Three Ways to Address Emotional Pain

When your head or tooth is aching all you have to do is pop a painkiller and wait for a few minutes. But what about if you are experiencing emotional pain? Regardless of reason, painkillers are useless in addressing the latter. To help ease emotional pain, try out these suggestions:

Get active.

Although emotional pain can render you sluggish, fighting it by getting active would work wonders. Walk, run, swim, hike, dance, or play sports. Choose any activity you prefer. Accordingly, the brain releases endorphins, the brain's natural feel-good chemicals, every time you get moving. This works to dull your emotional pain, giving you an overall relieved feeling.

Divert your mental focus.

Although you need to ponder on the issue in order to come up with the best way to resolve it, dwelling too much on it, especially your pain would only drag you down further. Diverting your mental focus by concentrating on other activities or issues could work. Or you could try changing your perspective by viewing the matter from a positive angle.

Have some fun.

Duuhhh...This is self-explanatory, right? If emotional dramas are bugging you, then cheer yourself up by doing activities you find pleasurable.

-Maricel Modesto

Tension Headache Quick-Fixes

Got a tension headache? Try these quick-fixes:
Do proper breathing

The moment you feel that unmistakable tightening around your head, alleviate it by doing what comes naturally: breathe. However, as opposed to ordinary breathing, the kind of breathing that could help ease this kind of pain is of the deep kind. To get instant relief, breathe deeply three times. Feel the air as it slowly goes in and fills up your lungs. Likewise, feel it gradually slipping out as you exhale.

Calm down

Obviously, the culprit behind tension headaches is none other than tension. Since the tension mentioned here is the mental type, your feelings and thoughts are partly responsible for the onset of pain. So the moment you find yourself struggling with it; relax, take deep breaths, and clear your mind. You can either blank your mind or use creative visualization to help you calm down.

Get moving

You don't have to start planning an intensive exercise routine on the spot. The only thing called for here is a brief 10-minute walk around the room or stroll in the garden to help clarify your thoughts. As you walk around, make sure that you do proper deep breathing.

-Maricel Modesto

Diagnosing CRPS(Complex Regional Pain Syndrome)

Known to occur after undergoing surgery, stroke, heart attack, or any other kinds of physical injury; chronic regional pain syndrome or CRPS can affect any part of the body although it commonly strikes the arms or legs. For sufferers, the burning feeling characterizing it is said to be much worse than the actual pain of the injury itself. Also referred to as causalgia or reflex sympathetic dystrophy, you may also experience any or all of the following symptoms in the affected area: swelling, uncommon sweating, oversensitivity, discolored skin, and a change in temperature.

Despite the symptoms identifying CRPS, its exact cause still baffles medical experts. As is often the case, people with this condition experience pain long after their injuries have healed. In getting a diagnosis, your doctor would use your symptoms and the result of the physical examination, which you are required to take, as the basis. Since there are varied kinds of tests to verify CRPS, your doctor could give you a test differentiated from what is given to others. However, be reminded that to improve your chances, it's always best to seek diagnosis and treatment while CRPS is still in the early stages—the earlier, the better.

- Maricel Modesto