On my decision to quit pharmaceutical dependency in exchange for natural alternative medicine.
When I was younger (I suppose I mean in my teens and twenties), I was, without giving it very much thought at all, in the habit of turning down pain relief if someone offered it to me whenever I got a headache or other ailment. The pain would have to be extremely bad for me to take anything, and if I did, it would be just one pill. Because I wasn't a regular pill-popper, that one pill would be all the more effective for me, and sufficient enough to deal with the relevant pain.
Over time though, I slipped into a very bad habit. At the first hint of pain, I'd take a Paracetamol. If it was really bad I'd have that, plus an Ibuprofen, as they can be taken together. Then I was taking two of each, justifying it by telling myself I was 'knocking it (the pain) on the head before it got started.'
A slippery slope, and one that leads only to dependency.
A while back, I'd started to develop migraines that were blindingly painful and left me sick for days. The cause was never ascertained, but after a couple of years, I suddenly stopped experiencing them. In fact, they ended about as quickly as they had started. Very weird. By then, though, I had developed the habit of popping pills at the first hint of an oncoming headache, or even just the possibility of a migraine.
Not good.
A friend informed me that when we take painkillers, they remain in your system for a long time after the pain has subsided. The length of time they told me was seven years. SEVEN YEARS!
I was horrified, as I'm sure most people would be, and decided I didn't want that for my body. So I decided to look into it further for myself.
So far, I have been unable to find anything anywhere that backs up the claim of painkillers remaining in the body for seven years. In fact, most sites I visited suggest that, while it depends on the individual's age, metabolism, and many other factors, most drugs of this kind should have passed through the system anywhere between a few hours and a few days. Is that true? Honestly, I don't know.
The seven years thing may be incorrect. Or maybe it is, and I just haven't found the information I'm looking for yet. I will keep researching this though because I think this is pretty important. If you know about this, can you post to let me know below, please?
Back in my younger days, there must have been something inside of me that knew taking these things wasn't good, and I resisted. Older me is trying to reconnect with that wise young self, and now I am consciously making the decision to never take manufactured pain relief medication again. By that, I mean anything produced by Big Pharma. No more Paracetamol and no more Ibuprofen, or any variations on a theme (Nurofen and so on). No longer would I contribute to their million-dollar market.
In the research I've done so far, I found that when we take painkillers, we are effectively masking the pain, not addressing the cause of that pain. When we mask it, the body struggles to locate the source of the pain which it needs to be able to do in order to heal itself, naturally. The very concept of my body being able to heal itself was actually quite foreign to me, too, so made quite an impact on my decision to change my practises when it comes to pain relief.
Last week I started to get a tension headache in the form of a band of pain across the back of my head, but since I had already thought about not wanting to take any pills, I decided I would ride it out. Over several hours I was tempted several times to cave, but instead, I went and got a glass of water every time I thought about popping a pill. I realised that this felt too much like an addiction craving for my liking, though I had automatically begun replacing the drug with something else to cope with denying my body what it was asking for. My body craved drugs, and I gave it water. Not a bad choice since I probably don't drink enough. I quit smoking many years ago, so I recognised the familiar feeling that swept over me. I suspected I was having withdrawal symptoms, and that made me all the more determined not to give in to it.
I kicked the ciggies - I can kick this!
A few years ago, I was using CBD from time to time for joint pain, and though I knew it helped, I didn't really continue using it. By the way, I'm in the UK, so no cannabis option for me here, sadly. Even CBD must be marketed as a food supplement rather than anything relating to health. facepalm
I knew I still had a bottle in the cupboard, so instead of a pill, I took a little CBD.
My headache, by this time, was so bad I felt sick and knew I would never be able to get to sleep. After taking the CBD though, the pain subsided enough, I went to bed and was able to sleep.
The next morning, the headache was still there, but less severe. Still, no pills, just a little CBD, and by the afternoon I was feeling much better.
Now, I intend to make better use of natural remedies and to listen to my body. The CBD I have is a fairly cheap one, which probably means it isn't the best, but it does help.
One thing I am certain of though, I am not going to put any more painkillers in my body ever again.
I'm intending to learn as much as I can about natural alternative medicine and homeopathy, and I'm looking for reading recommendations - all suggestions welcome!