Depression and Chronic Pain

Living with chronic or long-term pain is a tremendous burden. But when you have chronic pain and depression, the burden gets even heavier.Depression magnifies pain. It makes it more difficult to cope with everyday living. The good news is that chronic pain and depression are not inseparable. Effective medications and psychotherapy can help relieve the depression and make chronic pain more tolerable.What is chronic pain?Chronic pain is pain that

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11 Tips for Living With Chronic Pain

Learn deep breathing or meditation to help with chronic pain. Deep breathing and meditation are techniques that help your body relax, which eases pain. Tension and tightness seep from muscles as they receive a quiet message to relax. Although there are many to meditate, the soothing power of repetition is at the heart of some forms of meditation. Focusing on the breath, ignoring thoughts, and repeating a word or phrase -- a mantra -- causes the

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Understanding Allergy and Hay Fever Medications

AntihistaminesMany antihistamine drugs are available without a prescription. Examples include the first-generation antihistamines such as brompheniramine (Dimetapp, Bromphen, Dimetane, Nasahist), chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton), clemastine (Allerhist, Tavist), and diphenhydramine (Benadryl), and a second-generation antihistamine loratadine (Claritin). Loratadine (Claritin) does not cause drowsiness.Common prescription antihistamines (all secon

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Mental Health and Hypnosis

Hypnosis -- or hypnotherapy -- uses guided relaxation, intense concentration, and focused attention to achieve a heightened state of awareness that is sometimes called a trance. The person's attention is so focused while in this state that anything going on around the person is temporarily blocked out or ignored. In this naturally occurring state, a person may focus his or her attention -- with the help of a trained therapist -- on specific thou

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