Pain Management Article

There are many mind/body tools for managing pain. The type of pan can either be acute of chronic. The mechanisms remain the same, so wherether your pain is occasional, or continual, you will receive benefit from learning these techniques.

One of the most important aspects of pain managment is the ability of the person to be in control. There is nothing more dibilitating that not being able to manage your own body functioning. This perceived helplessness leads to anxiety, depression and high stress levels. The hopeless/helpless cycle, which can actually increase the pain has been responsible for the decline of health in many patients. Stress is the culprit in as much as 60-90% of disease states, and can impact greatly on the pain levels caused by the actual disease. While this might appear as bad news, it is actually good news. As you learn to manage that part of the disease process, you will not only change the symptoms, but you may actually change the course of the disease.

Step one is the importance in finding health balance!

My job as a nurse educator is to find what is balanced for my clients, and what is imbalanced. No matter what the problem, be it weight gain, stress, anxiety, phobia, addiction, or pain, the process remains the same. Where does the person currently sit on the "balance beam?" For most people, this is an entrely new concept. They only look at the problem as it presents itself, and attempt to change it from this position. They do not look at the whole continuum of wellness. This is one of the hardest concepts for a person with pain, because all they want to do is get rid of the pain. It is my job as a specialist in pain reduction to help clients understand the concept of health balance. Once this is achieved, control of the mind/body is on the way.

Step two is having a look at nutrition in relation to pain management!

Most people are surprised when they come to see me about pain, and I start to discuss their nutritional program with them. The truth of the matter is, we need to be eating a nutritionally sound diet in order to be completely well. Some of the body symptoms or sensations, are actually due to poor nutrition, especially an excess of high carbohydrate foods, unnecessary sugars and junk. When a person is in pain they often increase the foods that are unhealthy. This goes back to childhood behaviors, as well as the chemical changes that occur in the body when we eat those foods. The problem occurs when we eat them too frequently, and our blood sugar levels go out of whack. Not only is this chronic condition dangerous to the health, but the body sensations presented to the individual when the blood sugar drops are often confused with panic, stress, and the the like. In other words, your eating can actually make you feel worse, and in some people, actually quite sick.

Step three is getting in tune with the pain and other body sensations!

When we discuss pain sensations, we refer to them as body sensations. This becomes very important in our work. There is a big difference in the brain noting something as "pain" or noting it as a "body sensation." Pain has a negative connotation, while body sensations are rather neutral. "Pain" is often accompanied by it's brother "Fear." In our work we will learn to notice these emotional visitors that accompany our body sensations.

Step four is becoming aware of our emotional visitors!

Emotions, or components, all carry stress hormones with them. I refer to these stress hormones as gifts brought by the emotional visitors. Unlike most gifts, these are gifts we would prefer not to receive. These emotional chemical gifts actually increase the pain, and the body sensations. Through techniques such as body scanning, mental biofeedback, and Awareness Meditation we can change the chemical composition of our emotions and body sensations.

Step five is opening the door of our subconscious mind and re-framing the pain and/or disease images!

When our thought pictures are involved with pain issues, the subconscious mind sees the pain as the goal, and actually goes out of it's way to provide more of it for us. This is exactly what we don't want. Through imagery, imaginology, visualization and other self-hypnotic tools, we let the subconscious mind know exactly what we do want. These techniques have been associated with the ability to manage large amounts of pain with reduced or no pain medication. They have also been associated with spontaneous healing.

Main Program Page