Chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome), RSD (reflexive sympathetic dystrophy) and others affect the lives of over seven million people in the United States alone.
With statistics like this, it's little wonder that so much money, time, and energy are spent on seeking out the most effective pain relief treatments.
Many sufferers will eventually try prescription pain medication.
For those patients, a trial-and-error process may very well lead to the identification of an effective prescription drug that works to reduce or eliminate the patient's pain and improve her quality of life.
But for many, that process can take a long time as certain drugs create unwelcome side effects, or physicians work to achieve the appropriate dosage.
Additionally, many chronic pain patients choose not to take prescription pain medications for various reasons.
Some of those reasons may be spiritual in nature, while others are rooted in fear of addiction (which, interestingly, is not as big a risk as some media outlets have led the general public to believe).
Whatever the reason, chronic pain patients will want to continue to have a selection of conservative treatment options in their pain relief "arsenals.
" However, even with the most effective treatments, patients can improve their chances of achieving pain relief by following a few simple guidelines.

1. Manage your expectations.
   Even the most effective treatments will usually not work as well, as quickly, or as consistently as prescription pain medications.
   Focus on achieving pain management, rather than total elimination of pain.
   
2. Understand the treatment in the context of your entire pain management program.
   You may want to experiment with different combinations of certain treatments.
   For instance, analgesic rubs work very well in some chronic pain cases, particularly fibromyalgia.
   They can work even more effectively, however, when coupled with massage therapy and the application of moist heat.
   
3. Take notes of your treatment experience.
   At a minimum, it's a good idea to keep track of the time and date of each treatment, the dosage or amount of time the treatment was used, and the results immediately after the treatment, thirty minutes after the treatment, and again in perhaps an hour or two after the treatment.
   
4. Give each treatment option sufficient time to see if it works for you.
   Some conservative treatments will either work or they won't, and you will know fairly soon after the first treatment experience whether it works for you.
   But others require some time before results can be expected.
   Give each treatment option at least two to three weeks of consistent appropriate use before deciding that it is not working for you.
   
5. Always, always, ALWAYS check with your doctor before starting any new treatment option, whether it's conservative or not.
   Even the most innocuous-seeming "natural" supplements can interact negatively with other substances.
   Make sure your doctor knows everything that you are trying to relieve your pain.
   
6. Go into each treatment experience with an open mind.
   Some treatments, such as acupuncture, might seem a little "new age" to some people.
   Yet, acupuncture has shown promising results in many pain-relief studies, especially for fibromyalgia sufferers.
   Try not to make conclusions before you give each treatment option a try.
   The one you dismiss out of hand might just be the most effective treatment available for you.
   
7. Don't give up.
   It can take a long time before you find the right combination of treatments for your particular pain condition.
   If you give one conservative treatment an honest try, but it does nothing to relieve your pain, do not give up on treatment altogether.
   Simply move on to the next treatment option on your list.
   Remember: your mental attitude can go a long way towards improving the results that you get with any treatment option.
   

Keep trying new things, allowing sufficient time for each treatment option to work before moving to the next, and eventually you will find the most effective treatment for your condition.
Remember that every body is different, in terms of physiology, chemistry, and subjective experience.
What works for others may not work for you -- but by the same token, treatments that others dismiss may just do the job for your pain!