Welcome back,
on today's program,
00:00:05.83\00:00:07.54
we're talking
about pain management,
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and we've received some
questions from our website:
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heartwiseministries.org
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And Dr. Marcum, we'd like
to get right into those... Okay
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So, the first viewer
asks: "I have pains all over,
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how can I tell
if pain is something
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I should worry about or not?"
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That is a great question because
all of us in life have little
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pains every now and
then, and, you know...
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Should I worry about it?
Should I go see a doctor?
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Do I try to handle it myself?
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What's the cause
of the pain? Right
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Of course, I'm a cardiologist
so I see lots of people
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that have chest pain and there
are certain patterns of pain
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that alert me that
there might be a problem.
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For instance, in the chest...
if a pain does not go away,
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lasts prolong periods
of time, above the waist,
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that could be the heart
attack or something else.
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So that pattern of pain, I would
say, if I don't know what it is,
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I wouldn't want to
miss a heart attack... Right
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So I would go to the
hospital, and have someone
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evaluate you with some
EKGs and some blood work.
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And, unfortunately,
women... it's very hard for them
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to evaluate pain - sometimes
they can feel very atypical.
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So anything above the
waist that you can't understand,
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you know, is a problem.
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Pain is not normal, Nick. Right!
Okay - pain is not normal.
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If I started taking this
and started whacking you,
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you would hurt and you
would figure out the pain
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was from me
whacking you here. Right
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So if a person can figure
out if a trauma caused the pain,
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that's very reasonable. Sure
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It was maybe not
dangerous, maybe a trauma,
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the way I was sitting,
the back pain - maybe that
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caused it, but above the waist,
between the waist and neck,
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if I have pain, that
could be very serious,
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including a heart attack.
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The other type of pain
that comes from the heart
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is a pain or discomfort
when someone is doing something
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because that is
when the heart works...
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So if you're going up a hill
and it hurts - that's bad. Right
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How about headache pain?
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You know, lots of
people have headache pain,
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but if it's a new
pain, the worse headache
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you've ever had, that might be
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something you need to look at.
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That might be a
serious cause of headache pain
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like an aneurysm or something
terrible inside the brain.
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Now sometimes, we just
have stress headaches...
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that's not as bad of a
pain to worry about. Right
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Pain that tends to go away,
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tends to not be
as big of a problem.
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Pain that gets worse over time,
tends to be a worse problem.
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So that's a pain to
even be more concerned about.
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It seems like
people don't worry about
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pain that is far from the brain,
you know, pain in the wrist,
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because they know
it's not dangerous,
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but pain in the
chest, pain when you go to
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the bathroom - that's
not a good pain to have. No
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You know, pain that suggests
a urinary tract problem.
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Pain when you go
to the big commode,
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that should
suggest a GI problem.
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Pain when you
touch on the bowels,
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that might be a problem too,
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or it might just
be an air bubble.
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Also, so pain is
something that's not normal,
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that you need to
sort of evaluate yourself,
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but if it's not
going away, it's worse,
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it doesn't follow a
pattern that you know about,
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and it's new - that's when
you should get help right away.
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Now chronic pain is a
little bit different bird. Okay
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That is pain
that will not go away,
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it's been there for a long time.
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Hopefully, it's been evaluated.
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We've talked about the most
common cause of chronic pain is
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back pain - sometimes
that can be helped quite a bit.
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Sometimes it cannot
be helped quite a bit.
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I was reminded, during our
break, that one of the best
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things for chronic back
pain can be hot and cold,
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alternating it, but
there are many other modalities
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to work on chronic pain.
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But I think that so many people
are having chronic pain now
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that it's something
we're not doing well. Yeah
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And the most common cause
of chronic pain is back pain.
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And the most common causes of
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that is - we're
not lifting correctly,
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we're not
having correct posture,
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we're not exercising well,
we have too much weight on,
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and we're trying to do too much.
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All of these things damage
our back and once our back
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is damaged, we're
not allowing it to heal.
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We're not
getting help right away.
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So another thing that's
important in chronic pain
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is when you have a
new pain, don't ignore it.
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Get some help - don't let
it go on and on until it's a
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big problem - it might not be
a life-threatening problem now,
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but if it goes on
long enough, it could be.
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So have chronic pain
evaluated by your doctor.
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And that's some good advice...
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When I was a kid,
if we would get hurt,
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we would always try and decide,
"is this something we need
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to go to the
hospital for or not?"
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But if it's continual pain or if
it's unexplainable, or if it's
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getting worse, then you probably
ought to get it checked out.
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Yeah, and I've had so
many people, through life,
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that they have
pain week after week...
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They know it's
not dangerous pain,
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but they never do
anything about it. Right
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And, before long, it
becomes a big problem,
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and then it's much
harder to take care of,
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it's much harder to
get to the bottom of...
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They hurt their
nerves, so it would be a
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chronic issue for them.
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It's just a real
hassle, but it's such an
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important topic.
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At our ministry, we sort
of track all the different
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callers that come in and
chronic pain is one of our
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leading questions that come
and it's usually not acute pain.
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People usually know
they need to go for help,
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but what I've seen is
that one time it is acute pain,
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and they ignore it,
and that's when acute pain
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develops into chronic pain.
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Now, we have
another question that says:
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"I go to a pain
management clinic and the doctor
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wants me to take
narcotics, is this a good idea?"
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I think, in my opinion, that
narcotics is a last resort. Okay
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And if you do, for whatever
reason, have to take a narcotic
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which is a medicine that blocks
pain, then you want to take
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as little of it as you can.
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Narcotics over a long haul has
side effects of the entire body.
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It makes us not think as good;
it depresses our respirations;
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it slows down our bowels;
it lowers our blood pressure;
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and what it does is - a little
bit of it works for a while,
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but then we get
sensitized to it.
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So we need more and
more and more to achieve the
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pain effects,
but at the same time,
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it's hurting
other parts of the body.
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So we build up an immunity
to it, it stops working,
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and then it has to be in higher
doses which hurts other parts.
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And that's, you know,
I wrote a book called:
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"Medicines That Kill," and
in my research for the book,
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that was one of the #1 causes
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of medications that
kill is narcotics...
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And unfortunately, people
use it for pain and some people
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take it and they
don't even have pain.
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You know, they
don't have that. Right
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And then, we talked about,
"Is narcotics a good idea?"
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For mental pain? No, it's
not a good idea for mental pain.
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Now, when are narcotics useful?
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I think they're very useful for
people that have cancer pain.
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I think people that have
cancer pain - cancer is growing
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in the nerves that's causing
chronic pain that won't go away,
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whether that be in the brain
or other parts of the body...
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That here's nothing
else that can be done,
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we can't get at the
cause, I think that that case
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the risk of the pain outweighs
the risk for the narcotic. Right
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Because when you
have chronic pain...
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we talked about all
- you don't think good,
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raises the risk
of heart disease,
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it weakens your immune system.
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You know, it
tears up your body too
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because your body is not
made to have chronic pain,
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that's not good either.
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So it's a very good
balance and unfortunately,
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not too many people
have the right balance...
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And, unfortunately, many
people just want the quick fix.
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You know, I want to
be out of pain right now!
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I don't want to go
through the steps either the
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lifestyle or dealing
with it or even resting.
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You know, "I want to
keep my busy, fast-paced job.
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Oh, I can't quit work
or slow down for a month
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because if I do, something
bad is going to happen,
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so just get me through today,"
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and they never let
their bodies heal. Right
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And there's so much
importance from this rest...
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You know, the God
of the universe, Nick,
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He worked 6-days and He rested.
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Rest is very important and
it's not only the physical rest,
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but the spiritual rest - coming
and meeting with God specially,
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and letting Him
work in healing you. Yes
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And then there's
things that we can do...
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You've heard of
"endorphins." Right
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There's natural pain
medicines that our body make
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by being happy,
by having service.
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There's another pain medicine
that helps called, "Oxytocin."
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People with pets and
people that love each other
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increase that chemical that
can also help with pain. Right
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And now, they are
inventing some medications
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that block
certain pain receptors.
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That might help if it can
block discrete causes of pain,
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and not cause other problems,
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but it doesn't make sense to
me just to turn off one receptor
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if we can get at the
cause of the pain. Sure
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So these are all
really good questions.
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Now, what is a "TENS unit?"
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Yeah, a TENS unit...
When a person is diagnosed
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with chronic pain - that means
they can't get at the cause,
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that, you know, the
pain is going to be there.
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We want to have people
have pain relief because
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the risk of the
pain is not worth it.
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That's one of the
modalities we use.
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It's not a narcotic and
there are different types.
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It's sort of a nerve stimulator.
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It stimulates the
nerves and it helps them
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maybe not have chronic pain.
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And there are
different types that do it.
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It helps with
maybe relaxes the muscles
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so the muscle doesn't
push on the nerves as much...
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But there are TENS units that we
can put topically on us. Okay?
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There are TENS units that
can actually be implanted in us.
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That helps quite a bit -
people with chronic pain,
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because then they don't have
to maybe use narcotics as much.
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Other things we talked about,
laughing and having happy things
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happen in service,
those help our bodies
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make pain killers,
but good posture...
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we talked about
water, a healthy diet,
00:09:52.45\00:09:55.59
more of a plant-based, it lowers
00:09:55.62\00:09:57.73
inflammation on the body.
00:09:57.79\00:09:59.29
So treating pain
is like treating...
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you know, you want to
treat the entire body.
00:10:01.23\00:10:03.40
Do everything that you
possibly can do to help the body
00:10:03.43\00:10:06.70
help turn off the pain. Right
00:10:06.74\00:10:09.00
And we have
another viewer that asks:
00:10:09.04\00:10:10.74
"What about D-Ribose?"
00:10:10.77\00:10:13.27
D- Ribose... There are lots
of different chemicals out there
00:10:13.31\00:10:17.81
that are non-narcotics
that help with pain. Okay
00:10:17.85\00:10:20.38
We hear about the
anti-inflammatories,
00:10:20.42\00:10:25.32
and we have pain
blockers like Tylenol,
00:10:25.35\00:10:27.66
anti-inflammatories,
even steroids help with pain
00:10:27.69\00:10:30.49
because it blocks inflammation.
00:10:30.53\00:10:31.86
Well, D-Ribose is another
chemical that's been shown
00:10:31.89\00:10:35.23
to help with pain.
00:10:35.26\00:10:36.60
It's usually
something that's a natural
00:10:36.63\00:10:39.27
thing that's given that helps.
00:10:39.30\00:10:41.14
There are also creams that help.
00:10:41.17\00:10:42.97
There seems to be some
healing power in Aloe vera.
00:10:43.00\00:10:46.68
There are a lot of things out
there that have Capsaicin in it.
00:10:46.71\00:10:50.28
Menthol sometimes will help.
00:10:50.31\00:10:51.85
They help these
nerves help deal with
00:10:51.88\00:10:54.32
the pains a little bit better...
00:10:54.35\00:10:55.78
This is just one of the many
different natural pain relievers
00:10:55.82\00:10:58.69
that are out there that
seem to help some people.
00:10:58.72\00:11:01.09
Okay, now here's another
question that you kind of
00:11:01.12\00:11:03.12
touched about
earlier, but - "Is exercise
00:11:03.16\00:11:05.56
good for chronic
pain?" How can exercise help?
00:11:05.59\00:11:08.00
Exercise and
movement are very good
00:11:08.03\00:11:10.30
in a couple of different ways.
00:11:10.33\00:11:11.80
One is it helps bring a better
blood supply to the area. Okay
00:11:11.83\00:11:17.51
Blood supply is good
because within the blood
00:11:17.54\00:11:19.74
comes oxygen and,
you know, your healing.
00:11:19.77\00:11:22.88
If you had no blood supply,
that causes a lot of pain
00:11:22.91\00:11:28.05
because the nerves
don't get the blood it needs
00:11:28.08\00:11:29.92
to function well. Sure
00:11:29.95\00:11:31.29
So nerves need
blood to function well.
00:11:31.32\00:11:33.86
Diabetics - you've
heard they have a neuropathy,
00:11:33.89\00:11:36.39
they don't get good
blood supply to the nerves.
00:11:36.42\00:11:39.06
So the nerves
need good blood supply.
00:11:39.09\00:11:40.96
So exercise will help with that.
00:11:41.00\00:11:42.80
Whole food plant-based diet
00:11:42.83\00:11:44.17
will help the nerves
get better blood flow.
00:11:44.20\00:11:45.83
It will also improve our
posture and our muscles and take
00:11:45.87\00:11:49.20
pressures off that - it also
can help us make endorphins,
00:11:49.24\00:11:52.51
and it helps to
do a lot of things,
00:11:52.54\00:11:54.11
but we want to
do smart exercise.
00:11:54.14\00:11:55.68
If exercise is
causing excruciating pain,
00:11:55.71\00:11:59.11
it might not be of benefit.
00:11:59.15\00:12:00.72
You know, massage -
that's a very beneficial
00:12:00.75\00:12:03.25
help for pain too because
it helps bring extra blood
00:12:03.28\00:12:05.89
into the area and
things of that nature.
00:12:05.92\00:12:07.42
That's the whole hot and cold,
00:12:07.46\00:12:09.22
more blood comes in,
more blood comes out.
00:12:09.26\00:12:11.23
It brings good things in
and it helps our body that way.
00:12:11.26\00:12:14.16
Now, what do doctors do if they
00:12:14.20\00:12:16.80
can't identify the
source of the pain?
00:12:16.83\00:12:18.90
Well, what I do is I pray. Yeah
00:12:18.93\00:12:22.20
That's the first thing I do
is I pray and then what I do is
00:12:22.24\00:12:24.97
I make sure I've looked at every
possible cause of pain first.
00:12:25.01\00:12:29.44
And then I really
explore - could there be some
00:12:29.48\00:12:31.71
mental aspects that
is triggering pain...
00:12:31.75\00:12:34.35
Because we know that "As
a man thinketh, so he is."
00:12:34.38\00:12:37.22
So the mind and the body
00:12:37.25\00:12:39.09
interact very
close with each other,
00:12:39.12\00:12:41.42
and we want to make sure
that, you know, there could be
00:12:41.46\00:12:44.16
mental pain that's
causing physical pain,
00:12:44.19\00:12:46.36
and physical pain that's causing
mental pain and vice versa.
00:12:46.39\00:12:50.37
This is a very tough area that
needs some expertise help. Sure
00:12:50.40\00:12:53.94
Well I think there is
some great advice there,
00:12:53.97\00:12:55.50
and finding alternative
therapies besides narcotics,
00:12:55.54\00:12:58.87
I think that's a
really important key. Yeah
00:12:58.91\00:13:00.98
Thank you so much
for sharing with us about
00:13:01.01\00:13:03.68
pain medications and what
the options might be for us.
00:13:03.71\00:13:07.12
Stay with us... Dr.
Marcum is going to close
00:13:07.15\00:13:08.68
the program with
prayer in just a moment.
00:13:08.72\00:13:11.05
There are many out there that
are suffering from chronic pain,
00:13:16.89\00:13:20.96
and I just want to let
you know that we feel for you,
00:13:21.00\00:13:23.97
and we want to pray for you.
00:13:24.00\00:13:25.83
And, I hope you can go somewhere
that you can find some help
00:13:25.87\00:13:29.57
and get some good
doctors and good providers
00:13:29.60\00:13:31.97
that will help lead
you in the right direction.
00:13:32.01\00:13:34.61
We want to pray
for you right now...
00:13:34.64\00:13:36.58
Father in heaven,
There are many that are
00:13:36.61\00:13:38.68
suffering from both
acute pain and chronic pain.
00:13:38.71\00:13:42.55
We want to pray that they
find rest so that their bodies
00:13:42.58\00:13:46.09
might heal and find
the providers that you lead
00:13:46.12\00:13:49.26
that can help them.
00:13:49.29\00:13:50.63
We want to pray for
miraculous healing at this point
00:13:50.66\00:13:52.96
in those lives,
is our prayer, Amen
00:13:52.99\00:13:55.26
You know, God can
still perform miracles today.
00:13:55.30\00:14:00.00
Sometimes He heals right away,
00:14:00.04\00:14:02.44
sometimes He heals through
modern medicine providers,
00:14:02.47\00:14:05.51
sometimes He heals
from lifestyle changes.
00:14:05.54\00:14:08.18
But He has promised
to heal us all some day
00:14:08.21\00:14:11.41
if we continue in
that relationship with Him.
00:14:11.45\00:14:13.65
Thanks for joining us
"The Ultimate Prescription"
00:14:13.68\00:14:16.65