Coping with Pain

The Goldberg Bio-Hygienic Re-Creation System™ is individually applied to each patient to bring about an end to chronic suffering. Regardless of the medical diagnosis, the process of Re-creating the body requires a detailed analysis to understand the individual’s condition and diligent work to turn the patient’s pain and despair into health renewal.

The first step is to put a halt to the patient’s descent into ongoing degeneration of their body.  By the time we see many of our patients there is often considerable downhill momentum occurring. The patient’s vitality has diminished after years of symptom suppressing drugs, a myriad of alternative medicine supplements/herbs/potions and the stress of ongoing pain. The patient is often in a nosedive that must be halted. This generally requires significant changes in the patient’s lifestyle and the elimination of the ruinous habit of taking a myriad of pills whether conventional or alternative in nature.

The brakes must be applied, the downhill momentum stopped and the health picture turned around. This can involve some discomforts. Not only do drugs need to gradually and carefully be reduced, when possible, but ingrained toxic habits such as alcohol, sugar, tobacco, coffee, food allergens and over the counter painkillers are optimally put to one side. Careful evaluation for other toxicities including exposure to environmental toxins and wastes produced from impaired digestion must also be undertaken and corrected. This can bring about a temporary increase in discomforts as the body begins to eliminate cellular wastes, recover its balance and form new, healthier cells and tissues.

Nature extracts a price for our prior habits of suppressing disease symptoms with drugs, excessive supplements and with stimulants such as caffeine. Aches and pains may increase temporarily as positive, health building steps are implemented and the body begins to right the ship. We pay for our errors in having suppressed our symptoms through drugs rather than addressing the causes of our illness. Just as a smoker quitting tobacco, a steroid user discontinuing prednisone or an alcoholic taking a sober path at first experiences discomforts, so too, as we head down the straight and narrow path to health salvation, discomforts can be part of the journey. Working our way back to health from chronic disease requires the Will to Get Well and the right supervision to understand symptoms as they occur.

But What Do I Do About the Pain?

We sometimes must temporarily grin and bear some discomforts if we have abused the body in the past. If we take the right course of action, however, the discomforts continue to diminish as health returns.

Grin and bear it? … easy to say while the patient is hurting. There are general steps, however, that can be taken, based on the individual, to help deal with pain while the body is going through a transition. The steps below do not interfere with the re-creation process if used appropriately nor will they put an abrupt halt to all the pain. They can, however, help get through the difficult times and do not interfere with the body’s reformation process.

Possible Aids for Lessening Pain while Undergoing Recreation

• Sleep – This is the greatest healer and pain reliever. It is not merely an aid to healing, it is a necessity. The patient who ignores their need for sleep, in abundance, is sabotaging themselves. This must be real sleep not drugged sleep bought with pharmaceuticals.
• Rest – In addition to long hours of sleep, the patient must allow the body to recuperate its energies for healing by slowing down life’s activities for a time. This includes rest for both the mind and body.
• Heat – The patient must avoid being chilled. Warmth both internally and externally are important. Chilled foods and drinks should be avoided and warm water both externally and internally can assist in relieving pain when used appropriately.
• Cold – Compresses may be used in a limited fashion to provide pain relief in instances where joints and soft tissues are injured. This must be done judiciously remembering that the warmth of inflammation is part of the body’s healing process and that cold also causes energy loss from the body.
• IV Fluids – When there is dehydration of water and minerals, cellular metabolism is impaired. If adequate hydration cannot be taken orally the use of IV fluids with electrolytes is a consideration. This can help to ease discomforts and promote healing in selected cases.
• Water Externally – Warm baths and showers can assist in making the patient comfortable, help them sleep more soundly and promote elimination through the skin.
• Liquid Diet – Taking stress off the digestive tract is often indicated to conserve energy and promote detoxification and healing. A GI tract at rest is often of great help in resting the patient and putting them at ease.
• Fasting – This involves taking water only. This can be of great aid in some patients but should only be undertaken under experienced supervision if for more than 36 hours. It is contraindicated in cases of diabetes, cancer, mental disorders, eating disorders, most wasting diseases and when pharmaceuticals are being employed.
• Sunlight – A full body sunbath can help relax the patient and alleviate pain depending on the patient’s condition and assuming it is performed correctly.
• Massage – During the acute phase of healing, massage, if used, should be done gently and in a limited fashion by a skilled therapist.
• Mineral adjuncts – We will in some cases advise blends or individual applications of special forms of calcium and/or magnesium to help with muscle contraction and relaxation.
• Ointments/Creams – Some counter irritants applied topically such as creams containing menthol can provide modest temporary relief with joint issues.
• Motion – In the form of gentle stretching and warm water pool exercises.

The practical use of any of the above depends greatly on the individual patient’s situation, the nature of their pain/disease and where it is emanating from.

There are instances including invasive malignancies, post-surgical situations, injuries including burns, other acute traumas and severe exacerbations of some autoimmune cases, where temporary pharmaceutical pain relief is imperative and to withhold such relief in these extreme circumstances is inhumane. In such cases the least addictive/damaging pharmaceutical should be employed. Drugs differ greatly in terms of their damaging effects. Over the counter drugs such as Aspirin also have side effects but to a lesser degree than opioids for example and if used judiciously for short periods of time, when there is intolerable pain, can often suffice to push severe pain into the tolerable category particularly when combined with some of the non-pharmaceutical aids listed above.

Far too many physicians and patients, however, employ drugs including prednisone and other steroids (watch video: The Health Destroying Effects of Prednisone), barbiturates, opiates, biologicals/immune suppressants and a myriad of alternative supplements much too broadly and thus hamper the patient from making their way back to good health. The patient might enjoy a modicum of pain relief temporarily but has to soon pay like the devil for the brief interlude from discomfort with further impaired health afterwards. Putting up with some discomforts temporarily and allowing the body the opportunity to turn itself around is the way to return to health and get off the symptom suppression train. Intense pain can be a barrier to recovery if it interferes with the patient’s sleep, rest and peace of mind. We therefore do our best to help the patient get through rough times during their period of healing by incorporating some of the suggestions above, always individually applied to each patient’s case.