Pain Control - Coping With Arthritis

How pain control helps you cope with your arthritis.

Living with a degenerative joint disease such as arthritis often means living with severe aches and pains associated with these diseases. Knowing how to alleviate the pain comes from learning about how to control the disease. There are different types of arthritis and knowing which type you have affects what treatment may be needed. However, before beginning a treatment plan, let's learn some basic concepts regarding pain.

• Aches and pains are not all the same.Just as there are different types of arthritis so are there different types of pain. Along with that, each patient is also different and it may take trying different treatments to find the best pain control method that works best for you.


• What causes pain? Most will occur to alert us that something is wrong with our body. Our nerves release chemical signals then transmit the signals to our brain. There are short-term signals like we get when touching something hot to help keep us safe. Long-lasting pain experienced with arthritis is a different kind of hurting. This type must be managed with proper pain control to improve our comfort levels and improve the quality of life.


• How do we control pain? Our brain and spinal cord has an arrangement of nerves that our pain signals travel through. Creating chemicals either naturally or with supplements that interfere and block these signals will help stop pain.

There are many factors that can contribute to the aches and pains with arthritis that include:

• Inflammation- Responsible for causing swelling and redness in the affected joints.


• Injury to joint tissues- Resulting from pressure, stress, injury or the disease process of the joints.


• Fatigue- A basic result of the arthritic disease process, which makes the pain build up and thus more difficult to handle.


• Depression and stress-Limited movement and being unable to enjoy countless activities can make depression a serious issue caused by this disease. Increased aches and pains, stress, depression and the loss of abilities can make the overall pain control management more difficult.

What contributes to the increase of aches and pains associated with arthritis?

Depression, Anxiety, Fatigue, Focusing on pain, Overdoing physical activity, Stress, Increased disease activity.

What helps with the pain control associated with arthritis?

Cold or heat treatments, Topical pain relievers, Distraction, Massage, Supplements and Medications, Relaxation, Appropriate low impact exercises, Humor, positive attitude and pleasing thoughts

What ever the type of arthritis you may have there is sure to be some level of joint pain that you will have with it. It is important to find ways to cope with the best pain control possible to ensure your happiness and a good quality of life.