Pain Management

I'm horrified that doctors continue to prescribe awful pain medications like oxycontin, oxycodone, vicotin and any other derivative of heroin.  Even after your surgery is long over.  Yes, those are all pretty much heroin.  Legal heroin.  If you have addict genes in your family, you should stop taking those 2 weeks after surgery.   Otherwise you could find yourself on the streets doing things you thought you would never do while leaving your family and your life behind.  I am not kidding.

Of course people would like to have an alternative to dangerous highly addictive drugs to help manage the pain.  Unless you crave those drugs.  Then, please find an alternative method immediately as you are probably already an addict or an unsuspecting addict.  Those drugs just numb or hide the pain.   They don't rid your body of the pain.  I won't go into an entire scientific explanation about how pain and the brain work.  But this post is about finding alternatives for managing pain.  I have found what works for me seems to also work for others that I have suggested they try these alternatives.   I could be repeating myself but it bears repeating.  Try these:

Ice
Arnica Montana
Asperin
Ibuprophen (for swelling)
Tumeric (also for swelling)
Castor Oil Packs with a heating pad for 30 mintutes
Acupuncture

Now some people say Epsom salts help while others say they make the pain worse.
So I say, try them.  It won't hurt to try.  Ok, maybe the hot bath with Epsom salts could.
But all are worth trying. And these don't have to just be remedies for PVNS.  These have helped for broken bones in my family.  And they are all safer than the heroin varieties.

Another suggestion is to not just get the good old doctors opinion.  Look for alternative healthcare practitioners.  People like naturopaths, nutritionists, acupuncturists, and especially Chinese herbalists.  They seem to have magic herbs in China.  Some of the herbs I have taken are quite remarkable.

If you know of any pain management methods or practitioners that are not "western medical doctors" then please share your experiences in the comments below for others to read.  I think this topic is very important.