Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000071B
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00:05 Welcome back, on today's program,
00:07 we're talking about pain management, 00:09 and we've received some questions from our website: 00:11 heartwiseministries.org 00:13 And Dr. Marcum, we'd like to get right into those... Okay 00:16 So, the first viewer asks: "I have pains all over, 00:19 how can I tell if pain is something 00:21 I should worry about or not?" 00:22 That is a great question because all of us in life have little 00:26 pains every now and then, and, you know... 00:29 Should I worry about it? Should I go see a doctor? 00:32 Do I try to handle it myself? 00:34 What's the cause of the pain? Right 00:36 Of course, I'm a cardiologist so I see lots of people 00:39 that have chest pain and there are certain patterns of pain 00:43 that alert me that there might be a problem. 00:47 For instance, in the chest... if a pain does not go away, 00:51 lasts prolong periods of time, above the waist, 00:54 that could be the heart attack or something else. 00:58 So that pattern of pain, I would say, if I don't know what it is, 01:01 I wouldn't want to miss a heart attack... Right 01:02 So I would go to the hospital, and have someone 01:05 evaluate you with some EKGs and some blood work. 01:09 And, unfortunately, women... it's very hard for them 01:12 to evaluate pain - sometimes they can feel very atypical. 01:15 So anything above the waist that you can't understand, 01:19 you know, is a problem. 01:20 Pain is not normal, Nick. Right! Okay - pain is not normal. 01:23 If I started taking this and started whacking you, 01:26 you would hurt and you would figure out the pain 01:28 was from me whacking you here. Right 01:30 So if a person can figure out if a trauma caused the pain, 01:34 that's very reasonable. Sure 01:36 It was maybe not dangerous, maybe a trauma, 01:38 the way I was sitting, the back pain - maybe that 01:41 caused it, but above the waist, between the waist and neck, 01:44 if I have pain, that could be very serious, 01:47 including a heart attack. 01:48 The other type of pain that comes from the heart 01:50 is a pain or discomfort when someone is doing something 01:53 because that is when the heart works... 01:55 So if you're going up a hill and it hurts - that's bad. Right 01:58 How about headache pain? 02:00 You know, lots of people have headache pain, 02:02 but if it's a new pain, the worse headache 02:04 you've ever had, that might be 02:06 something you need to look at. 02:07 That might be a serious cause of headache pain 02:09 like an aneurysm or something terrible inside the brain. 02:13 Now sometimes, we just have stress headaches... 02:15 that's not as bad of a pain to worry about. Right 02:18 Pain that tends to go away, 02:21 tends to not be as big of a problem. 02:24 Pain that gets worse over time, tends to be a worse problem. 02:29 So that's a pain to even be more concerned about. 02:32 It seems like people don't worry about 02:35 pain that is far from the brain, you know, pain in the wrist, 02:39 because they know it's not dangerous, 02:41 but pain in the chest, pain when you go to 02:43 the bathroom - that's not a good pain to have. No 02:45 You know, pain that suggests a urinary tract problem. 02:49 Pain when you go to the big commode, 02:52 that should suggest a GI problem. 02:55 Pain when you touch on the bowels, 02:57 that might be a problem too, 02:58 or it might just be an air bubble. 03:00 Also, so pain is something that's not normal, 03:04 that you need to sort of evaluate yourself, 03:06 but if it's not going away, it's worse, 03:08 it doesn't follow a pattern that you know about, 03:10 and it's new - that's when you should get help right away. 03:14 Now chronic pain is a little bit different bird. Okay 03:18 That is pain that will not go away, 03:21 it's been there for a long time. 03:23 Hopefully, it's been evaluated. 03:25 We've talked about the most common cause of chronic pain is 03:28 back pain - sometimes that can be helped quite a bit. 03:32 Sometimes it cannot be helped quite a bit. 03:35 I was reminded, during our break, that one of the best 03:39 things for chronic back pain can be hot and cold, 03:42 alternating it, but there are many other modalities 03:44 to work on chronic pain. 03:46 But I think that so many people are having chronic pain now 03:49 that it's something we're not doing well. Yeah 03:52 And the most common cause of chronic pain is back pain. 03:56 And the most common causes of 03:58 that is - we're not lifting correctly, 04:00 we're not having correct posture, 04:02 we're not exercising well, we have too much weight on, 04:05 and we're trying to do too much. 04:07 All of these things damage our back and once our back 04:09 is damaged, we're not allowing it to heal. 04:11 We're not getting help right away. 04:13 So another thing that's important in chronic pain 04:15 is when you have a new pain, don't ignore it. 04:18 Get some help - don't let it go on and on until it's a 04:21 big problem - it might not be a life-threatening problem now, 04:25 but if it goes on long enough, it could be. 04:27 So have chronic pain evaluated by your doctor. 04:30 And that's some good advice... 04:32 When I was a kid, if we would get hurt, 04:34 we would always try and decide, "is this something we need 04:35 to go to the hospital for or not?" 04:37 But if it's continual pain or if it's unexplainable, or if it's 04:40 getting worse, then you probably ought to get it checked out. 04:43 Yeah, and I've had so many people, through life, 04:45 that they have pain week after week... 04:47 They know it's not dangerous pain, 04:49 but they never do anything about it. Right 04:50 And, before long, it becomes a big problem, 04:53 and then it's much harder to take care of, 04:57 it's much harder to get to the bottom of... 04:58 They hurt their nerves, so it would be a 05:01 chronic issue for them. 05:04 It's just a real hassle, but it's such an 05:06 important topic. 05:07 At our ministry, we sort of track all the different 05:11 callers that come in and chronic pain is one of our 05:15 leading questions that come and it's usually not acute pain. 05:19 People usually know they need to go for help, 05:21 but what I've seen is that one time it is acute pain, 05:24 and they ignore it, and that's when acute pain 05:26 develops into chronic pain. 05:28 Now, we have another question that says: 05:30 "I go to a pain management clinic and the doctor 05:33 wants me to take narcotics, is this a good idea?" 05:36 I think, in my opinion, that narcotics is a last resort. Okay 05:42 And if you do, for whatever reason, have to take a narcotic 05:45 which is a medicine that blocks pain, then you want to take 05:49 as little of it as you can. 05:51 Narcotics over a long haul has side effects of the entire body. 05:55 It makes us not think as good; it depresses our respirations; 06:00 it slows down our bowels; it lowers our blood pressure; 06:04 and what it does is - a little bit of it works for a while, 06:08 but then we get sensitized to it. 06:10 So we need more and more and more to achieve the 06:13 pain effects, but at the same time, 06:16 it's hurting other parts of the body. 06:18 So we build up an immunity to it, it stops working, 06:21 and then it has to be in higher doses which hurts other parts. 06:24 And that's, you know, I wrote a book called: 06:26 "Medicines That Kill," and in my research for the book, 06:30 that was one of the #1 causes 06:32 of medications that kill is narcotics... 06:35 And unfortunately, people use it for pain and some people 06:38 take it and they don't even have pain. 06:40 You know, they don't have that. Right 06:42 And then, we talked about, "Is narcotics a good idea?" 06:46 For mental pain? No, it's not a good idea for mental pain. 06:49 Now, when are narcotics useful? 06:53 I think they're very useful for people that have cancer pain. 06:57 I think people that have cancer pain - cancer is growing 07:01 in the nerves that's causing chronic pain that won't go away, 07:05 whether that be in the brain or other parts of the body... 07:08 That here's nothing else that can be done, 07:10 we can't get at the cause, I think that that case 07:13 the risk of the pain outweighs the risk for the narcotic. Right 07:17 Because when you have chronic pain... 07:19 we talked about all - you don't think good, 07:21 raises the risk of heart disease, 07:23 it weakens your immune system. 07:24 You know, it tears up your body too 07:26 because your body is not made to have chronic pain, 07:28 that's not good either. 07:30 So it's a very good balance and unfortunately, 07:32 not too many people have the right balance... 07:35 And, unfortunately, many people just want the quick fix. 07:38 You know, I want to be out of pain right now! 07:40 I don't want to go through the steps either the 07:42 lifestyle or dealing with it or even resting. 07:45 You know, "I want to keep my busy, fast-paced job. 07:47 Oh, I can't quit work or slow down for a month 07:50 because if I do, something bad is going to happen, 07:52 so just get me through today," 07:54 and they never let their bodies heal. Right 07:57 And there's so much importance from this rest... 08:00 You know, the God of the universe, Nick, 08:02 He worked 6-days and He rested. 08:04 Rest is very important and it's not only the physical rest, 08:08 but the spiritual rest - coming and meeting with God specially, 08:13 and letting Him work in healing you. Yes 08:15 And then there's things that we can do... 08:17 You've heard of "endorphins." Right 08:19 There's natural pain medicines that our body make 08:22 by being happy, by having service. 08:25 There's another pain medicine that helps called, "Oxytocin." 08:29 People with pets and people that love each other 08:33 increase that chemical that can also help with pain. Right 08:37 And now, they are inventing some medications 08:40 that block certain pain receptors. 08:42 That might help if it can block discrete causes of pain, 08:46 and not cause other problems, 08:48 but it doesn't make sense to me just to turn off one receptor 08:51 if we can get at the cause of the pain. Sure 08:53 So these are all really good questions. 08:55 Now, what is a "TENS unit?" 08:57 Yeah, a TENS unit... When a person is diagnosed 09:01 with chronic pain - that means they can't get at the cause, 09:04 that, you know, the pain is going to be there. 09:06 We want to have people have pain relief because 09:09 the risk of the pain is not worth it. 09:11 That's one of the modalities we use. 09:13 It's not a narcotic and there are different types. 09:16 It's sort of a nerve stimulator. 09:18 It stimulates the nerves and it helps them 09:21 maybe not have chronic pain. 09:22 And there are different types that do it. 09:24 It helps with maybe relaxes the muscles 09:27 so the muscle doesn't push on the nerves as much... 09:29 But there are TENS units that we can put topically on us. Okay? 09:33 There are TENS units that can actually be implanted in us. 09:38 That helps quite a bit - people with chronic pain, 09:40 because then they don't have to maybe use narcotics as much. 09:44 Other things we talked about, laughing and having happy things 09:48 happen in service, those help our bodies 09:50 make pain killers, but good posture... 09:52 we talked about water, a healthy diet, 09:55 more of a plant-based, it lowers 09:57 inflammation on the body. 09:59 So treating pain is like treating... 10:01 you know, you want to treat the entire body. 10:03 Do everything that you possibly can do to help the body 10:06 help turn off the pain. Right 10:09 And we have another viewer that asks: 10:10 "What about D-Ribose?" 10:13 D- Ribose... There are lots of different chemicals out there 10:17 that are non-narcotics that help with pain. Okay 10:20 We hear about the anti-inflammatories, 10:25 and we have pain blockers like Tylenol, 10:27 anti-inflammatories, even steroids help with pain 10:30 because it blocks inflammation. 10:31 Well, D-Ribose is another chemical that's been shown 10:35 to help with pain. 10:36 It's usually something that's a natural 10:39 thing that's given that helps. 10:41 There are also creams that help. 10:43 There seems to be some healing power in Aloe vera. 10:46 There are a lot of things out there that have Capsaicin in it. 10:50 Menthol sometimes will help. 10:51 They help these nerves help deal with 10:54 the pains a little bit better... 10:55 This is just one of the many different natural pain relievers 10:58 that are out there that seem to help some people. 11:01 Okay, now here's another question that you kind of 11:03 touched about earlier, but - "Is exercise 11:05 good for chronic pain?" How can exercise help? 11:08 Exercise and movement are very good 11:10 in a couple of different ways. 11:11 One is it helps bring a better blood supply to the area. Okay 11:17 Blood supply is good because within the blood 11:19 comes oxygen and, you know, your healing. 11:22 If you had no blood supply, that causes a lot of pain 11:28 because the nerves don't get the blood it needs 11:29 to function well. Sure 11:31 So nerves need blood to function well. 11:33 Diabetics - you've heard they have a neuropathy, 11:36 they don't get good blood supply to the nerves. 11:39 So the nerves need good blood supply. 11:41 So exercise will help with that. 11:42 Whole food plant-based diet 11:44 will help the nerves get better blood flow. 11:45 It will also improve our posture and our muscles and take 11:49 pressures off that - it also can help us make endorphins, 11:52 and it helps to do a lot of things, 11:54 but we want to do smart exercise. 11:55 If exercise is causing excruciating pain, 11:59 it might not be of benefit. 12:00 You know, massage - that's a very beneficial 12:03 help for pain too because it helps bring extra blood 12:05 into the area and things of that nature. 12:07 That's the whole hot and cold, 12:09 more blood comes in, more blood comes out. 12:11 It brings good things in and it helps our body that way. 12:14 Now, what do doctors do if they 12:16 can't identify the source of the pain? 12:18 Well, what I do is I pray. Yeah 12:22 That's the first thing I do is I pray and then what I do is 12:25 I make sure I've looked at every possible cause of pain first. 12:29 And then I really explore - could there be some 12:31 mental aspects that is triggering pain... 12:34 Because we know that "As a man thinketh, so he is." 12:37 So the mind and the body 12:39 interact very close with each other, 12:41 and we want to make sure that, you know, there could be 12:44 mental pain that's causing physical pain, 12:46 and physical pain that's causing mental pain and vice versa. 12:50 This is a very tough area that needs some expertise help. Sure 12:53 Well I think there is some great advice there, 12:55 and finding alternative therapies besides narcotics, 12:58 I think that's a really important key. Yeah 13:01 Thank you so much for sharing with us about 13:03 pain medications and what the options might be for us. 13:07 Stay with us... Dr. Marcum is going to close 13:08 the program with prayer in just a moment. 13:16 There are many out there that are suffering from chronic pain, 13:21 and I just want to let you know that we feel for you, 13:24 and we want to pray for you. 13:25 And, I hope you can go somewhere that you can find some help 13:29 and get some good doctors and good providers 13:32 that will help lead you in the right direction. 13:34 We want to pray for you right now... 13:36 Father in heaven, There are many that are 13:38 suffering from both acute pain and chronic pain. 13:42 We want to pray that they find rest so that their bodies 13:46 might heal and find the providers that you lead 13:49 that can help them. 13:50 We want to pray for miraculous healing at this point 13:52 in those lives, is our prayer, Amen 13:55 You know, God can still perform miracles today. 14:00 Sometimes He heals right away, 14:02 sometimes He heals through modern medicine providers, 14:05 sometimes He heals from lifestyle changes. 14:08 But He has promised to heal us all some day 14:11 if we continue in that relationship with Him. 14:13 Thanks for joining us "The Ultimate Prescription" |
Revised 2016-07-18