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Funny thing pain, if you’ve never had a severe pain then the suggestion of taking simple analgesia and resting the affected area all seems quite reasonable. I was reminded of this when I read recently of a doctor’s advice to someone who was suffering from sciatica. Having personally experienced sciatica, it’s a condition I would not recommend to anyone who wishes to walk, sit, laugh, sleep, or to just simply pull up your trousers. It’s a bit like a dentist drilling your teeth without an anaesthetic, but it affects your whole leg. In other words the pain is consuming, exhausting and without respite. Clinical studies do show that in the majority of cases the pain will eventually subside and surgery may not be necessary, but in the meantime the patient has to deal with the pain or deal with the medication required to dull the pain. Remember, pain-killers are not selective to the area affected. They affect the whole of the nervous system and elsewhere so there may be significant side-effects from these medications.

Dealing with severe pain can be a complex issue, but I suggest that you have to treat this sort of pain fairly aggressively as acute severe pain is relatively easier to treat than chronic severe pain. In the early stages of an injury or insult to an area of the body, most of the pathological processes are happening at the site of the injury or insult. Throughout time the brain begins to modulate this pain and so no only do you have the injured area to deal with, but you also have complex neural pathways within the brain to deal with as well. This often means a far more complex management plan and a far more protracted recovery time. Specialists are very skilled at dealing with these issues but they do rely heavily on the stories their patients give them. That means being honest in answering their questions and not being heroic with a grin and bear it grimace! Often the use of a pain scale is helpful with zero being no pain at all and a 10 being the worse pain you have ever experienced.

Another health issue we commonly down play is influenza. Over the years I have frequently heard people say that they would not have the flu vaccine because either they never get the flu or that they had it last week for a couple of days and then it was all over! Influenza is a serious debilitating disease that will usually last from 10 days to two weeks and often leave you flat on your back exhausted. It’s not a happy 10 days either as patients do not have the energy to read a magazine or even watch a DVD. You will literally feel ancient with every movement being a real challenge and that doesn’t include the aching all over or the fevers and sleepless nights. The influenza virus is also extremely contagious and most people are unaware that if you spread it to someone who is more frail than yourself that you may actually be putting their life at risk.

With the ‘flu the big challenge is to vaccinate as many people in the community as possible, including children, those employed and unemployed, the elderly and the infirm, to reduce the chance of an epidemic occurring. Recent research has also showed that vaccinating pregnant women in the last trimester of their pregnancy will help protect their new born infants born during the ‘flu season.

Medicine has evolved over the last 40 years, but the change has been fairly slow with doctors by nature being very cautious and conservative people. But we can’t leave the doctors to take all the initiatives. As patients we need to be good listeners in our approach to health by heeding all the great health messages that keep being given to us about vaccinations, smoking, alcohol, exercise and healthy eating. We also need to be good communicators and tell our doctors how we are feeling with conditions such as pain. If the team treating you doesn’t have the best information then it may be that you will not end up getting the best treatment!

   Health Tips

Most people never make it past the first week. Why? Mostly because they quit when they realize how much work goes into getting back into the shape they once had. The fact of the matter is that it really is not as difficult as they think. They are just focusing on one aspect of overall wellness and burning themselves out on it.

In order to lose weight and keep it off for good, a person must develop the mindset necessary for living a healthy lifestyle. There is much more to being healthy than showing up to the gym every day. In fact, exercise is only one-eighth of the total equation. If you really want to achieve personal wellness in 2009, forget the gym and focus instead on improving the following 8 categories of health.

Health Tips #1: Diet & Nutrition
You already know the main reason you gained weight. Too many trips through the McDonalds drive-thru, late night snacking on junk food and poor dinner choices. You do not have to eat a diet of bland salads and yogurt, but you do need to limit the amount of trigger foods that you caused your weight gain. Replace your current American diet of high sugar, high-fat processed foods with those found in the produce and lean meat department as often as you can.

Health Tips #2: Nutritional Supplements
Now that our soils are more depleted of minerals than ever, and our farm animals are not fed properly, living a healthy lifestyle requires nutritional supplementation. I lost 70 pounds in 4 months and kept it off for over 15 years simply by drinking a soy-based protein shake for breakfast every morning and taking a few targeted vitamins. Why does this work? Because greasy bacon and runny eggs do not provide proper nutrition.

Health Tips #3: Fun & Recreation
What makes you happy? Going to the movies? Ice Skating? Playing the guitar? Whatever it is, you must find time for it on a weekly basis (if not daily) in order to maintain good mental stability. Your activities and hobbies should not include junk food or alcohol. Going to the movies is watching the movie, not eating a tub of fatty buttered popcorn. Be happy with what you are doing without the unnecessary evils.

Health Tips #4: Hydration
Drinking enough water throughout the day is the part of the equation that gets overlooked. People do not consider drinking as important as eating and it is! You should not be drinking soda or processed juices every day. Why? Because they deplete your body of vitamins and minerals while loading you up on sugar. Alcohol is even worse. Do yourself a favor and keep a water bottle with you at all times. Drink, drink, drink. I cannot stress this enough.

Health Tips #5: Stress
And speaking of stress, this is what happens when you do not allow yourself to have any fun in your life. This is just as important to living a healthy lifestyle as eating and drinking properly. Too much stress can cause major problems for your body. You only live once, so do not allow other people and events to get you so bothered and worried that you cannot live the lifestyle you deserve for yourself.

Health Tips #6: Unhealthy Habits
Not eating the wrong foods is just as important as eating the right foods. But unhealthy habits are not just about food, are they? Smoking and the use of other drugs, prescription or not, is probably the worst thing a person can do to their body. This is the only one you have! Take care of it. Alcohol is OK on occasion but not recommended on a daily basis to anyone interested in living a healthy lifestyle.

Health Tips #7: Weight Management
Have you ever noticed that weight loss really is not the issue that people struggle with? Most everyone has lost weight at one point in their life. Keeping that weight off is the obstacle that most people can not overcome. Think about it logically. If you gained weight by eating twinkies, then lost weight when you stopped eating twinkies, do not go back to eating twinkies. The person who eats twinkies on occasion (not every day) does not struggle with weight fluctuation.

Health Tips #8: Exercise
You knew this one was coming! It is totally possible to lose weight without exercising. I am living proof because my severe asthma prohibited me from doing it. The reason I can exercise now is because I got my body healthy through focusing on the other 7 categories. Once I began exercising, it only accelerated my weight loss and now helps to keep me lean. The key to exercise is not quantity but quality. A little bit every day will give you the best health benefits overall.

So there you have it! The 8 health tips to kick off the new year for a new you. Focus on improving each of these simultaneously as your one and only New Years Resolution and you will be on a successful path to overall wellness. Weight loss and poor health can be things of the past if you are just willing to make small changes on a daily basis.