The 5 Percent of Pain Relief

One major thing I have learned during all this craziness is the 5 Percent of Pain Relief. Most people think "chronic pain= only relief is narcotics." They also think, "pain relief= keep increasing dose until all pain is gone."
For me and all others with chronic pain (especially EDS), both are completely incorrect. Chronic pain needs more than narcotics and medication. There's something called the 5 Percent Rule of pain relief. 
The 5 Percent Rule basically says that, no matter what, pain medication won't take all the pain away. Because of that, we have to find other things to provide pain relief such as taking a warm bath, taking a Jacuzzi or warm shower, laying down, heating pads, Icy Hot, massage, electric/heating blankets, swimming, TENS Unit, E-Stim, ice packs, and going to a chiropractor. Each thing causes a small our medium amount of pain relief. Basically, medication might cause 50% relief, and you use a combination of the other things that each equal a certain amount of relief. When you add everything up, you have a larger percentage of pain relief than you would with just medication. It's pretty fascinating!