Showing posts with label back pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label back pain. Show all posts

Sunday, May 1, 2016

There have been so many fatal addictions that began with chronic pain: innumerable athletes, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, now (presumably) Prince.

I saw myself trending that direction once. Two ibuprofen worked wonders on my back pain, but but after a while it didn't work anymore so I took four. Four worked wonders for a while, but after a while it didn't work anymore so I took six…

I was fortunate enough to recognize the trend, and found alternative treatments that worked. I still need pain medication about once a week, but yoga and stretching keep the pain manageable (yet always present) the rest of the time.


I was lucky that a non-pharmaceutical solution worked for me, but what if it hadn't? Not to be overly dramatic, but when six pills stopped working and I was considering more, I was having thoughts that perhaps a life of constant pain wasn't worth living.

I could very well have been the one on the slab today, surrounded by people saying "tsk-tsk, such a waste…"