Pain-relief Alternatives
excerpt from: Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines
Generally best not to combine these with drugs.
Serenity Medicine: Meditation alters brain regions that process pain.
Mind Medicine: Acupuncture releases endorphins.
* Alexander Technique is more effective than massage or exercise in relieving low-back pain.
Lifestyle Medicine: Regular exercise counters chronic pain.
Alternative Medicine: Reflexology releases endorphins.
* A cold plunge alters pain perceptions, counters chronic pain.
Herbal Medicine (safest first):
* High CBD (Cannabis) - up to five drops of tincture of the fresh flowering plant, taken as often as every fifteen minutes - is my favorite non-addictive pain reliever. Often, a single dose will do. There will be some THC in the tincture, as all plants contain a mix of cannabinols, but this does not, in my experience and the experience of many students and friends, make you “high.” First choice as an ally for transitioning off opiates/opioids.
* Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) - 5 drops of tincture of the fresh flowering plant, taken as often as needed - is my favorite pain relief, especially when I need to sleep.
* Kava kava (Piper methysticum) - sips of the lightly-fermented infusion or dropperful doses of root tincture - offer fast, effective relief of musculo-skeletal pain, traumatic pain, chronic pain from injuries, heartache. Less likely to put you to sleep, too.
* Willow (Salix alba) - 1-2 dropperfuls of tincture as needed - is as effective as aspirin and contains the same active ingredient.
So does meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria).
* Wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa) - tincture of the fresh sap taken by the spoonful - may be as pain-relieving as poppy juice.
* Valerian - up to a teaspoonful of root tincture - counters chronic pain, puts you out, leaves you hung-over and groggy.
* Poppy (Papavera somniflora) is the source of opium, heroin, opiates, and poppy seeds. Opiates are addictive; poppy seeds aren’t.
A tea of the fresh poppy seed heads entices the brain to make natural opiates (endorphins). Do not combine with drugs or alcohol.
excerpt from: Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines
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