HOW TO GET RID OF PAIN

“Pain (any pain--emotional, physical, mental) has a message. The information it has about our life can be remarkably specific, but it usually falls into one of two categories: We would be more alive if we did more of this and Life would be more lovely if we did less of that. Once we get the pain's message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away.”

            Peter McWilliams

 What is pain 

It is through pain only that power can be achieved. Pain is the ultimate teacher, an ordeal that brings the highest of rewards.

Path of Lilith

The only appropriate and short way to relieve pain is to recognize its legitimacy.

The shortest way to reduce pain is to accept it. Sounds absurd? Just think about it. Pain is a message informing you that you did something wrong —maybe had a bad meal, lifted a heavy weight, or had an anxiety attack. The body gets upset and sends you a warning, saying” Stop and change.”  If, instead of heeding this message and stopping, you accelerate at the red light, the penalties would only become tougher. The more pressure you put on pain, the more you persist with your efforts to get rid of it, and the more aggressive it becomes. The only appropriate and short way to relieve pain is to recognize its legitimacy as a sensible mechanism that curbs your insanity, or as a law opposing your anarchy.

This surrender may certainly hurt your feelings since human beings tend to be sure of their wisdom, benevolence, and fairness. Yet arguing with nature makes even less sense than arguing with tax authorities. We call her Mother Nature precisely because she always knows what is good or bad for us.

My thoughts may sound like negative advertising. Some could say a pain management specialist is not supposed to suggest that we surrender to pain voluntarily instead of killing it.  That would be pretty far-fetched, however. I am just suggesting that you should not keep stepping on the same rake when you already have your head all bruised. Do you want your pain to leave? Stop yelling at it, stop pushing it aside. This initial step is the first and probably the best painkiller. Learn how to cooperate with your body rather than fight it.

A compromise with pain

A patient who seeks a compromise with his pain calms down, which triggers deep breaths and reduces pressure on nerve endings by pumping away excess liquid from inflamed spots. [conform]

Those who have suffered from an agonizing headache, a toothache, or a back pain know that even the cruelest of pains would subside now and then. It is up to you to extend or shorten these periods. A patient who stoically seeks a compromise with his pain and his body at large would calm down at the moment of relief. His pulse would slow down, his stress level drop and his muscles relax.

This would trigger a deep breath that would reduce the pressure on his nerve endings by an excess liquid being pumped away from the inflamed spots. All this improves microcirculation and tissue nourishment, which means inflammation, the engine of pain, is now doomed.

However, if the patient refuses to seek temporary relief and wants a full victory over pain rather than a compromise, he locks himself in a vicious circle. He does not let his pulse and breathing relax, his raging mind keeps adding fuel to the fire of stress and inflammation. Consequently, his short respite will inevitably give way to a real thunderstorm of pain that can only be handled in an emergency room.

Eliminating the real causes of pain

If you wake up feeling no pain, you know you're dead.

                             Andrew Solomon

I realize it is a rather disappointing piece of wisdom. Indeed, in some situations, a pain in your stomach or in your heart can be life-threatening and must be promptly addressed by professionals. Yet even in such critical circumstances, the chances of survival are much higher if the patient does not succumb to panic and understands that the body does not want to kill him, it just is crying for help.

When a patient in pain comes to our office we certainly offer much more than such "psychotherapy". Our doctors have efficient ways of understanding the demands of pain and giving it an appropriate answer. For instance, a spasmed muscle that exerts pressure on nerve endings and restricts the supply of blood and oxygen can be readily relaxed by a proper neuromuscular massage or laser reflex therapy. A nerve root pinched by a slipped disk easily responds to focused manual axial decompression to get the much-desired freedom. Muscles, sick of immobility and insufficient blood supply, become flexible and well-nourished once again with the help of special axial exercises and, as a matter of gratitude, liberate the body from chronic pain.

The main point is to avoid messing with the self-controlled biological computer that uses discomfort and pain to send important messages to our minds. Try to listen carefully to these “cries and whispers”, interpret them correctly, and provide appropriate and fast responses to your body’s requests. This is the easiest and the most productive way to interact with pain.