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Get The Right Help For *Your* Pain
Plus: age-defying strength (benefits of horse stance for seniors)
The 10almonds Team
May 01, 2024
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
Do not resist the power of the dark side! Or dark sides, if you’re feeling adventurous. The important part, when you sit down to dinner is to have plant-based sides that are not only colorful, but ideally dark in color, as (in most cases) those are foods that have the greatest density of phytonutrients.
There are some exceptions (like cauliflower!) but it’s hard to go wrong with dark-colored (edible) plants.
⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Getting good quality medical care sometimes depends on giving good quality medical information
Today’s main feature will help you answer that sometimes-difficult question “how would you rate your pain on a scale of 1–10?”, without overstating or (as is usually more likely) understating it
We also give resources for how to deal with pain in many different ways—if even one works for you, it will make all the difference in the world!
If you've wanted to enjoy cannabis but have been put off by the harshness of smoking or vaping, you're not alone.
Today’s sponsor Mood are offering federally-legal rapid-onset THC gummies that can have you “feeling right” in just 5 minutes.
Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive
🤫 A WORD TO THE WISE
 | Over The Hill? Or Just An Uphill Struggle?Judith Graham talks about how the burden of getting medical care can exhaust older patients |
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
Age-Defying Strength: Benefits of Horse Stance for Seniors (7:35)
…and how to do it safely:
Very stable menu:
Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later 🔖
YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…
Topping Up Testosterone?
Brain Food? The Eyes Have It!
YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…
What’s The Real Deal With The Paleo Diet?
Age & Aging: What Can (And Can’t) We Do About It?
💥 MAIN FEATURE
How Much Does It Hurt?
Sometimes, a medical professional will ask us to “rate your pain on a scale of 1–10”.
It can be tempting to avoid rating one’s pain too highly, because if we say “10” then where can we go from there? There is always a way to make pain worse, after all.
But that kind of thinking, however logical, is folly—from a practical point of view. Instead of risking having to give an 11 later, you have now understated your level-10 pain as a “7” and the doctor thinks “ok, I’ll give Tylenol instead of morphine”.
A more useful scale
First, know this:
Zero is not “this is the lowest level of pain I get to”.
Zero is “no pain”.
As for the rest…
My pain is hardly noticeable.
I have a low level of pain; I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it.
My pain bothers me, but I can ignore it most of the time.
I am constantly aware of my pain, but can continue most activities.
I think about my pain most of the time; I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain.
I think about my pain all of the time; I give up many activities because of my pain.
I am in pain all of the time; It keeps me from doing most activities.
My pain is so severe that it is difficult to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.
My pain is all that I can think about; I can barely move or talk because of my pain.
I am in bed and I can’t move due to my pain; I need someone to take me to the emergency room because of my pain.
10almonds tip: are you reading this on your phone? Screenshot the above, and keep it for when you need it!
One extra thing to bear in mind…
Medical staff will be more likely to believe a pain is being overstated, on a like-for-like basis, if you are a woman, or not white, or both.
There are some efforts to compensate for this:
Some other resources of ours:
The 7 Approaches To Pain Management ← a pain specialist discusses the options available
Managing Chronic Pain (Realistically!) ← when there’s no quick fix, but these things can buy you some hours’ relief at least / stop the pain from getting worse in the moment
Science-Based Alternative Pain Relief ← for when you’re maxxed out on painkillers, and need something more/different, these are the things the science says will work
Take care!
YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…
How to Prevent Dementia: An Expert’s Guide to Long-Term Brain Health (book)
Antibiotics: Useful Even Less Often Than Previously Believed (And Still Just As Dangerous)
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Cannabis Gummies, Without The Wait
If you've wanted to enjoy cannabis but have been put off by the harshness of smoking or vaping, you're not alone.
But a common complaint about cannabis edibles is that they take too long to work, which can be inconvenient. That's where Mood comes in!
Mood is an online dispensary offering federally-legal cannabis gummies formulated to rapidly tap into the human body's endocannabinoid system, to give all of the benefits with none of the smoking or vaping.
If that sounds like your thing, you'll enjoy Mood's Hero Dose Rapid Onset THC gummies, which can get you feeling right in just 5 minutes... 😎
Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
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📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Reclaiming Body Trust: Break Free from a Culture of Body Perfection, Disordered Eating, and Other Traumas – by Hilary Kinavey & Dana Sturtevant
Authored by a therapist and a dietician, this book draws from both of their extensive professional clinical experiences, to explore how we can (often early in our lives) be led into disordered thinking when it comes to food and our bodies, and how we can "take back that which has been stolen from us".
More prosaically: the presented goal here is for us to each figure out where we are with our own body, and how we might build our relationship with same going forwards, in the way that will work the best for us.
The style is relaxed and conversational, while taking care to cover topics that are often tricky with no less seriousness. Chapter headings such as "Your coping is rooted in wisdom", "What does grief have to do with it?" and "Allowing for pleasure and satisfaction" give an idea of the flavors at hand here.
Bottom line: if you think your relationship with food and your body could be better, not only are you probably right, but also, this book can help.
What did you think of today's newsletter?We always love to hear from you, whether you leave us a comment or even just a click in the poll if you're speeding by! |
Wishing you good health, comfort, and joy,
The 10almonds Team
