Does pain cause depression or does depression cause pain? Unfortunately there appears to be no clear picture on what comes first. However, pain specialists and other medical professionals are beginning to understand the correlation between the two conditions and are focusing efforts on treating patients holistically. Ignoring one condition over the other only seems to…
Depression and chronic pain often go hand in hand. Unfortunately, it can also be a chicken or egg situation. How do you know if your chronic pain has led to depression or the other way around? There have been several recent studies that try to better understand the links between this mental health condition and pain.…
Unfortunately, this post will not tell you that you can lose weight in a week. It certainly won’t talk about fad diets that could end up hurting rather than helping your overall health. Over and over, research has shown that weight that falls off within a week or after a round of Tabasco and lemonade inspired…
With all of this talk about foods that are good for pain management, how do you know where to start? Just adding disparate ingredients to your grocery list doesn’t mean you’ll actually eat the new, healthier food. You’re in luck, though. There are some great resources for recipes and cookbooks that can help you cook…
The foods we eat can have a huge impact on our pain health. Some foods can cause more inflammation, and thus pain, while others may be able to protect and help the body. When you take the food out of the restaurant and into the home kitchen, however, you can really amp up the pain…
So many people rely on caffeine to make it through the day. Coffee, diet Coke, energy drinks, or anything else containing the stimulant are very popular in our fast-paced culture. While caffeine is naturally occurring, it does have some negative consequences for some people, especially those already dealing with chronic pain conditions. Here are some…
You may be surprised to learn that there are some foods that can cause or exacerbate pain. You probably know about celiac disease and gluten intolerance, but sometimes the issues go beyond specific related conditions. What foods can cause pain or exacerbate chronic conditions such as arthritis? Sugars: Increased sugar intake, which increases the body’s production…
Opiates and opioid medications are often prescribed to patients with chronic pain or as they recover from surgery or major injury. However, there are indicators that some individuals have or may develop a tolerance to opiate drugs. To better understand it is important to know the signs of opiate tolerance and be proactive about alternative…
If you have never experienced it yourself, you have probably heard others say that the same amount of painkillers simply don’t work for them anymore. Just how does this type of painkiller tolerance happen? Sometimes the effects can be psychological and sometimes they can be biological. First, we need to understand the definition of painkillers…
Before we dive into the questions and answers about spinal cord stimulation it is important to understand the procedure and its benefits. From our website’s description of spinal cord stimulation and how it can help pain: “Spinal cord stimulation is a procedure that uses mild electrical impulses to the spine to treat chronic pain due…