New Study: This Painkiller Can Shrink Your Brain
In 2016, the CDC estimated that upwards of 50,000,000 people in America are living in chronic pain. As you may already know from personal experience, chronic pain can put a strain on us- physically, mentally, socially and financially. If it gets if bad enough, it can even alter the course of our life.
Most people in chronic pain eventually begin to take various over the counter anti-inflammatory drugs hoping to get relief. If the problem gets really bad, they may even seek out a prescription drug that is even stronger.
In the past, many of these patients were given dangerous and addictive narcotics, which we now know was a REALLY bad idea. Now, it is far more common for doctors to prescribe steroid pills or shots in the form of things like prednisone or cortisone. Although these drugs are remarkably powerful anti-inflammatories, as time goes on, more and more information is coming out that tells us that (like the opiod drugs they also used to call “miracles”) these steroid drugs may be doing more harm than good.
For years, we have known that steroid drugs can negatively affect bone, muscle and tendon health and accelerate the progression of arthritis (click here to read about that- Study Says Steroids Lead to Long Term Harms), but now it is also being shown that our brains can be harmed (and even shrunk!) by these drugs as well.
Click here to read about that- Prescription Steroids Affect Brain Structure- study finds
Now, am I saying that these drugs are totally worthless? No of course not. There can be situations where the benefits outweigh the risks, but sadly most patients (and most doctors prescribing these drugs) really aren’t fully aware of the risks when the decision is being made. Therefore, it is very often going to lead to a net loss.
What I have always advocated for is using these things as a “plan Z” and using all methods of natural pain relief as plans A-Y. But where do you start? Here is a good article put out by Arthritis Daily, which describes many different methods of reducing pain and inflammation naturally.
Check it out by clicking here- How to Reduce Arthritis Inflammation
One last thought to close with. Many people have been led to believe that chronic pain is just a normal and natural part of aging. It’s not. Even though you may have some serious conditions, these things are aggravated by the CURRENT state of health and the CURRENT level of inflammation of your body. Every minute of every day provides us with a chance to lower (or raise) our bodies inflammation through whatever we do (or don’t do). That means that what we do today will affect how we feel tomorrow, for better or worse.
Don’t let the devil tell you it’s hopeless and don’t let Big Pharma tell you that they are the Saviour. It’s one meal, one workout, one glass of water, one right decision at a time. That’s how you get to the promised land. Please share this with those you care about.
Yours on the journey,
Chris