Pain affects the lives of millions of people, resulting in frequent missed days from work, needing assistance from co-workers, decreased levels of performance, needing worksite modifications, and lost employment opportunities due to inability to meet job demands. Pain can affect home life by necessitating assistance with daily activities such as dressing, cleaning, cooking and driving. It can get so severe that change of employment is necessitated.

NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are commonly used to help deal with the pain. They can cause gastrointestinal bleeding, leaky gut, heart complications, lung complications, etc. According to Dr. Joseph Pizzorno and Dr. Michael Murray, NSAID use for conditions such as arthritis can "deteriorate the very joints that they are taken for, because they turn off the chemistry to repair." Sherry Rogers, M.D., says the drugs "all steal from cartilage chemistry, fostering breakdown of protective cartilage." This increases your risk for surgery and eventual joint replacement.

Cortisone injections are sometimes used and are sometimes effective in providing short-term pain relief. However, they don't improve health and after a few series of injections can often result in a buildup of adhesions, scar tissue and further damage, fostering even more pain.

According to Timothy McAlinson, M.D., of Boston University, data "suggests that optimizing the nutritional status of the population may well play some role in the secondary and possibly primary prevention of disease."

According to an article published in Arthritis Today, "Acupuncture has become one of the most popular - and accepted - unconventional therapies within the United States. An estimated 15 million Americans have tried this needle therapy." In 1997, a National Institutes of Health panel found acupuncture to be an acceptable treatment for many pain conditions, including fibromyalgia and general musculoskeletal pain. And no, it usually doesn't hurt after an initial "pinch" or sting."

I have found in my own practice that individually, acupuncture and nutritional therapy each help in dealing with pain from many different causes. However, when the two therapies are combined, they work exponentially better than either acupuncture or nutrition on its own, and without the undesirable side effects of drugs.

What that means to you is when you feel better and hurt less, your productivity in the workplace will increase and you are less likely to lose your job due to excess sick leave or inability to fulfill your job requirements adequately. It also means that you will be less irritable and intolerant of others and thus, your friends and family will enjoy being around you more.

Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with more than 32 years of experience. Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health-care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d'Alene clinic. Visit Carling's website at www.vitalhealthandfitness.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at (208) 765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.