Alison Odey

Regardless of how much you want to NOT have to take orthodox medications, in my experience there can come a time when you have to consider these to control severe pain. It is my personal view that that if this is the case then you shouldn’t feel bad about this, it is just where life has put you at that particular time.

It is important to realise that the body does not heal easily if there is severe pain as it causes extreme stress and prevents good sleep.

HOWEVER, as soon as it is possible or even as well as, try and make use of the natural analgesics that are available. There are many and all can be useful in particular circumstances.

For instance Capsaicin derived from hot chilli peppers (cayenne), I have found extremely useful to relief the pain of sore throats.
See page on lemon, honey and cayenne.
It is more normally used topically as a rub, as it can give relief to painful joints, fibromyalgia and  neuralgias.
HOWEVER once you have used a topical application containing cayenne be VERY careful not to then rub your eyes!!

For aching muscles and joints I find any cream that contains Arnica works well and better still if the cream contains herbs such as Cloves which is a wonderful analgesic (I remember as a child being given a whole clove to hold between my teeth to relief toothache).
Most topical applications of this type also contain heating herbs to encourage blood supply to the site. These may be herbs or essential oils such as eucalyptus, peppermint or wintergreen.
Go to On-line shop for ‘Real Deal Hurt crème’.

There are also natural alternatives to NSAIDs, that may reduce inflammation-associated pain.
These include herbs such as devil’s claw (may reduce the pain of osteoarthritis and rheumatism), feverfew (often used for migrains), turmeric, ginger, boswellia, olive, rosemary, cat’s claw,  and willow bark.
These are often included as ingredients in many natural pain relieving treatments or many can be utilized as part of the diet. Turmeric, green tea, ginger, olive, rosemary as well as cayenne can be used in this way, but use has to be regular and reasonable amounts used. Sometimes it is the particular combination of herbs that is effective.

Much of the relief these types of herbs give is through relieving inflammatory symptoms so it is important to give some thought to the part diet can play in both causing and relieving inflammation.
A high acid forming diet will invariably cause inflammation in the body (and therefore pain) to worsen.
See Diet: Acid/Alkaline.

Other herbs such as valerian and kava can help if pain is being caused by muscle spasm.
A combination of these two herbs I have often found very effective.
Magnesium may also be effective in cases of pain caused by spasm and or cramping.

Californian Poppy and passionflower also have a place in pain management especially if lack of sleep or stress is a factor.

The Chinese herb Corydalis (yanhusuo)  also has a relaxing sedating effect and is traditionally used to relieve pain of dysmenorrhoea, angina or epigastric pain.

Glucosamine can be extremely useful to help relieve joint discomfort and over the years I have found Green Lipped Mussel extract to which contains glucosamine in its natural form to be better still.
Green Lipped Mussel extract is safe to use UNLESS you have a tendency to gout, in which case use Glucosamine. The use of either has to be regular and over a long period. It is not suitable for occasional use as they do not give immediate effect.

Magnetic therapy can also help with joint pain and encourages good sleep.

Severe pain and stress also deplete the mineral level of the body so it is equally important to make an effort to increase mineral levels at times such as this.
See pages on ‘Minerals –facts’ and Minerals – why we need to supplement’.