anything. I have been taking BSM for 3 weeks now. This I have noticed and right away. Although active, I was tired everyday......everyday. I ate right but was still tired....NOT ANYMORE......trust me on this one.....I saw the surgeron last week and he commented on how the leg was easy to move and how I was coming along so well. He commented on how I was very up beat and was even losing weight....for some reason I am not hungry all the time. I need to lose some weight to help the knees and I feel that the BSM has come to my rescue....We all know that it takes time for many remedies or meds. to help in various health issues. As I have researched on BSM, it can only benefit you and not harm. My husband began to take it daily also. He has been dealing with hip pain for the last 3 years..bursitus...in the last 3 weeks he has seen a difference. He also has more energy. I will keep you informed of our progress.

Dear Michael,

Re: heating/steeping vrs. not..

I do think many herbs and remedies benefit from heating and time. Herbalist Susan Weed says that making Infusions (like a strong tea - you allow the herbs to steep a long time) lets the heat and time extract the properties from the herbs and saves your body the trouble. It makes sense to me!

Root herbs tend to do best with time and even boiling to extract the properties. So, in this, it makes sense that turmeric (since the root is used) would benefit from heat and time to extract the "goodies" from the herb.

I tend to buy empty capsules to make turmeric capsules or nettle leaf, or whatever. (I always know what is in them! ) While in many cases, teas may be better, practicality is often a driving factor. I can get a teenager to take a few capsules. Getting them to drink a couple of cups of tea is another matter. And homemade capsules have worked very well for us in so many cases.

I am happy to report that I have finally found a way to ingest turmeric without capsules. (Personally, I hate to swallow capsules.) I mix some turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pepper and cardamom together and add it to warm almond milk with a little honey. I actually like the taste!

I trust your perseverance in finding a solution to your own pain and good sense of humor along with it will eventually bear fruit for you! Keep us posted!

~Mama to Many~

I'm wanting to report the experience I had from using sea salt and water. I'm wanting to add this here because I've read of so many others on here with the same kind of issues I was having.

For years I would get up in the morning stiff and sore, with my whole body aching, I use to get up 2 hours early to get myself warmed up for the day. My hands where so sore that the pain is usually what woke me up in the mornings. Then I would have to crawl around and start working my body so I could get my legs on the floor. I was so stiff in the morning and the pain was immense, I used MSM and have tried a lot of other stuff to make my life easier. The msm did help but there was always a level of pain and stiffness that never left. I saw the site watercure2.org that talked about taking sea salt and drinking water and how it had helped a lot of people. I went to the site and read a lot of information about it. I was leary about the drinking water part as I had already tried drinking tons of water of various forms with no help.

I decided to try the formula suggested, 1/8 of a teaspoon of sea salt to 16 ounces of water. Take your body weight and divide it in half and change the answer into ounces of water you need to drink each day. So at the time I weight 190 lbs so I needed to drink 95 ounces of water in a day along with the 1/8 of a teaspoon sea salt. I divided the 95 by 6 so I would drink around 15 ounces of water 6 times a day along with 1/8th of a teaspoon of sea salt which I would just put on my tongue as suggested on the site and wash it down with the water.

I started slow so the first day I only did it once, then the second day I did it twice and so on only for the first week I only drank the 15 ounces of water and 1/8th of a teaspoon 3 times a day. I started on Tuesday and on Sunday morning, after only 5 days of sea salt and water, I woke up with hardly any pain in my hands, I was then able to jump out of bed and get going right away. It was so remarkable for me that I have been using sea salt and water ever since.

That was on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 when I had my experience with this. I have since recovered from a lot of other issues. I had acid reflux which I no longer need any medicine for. I quit wearing glasses after about 3 months using sea salt and water. I still have some issues but I have to say that this gave me my life back. I have more energy and can still out work people half my age. I use to be a truck driver, cowboy, and heavy duty mechanic. My body has been beat up pretty bad over the years between the rough kind of work I used to do along with several car accidents and work injuries that layed me up for long periods of time. I was thinking I was getting old when I was about 45, something I don't believe in, but it was happening to me.

While the sea salt and water helped me with a lot of issues it didn't fix everything. I am taking msm, niacin, and collagen for my joints as I seem to have damaged them. I have tweaked onto the boron today so will be adding this to the regime as I know I'm still missing something. I am confident that this will be the icing on the cake. Good luck to everyone and I hope this little bit will help some people out there.

P.S. I can also eat radishes and cucumbers now, something I had to give up years ago.

I have been taking molasses in warm milk and agree it is like a latte. It really tastes good. Also, my leg pain has lessened and I can go up stairs and walk much better. I am also taking the vinegar and baking soda which I didn't think was doing much, but when I added the molasses drink I think it made a big difference. (My doctor says I have very bad arthritis. This is the first relief I have had. These remedies are highly recommended by me.

Dear Jenny,

You might try burdock root tea for your radiating breast pain. I have had some sort of painful breast congestion for over six months. I have tried different things and have found some temporary relief. (I have not had a mammogram and I am in my 50's. Honestly, I am afraid to get one and afraid of getting on the medical merry go round for this.) I started drinking burdock root tea (I don't even recall why) and realized that the pain/congestion in my breast has significantly reduced! I will keep drinking the tea. Burdock root tea is also good for nerve pain. Get good quality burdock root. Like Frontier Herbs organic burdock root. Put a tablespoon into a canning jar and pour 2 cups of boiling water over it. Let is steep for 2-3 hours. Strain and drink. It isn't bad tasting but you could add a bit of stevia or honey if you like. I drink it every day. It is an ingredient in essiac tea, which is a cancer/tumor/chronic illness remedy with many applications. Holly

Warning:

Baking soda taken in high doses can cause the flow of oxygen to the heart to be reduced, producing a heart attack. That happened to me because I took a heaping teaspoon in a glass of water up to twice a day. The electrocardiogram was fine but the troponins were out of phase and the creatinine high. That meant my internment in intensive care for a week.

Please, see:

https://www.selfhacked.com/blog/sodium-bicarbonate/#Side_Effects

-Those with chronic kidney disorder have a higher risk of heart failure with a higher amount of bicarbonate in their blood.

-Oxygen flow to the heart may also be reduced with the use of sodium bicarbonate in some patients.

I have had chronic pain from fibromyalgia, and bone-on-bone in left knee for 11 years. With the fibro, it used to hurt just to move or try and get out of bed. Excruciating to try and turn over in bed at night, and could barely walk during waking hours. Couldn't straighten up due to hip pain and all. Well, not anymore. Serrapeptase has literally given me a new lease on life. I also take MSM faithfully. No pain at night anymore. Talk about relief!! Immediate relief with the Serrapeptase, especially. Every bone in my body hurt before taking that. I thank God for it! You won't be sorry if you try these. I've recently added ACV and use either honey or Stevia to tame the taste. Makes it pleasant to taste and still does the job. Hope this helps someone. I'll never be without any of these.

Well Bonniebee, the cause of pain is very tricky to identify, especially when it occurs in multiple locations in the body.

Your doctor may well be as confused as you are, lead you up the garden path, the wrong path, or most probably assert there is no path and just keep on taking the "tablets"!

I am tempted to refer you to my ground-breaking (ha ha) research, which you will find on this wonderful site under "Backpain (multiple remedies)" section. But then again, where would you start on that long journey! ?

1) You could consider Molasses as well as ACV, lemon and honey. Many folks have had good and rapid success with these two either separately or together (ACV/Molasses). I would take that in the morning, as you do already and another one at night, say up to one hour after your evening meal. I find that taking stuff immediately upon retiring is not always conducive to a good night's sleep-something many of us crave for and is frequently annoyingly elusive! Take with the tiniest dash of ground black pepper. Eat before seven p.m. and don't snack afterwards too. Self control is going to be key!

2) You could consider MSM dosing, but again NOT before bedtime or watch out! MSM is very popular and there is plenty of feedback here you should peruse. Start off very low (Americans tend to over-indulge/binge out in my experience- they wont print this bit!! ). Slowly increase the dosage till benefits occur. Be patient!

3) Mega dosing with Alfalfa herb is one exception I would make to the above unkind comment! I would consider that in special unresponsive cases but you need to see your Good Doctor before going there. May depend on the meds you are already on. A bit costly that one.

4) Alkalize the body long term, heavily reduce acidic foods and drink more water than you currently feel comfortable with. Gradually increase your consumption and add lemon or lime to make it palatable if required. Add a pinch of ground black pepper, sea salt or that millions of years old salt you have in Utah (it will probably come with a use by date on the label?! ) Cayenne pepper stirred into in a glass of warm water can have a quick, temporary result.

5) Apple Pectin

6) Avocado - a whole avocado each day.

7) Boswella Carterii / Devil's Claw

8)Ted's Borax Protocols (there are two and folks get confused but it is not rocket science-choose one of them).

9) A good quality vitamin C tablet once every three days is really important. Get a non-acidic one. You should follow the MSM with Vit C I reckon anyway if you choose to go down that road.

10) Ceylon/Sri Lankan Cinnamon and honey one or two doses per day.

You can get the amounts of all of the above by researching this Site. Gotta let you do some of the work!

Cheers and good luck.

Michael

Let me start off by giving a big cudos to this website. I have been using this site as a "point of reference" for the last 3 years, while trying many of the remedies for various ailments.

Yesterday, I decided to pull out a bag of pine tree bark extract powder that I had procured from purebulk a few years ago. I had not been taking it for sometime. I pulled out my cap machine, some empty veggie caps and commenced to put approximately 400 mgs in each cap. I then took one. My right hand has been giving me fits, particularly the right thumb, for sometime now. Nothing gave evidence of completely taking the problem away for me. Yet, that one cap of pinebark extract has proved to be so encouraging!

The pain today, 24 hours since taking, is probably 85% gone. That is quite amazing to me. Evidentally, one of the benefits of pine tree bark extract is that one dose keeps working for 72 hours... When you cap your own, this turns out to be one of those inexpensive propositions, along the line of humic acid, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, colloidal silver, dmso, vitamin D3, apple cider vinegar, blackstrap molasses, borax, green tea, . Bentonite clay, etc. (thanks, Ted for all your applied chemistry expertise through the years! ). Thanks again, Earth Clinic!

I Was so happy to find your website-I was looking for a natural approach to uping my DHEA level as my test results showed very low-As I am 46 and entering into the change of life I was frustrated with my weight gain and came upon the stories of ACV-Well I started to take the 2tbl. ACV to 1/4 tsp of baking soda, with a dash of cayenne and a skirt of lemon in 1/2 cup warm water....what I didn't expect to experience immediately was that the pain associated by my 12 year bout with slipped ribs and vertebrae problems disappeared within 20 minutes-hopefully now my body can heal itself rather than trying to quiet the agonizing heat of inflammation-Alleluia, the journey has just begun, healing is indeed something we can all do for ourselves. I have spread the word and for those of you with daily pain...it is the easiest thing you can do- Thank you so much..

This is just my personal experience, I am not a health professional. I have right breast pain that runs up my neck, radiates in my shoulder and down my arm into my hand.

I chop four garlic cloves and let sit for about 10 minutes to activate the Allicin, I then mix in raw honey about a tablespoon.

I chew a couple of times before I swallow and this provides pain relief almost instantly. It only lasts a few hours though.

Alex, doctors can sometimes miss fractures on x-rays, I would be applying comfrey (knitbone) salve, and making an infusion to take internally. When I have good supply I consume it daily. Read the comfrey page here on EC for more info on this amazing herb.

It should be noted that one teaspoon of baking soda in a single dose can give some people diarrhea.

Art

Dear Michael,

If you mean can you make your own turmeric capsules at home, yes. I have done so for years. It makes it quite inexpensive and you are assured of quality.

I bought a little capsule maker. It makes 24 at a time. I get organic turmeric root and empty capsules that fit the capsule maker. (I like the 00 kind as they are a bit larger. 5 capsules is about 1 teaspoon)

Once I fill the capsules, before putting the caps on, I use my pepper grinder to grind a bit of pepper into the capsules as the pepper is supposed to increase the effect of turmeric.

And yes, it helps with pain, inflammation, itching, infections. We use turmeric all the time.

~Mama to Many~

Hi Earth Clinic, WOW what a fab site, my work mate told me about you as she had very painful hip and knee, she was in so much pain that I said to her perhaps you should go to the hospital... No joy there, x-rays and pain killers but nothing happened she was still in pain and this was after a couple of weeks, so she investigated some web-sites and yours came up, she had a good read through and found that Apple Cider Vinegar would do the trick... What has she to lose........... PAIN, after rubbing apple cider vinegar and honey on her hip and knee she was very surprised that the pain she had has gone to a very mild ache, and her skin is very smooth........... I am very interested in the natural healing, and am on your web-site quite a lot, thank you for such an easy site to find your allments. Keep up the good work. Kim

Hi, I used to have severe shoulder pain from an old injury I aquired from a bicycle accident which lasted about 10 years. I could hardly lift my arm up and the doctors told me there was nothing I could do about it. And that I had probably developed arthritis in it.

And also I had severe pain in both my knees and my ankles. I changed my diet due to another problem- to an all-most all vegetarian and fruit diet and loads of fresh juice I juice myself NOT STORE BOUGHT JUICE.

I also started YOGA about a year ago. I am 67 years old and right now I have no pain in any of my joints whatsoever! I suggest that you purchase "Yoga beginners manual by Alice Christensen" and follow the instructions in this book! It took me about 3 to 4 months to get rid of my pains and feel good again but you must stick to the diet and the exercises in this book! I know what it's like to live with pain!

I don't have pain anymore and I regained all the strength in my injured shoulder!

I had a miscarriage and inflamation developed in my uterus as a result. I was unable to stand or walk for mor than 10 minutes. The pain in my lower back and pelvic area was excrutiating. I used 1 tbs of charcoal in a glass of warm water every morining and night for 10 days. The inflamation and the pain were gone by the end of the program.