Hi all.
What do you use for chronic pain? I have MS and have found that one of the things that helps is direct application of stinging nettles to sore areas. But, that only helps when they’re out in their stinging glory.
Any other suggestions?
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Ai’ve read that a salve of Datura sp. was traditionally used in MS treatment. Dont blame me if it dont work though…
EEK!!! I’ve had thorn-apple before (recreationally when I was young and invincible). Not fun Worst drug experience of my life. Almost 20 years after it happened I still remember it being extraordinarily unpleasant.
Perhaps the salve is different and less potent but the dose/response curve for datura isn’t something I feel comfortable messing with.
I asked a magic tree what she thought:
“Here is the sticky situation: is the chronic pain due to MS, which then it is neurological and autoimmune and MS usually causes movement problems as well as painful ones, or from a past injury (sprain/strain), or from degenerative joint disease (both musculoskeletal)? Knowing why and where the pain is stemming from is key. However, general advice that you can give (because your not a doc) is… Cod liver oil (internally) shifts the cascade to anti-inflammatory (2 tsp 2 times a day), if its more neurological a B-100 in the morning is helpful, the herbs in Zyflamend and Joint formula are anti-inflammatory and very helpful (but focus more on musculoskeletal and taken internally). I can give you the rundown if you want. Watch out for immune modulators with MS (its an auto-immune problem). The topical Nettles interrupt the pain signals and topical capsicum can also do the same thing (hot, hot, hot). Castor oil packs to the local area will help too with musculoskeletal problems. Wow, huh. that why advice without a history is tough. You owe me $50 just for asking, but I will take it off your hide next time we box.”
Huh. The magic tree kinda scared me with that last sentence.
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Good luck with the pain thing. I’m a tylenol slave for my pain as an allergy to aspirin really limits what I can take that’s natural…aka almost nothing without the risk of anaphylactic shock in 60 minutes or less. With knee arthritis for the last 14 years, and yes I’m only 26, it’s interesting to say the least when it comes to pain management.
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Prayer has helped me.
at the risk of sounding like a broken record, acupuncture and massage? roll the shameless plug. . .
Personally, I’ve had acupuncture transform a chronic pain situation.
Massage doesn’t make pain go away, but helps as a tool to manage it (Jeez I sound like a freaking commercial). Reducing stress/triggering relaxation can help cut down frequency/severity of autoimmune-type flare-ups and improve your sleep too. Plus you can do it for yourself, or maybe a friend or loved one can help you out?
Datura = jimson weed, yes? Sounds frightening. I never realized folks use that for MS.
Yes, acupuncture has helped me with pain management as well.
I’ve done both. Acupuncture didn’t help and massage had only moderate temporary relief. Bee stings theoretically are supposed to help but… of course… I’m allergic to bees.
Besides, I talk to bees and wouldn’t want them to die just so I can get some pain relief for a disease caused by human stupidity.
I really recommend finding a competent and insightful magic tree of your own. Preferably a human one who can take your history into account when looking at your pain issues. Avoid MD’s. If you find a good, competent naturopath you’ve really lucked out.
Pidgean, how does your body react to movement, stretching, lite excercise, yoga and strenuos excercise. These help me loads along with “good fats” and high antioxidant diet. But I jus suffer from joint/muscle pain/stiffness. And for alergies grape seed extraxt does wonders.
“good fats”
fresh ground flax and chia and hemp seed meal
virgin coconut oil
cold water fish body oil(from canned sardines and wild salmon or fish oil caps)
grass fed butter
raw grass fed whole milk
grass fed beef
range fed pork*
high omega 3 eggs
extra virgin olive oil
it depends on your personal case. my experience with MS (via patients - not me personally) is that there are underlying deficiencies and emotions. that is where i would start.
fyi tylenol is a very potent hepato toxin and leads to many deaths
Not to take the topic in a different direction… Ai just feel that careless use of an extremely valuabel plant (datura) has unfairly repulsed some people into not ever having a relationship with it. The power, usefullness, and prevalency of use of solanine and atropine (the two most prevalent active chemicals) as medicinals is perhaps only surpassed by cannabinoids historically. The great pain-killing effects of these plants has been verified, though not by me (lab-conditions of some kind… or something :P)and atropene is still used by modern day optometrists, though ai forget how. (as a side note - responsibel people have, for centuries and all across the globe, used Datura and related Brugmansia genous species for hallucinogenic and religious use. Second note - If this sounds overly emotional, sorry. Ai tend to overreact to harsh criticism of my plant friends. If it doesnt, then aim imroving :D. Let me know)
sounded objective enough for me
After some serching, ai’ve also found that Mexican Tarragon (Tagetes lucida) and Wolfsbane (Aconitum lycoctonum) are anaesthetics. You might try those…
“Not to take the topic in a different direction… Ai just feel that careless use of an extremely valuabel plant (datura) has unfairly repulsed some people into not ever having a relationship with it.”
I do take minor offense at calling my use careless. I had taken a lot of precautions prior to using datura and had read up every bit of literature there was on it (20 years ago) and followed what little information was available to the letter. I still stand by my statements. Datura stramonium has a tight dose-response curve and at the time, there was little good documentation available for proper preparation of it, let alone dose. My experience with it was unpleasant, despite the precautions taken.
Could be my body didn’t respond well. Could be that the dose was wrong. I don’t know and I’m too old to play “figure out the dose” with something with that dramatic a dose-response. My apologies to datura, I’m just not that adventurous anymore.
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Let’s reopen this conversation - it’s an important one!
I’m very interested in learning specifically about natural pain control / support that can be sourced locally (in my case the PNW). While I recognize the value in some other, more exotic and non-local natural remedies, I’d like to explore a sustainable and hyper local foraging or careful small scale cultivation approach.
Please specify whether suggestions are targeted at ACUTE or CHRONIC pain, neurological, musculoskeletal, and so forth. Thanks so much - look forward to learning with you! 
I hope this helps. I recently read an article about this doctor who cured her MS symptoms with a basic Paleo diet approach and some supplements, not many. Here’s her website http://terrywahls.com/ I personally use Ice but that is not a long term solution.
Anyone have experience using Devil’s-Club (Oplopanax
horridus; Araliaceae) specifically for analgesia? I’d be very interested to hear stories about using it for other purposes as well of course, but pain control is my primary focus here. Any experiences to share about harvesting, preparing, propagating? I found an interesting paper from the early 80’s on the subject but would like to hear personal stories. Thanks 
http://ethnobiology.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/JoE/2-1/Turner1982.pdf
hey @Tracie_Moon! i just put up a post on our blog about making devil’s club salve… i’ll repost it here. 
it’s excellent for pain relief, and is the only plant-based pain killer that has really been helpful for my sweetheart, who has torn rotator cuffs in both shoulders & deals with a lot of chronic pain.
we got to make some devil’s club (Oplopanax horridum) salve as part of our coastal resources class @ uas. we each stripped bark from a portion of stalk & set the bark to infusing in oil for a future batch. one of our instructors provided already-infused oil & beeswax, and after a bit of simple, gentle heating, we were able to each fill a little container with precious medicinal salve. -11/1/17
(note from january 2018 - since i recently broke my collarbone, having extra devil’s club salve on hand for pain relief & sore muscle support is extra appreciated!)
want to know more about devil’s club & its uses? check out this post from alaska floats my boat, a friend of mine who does wonderful things with local native plants:
http://www.alaskafloatsmyboat.com/beachcombing/2013/5/15/making-devils-club-salve-and-tincture
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