Thread: Ways to block pain?

Do you ever meditate? I know a few people who have a slipped disc in their back and they told me that ever since they started actively meditating they felt way less pain than ever before, A few of them even stopped taking paracetamol, which says something considering the doctor recommended them to take up to 8 per day!

I've also heard some great stories about self-hypnosis. According to a hypnotist who wrote a free book on self hypnosis he easily reduced the pain he felt from his arthritis by doing self hypnosis a 10 or 20 mins each ady.

I think it's well worth to have aa look into both of them.

I will echo dutchraptor.

I have a family member who has chronic pain and has found meditating to be helpful. Though I have never had to deal with chronic pain, I regularly meditate and have found that meditating 'on the pain' can change the way I perceive the negative experience into something more abstract. This passes for me, but I have never committed to a practice centred on this.

Concerning hypnosis, what research I have done suggests that if you can be hypnotized effectively, this is a good option. The number I have read is 1/10 are very hypnotizable, but worth a shot if you are running low on options.

That's about as much as I can think of now.

Some good advice here. Meditation, and a Stoic outlook all can help. Look up Stoicism and mindfulness meditation.

Some drugs are safer than others. I would try things like Kratom that are natural and have no proven side effects before doing anything else; though I am sure their effectiveness will leave much to be desired. Prescription pain meds can cause more problems than they solve.

when i was in a lot of pain i didnt want to take the pain killers i was given i got books out of the library cant remember the title but it was to do with natural remedies i remeber something about red chillies i buy chilli paste in jar and use it in my food regularly there was lots of other stuff to try to use also i would recommend having a look as my pain was not constant i could do this

I understand capsaican can do wonders for all kinds of things, including pain. It's the active chemical in peppers.

Originally Posted by Meskhetyw

Some drugs are safer than others. I would try things like Kratom that are natural and have no proven side effects before doing anything else; though I am sure their effectiveness will leave much to be desired. Prescription pain meds can cause more problems than they solve.

I can vouch for the fact that kratom can have some pretty bad side effects, not the least of which is that it tends to be very habit forming. It does help pain, but only because it is an opiate and I get the sense that OP doesn't want to deal with that sort of thing.

If I may offer some advice: I practice Mixed Martial Arts, and a lot of the moves we do involve choke holds and making people tap out because of the intense pain. Now I know that this may not be comparable to the pain you and others are experiencing, but if you do meditate, it allows you to take your mind off of everything, including pain. It's also good to visualize where he pain is coming from, and imagining it as something physical in your body, and imagining it moving out of your body. I know this all sounds like some kind of fantasy magic, but if you practice it and get good at visualizing it, you can almost entirely block out any sense of pain.

Hope this helps!

I read some time ago about this mental tricks you could use, like imagining taking painkillers, or getting local anesthesia where it would hurt. I tried it out, and i actually got it to work, but not for any longer than i focused on the task.
There was also this other method, where you would, like imagine putting your hand on a hot plate. Transferring the pain or something, to relive the area where you feel pain all the time.
Maybe if you practice enough you could master the ability to trick your body into not "feeling" the pain. I don't know.
I have not looked very much into this, but also, as mentioned earlier, that meditation could also work.

Either way, drugs or medication is not the way to go. With any substance you will build up a tolerance, and dependable on the substance, develop an addiction.

I hate to refer you to drugs, but perhaps some kind of small dose of a dissociative could help? DXM for example, take about 180 to 250 mgs. You may feel a little funny, but you will also realize that your pain is just a feeling. It still exists, but it's like it doesn't actually apply to you if that makes any sense. You can choose to let it effect you or not. Also, a dose that small may or may not be effective as a dissociative, you might have to take more. That said, if you have to take more than that, then you should probably drop the whole DXM idea because you'd be experiencing quite a range of effects that are probably more than what you want (time dilation, confusion, tough time keeping a solid train of thought, odd thought processes, etc.).

There is something I do when I feel pain. I read once that pain is all mental and if you don't want to feel it you don't have to. Nerve endings send the signals that they are experiencing pain, and in order for you to feel it it has to reach the brain. By telling yourself that you don't want to feel it, and stop thinking about it, then you won't feel it. It works with me every time. I start feeling pain, I tell myself "It's in my head, I don't have to feel it." and it slowly goes away until I don't feel anything anymore. It's all about your mindset.

You're going to have to be more specific to get to the root. Where is there pain, during what activities, any movements that trigger it? Is it related to your mood?

The mind is indeed powerful and perhaps meditation could help you (to an extent), if you're diligent. More importantly, I encourage you to re-evaluate your aversion to medications designed to alleviate pain. There is no shame in treating such pain. It seems "in fashion" to forgo the miracles of modern science and pain relieving drugs that are tested ad nauseam, in clinical trials.

Originally Posted by Meskhetyw

--I would try things like Kratom that are natural and have no proven side effects

No Proven Side effects? That's because Kratom is not a regulated medication going through clinical trials. There is no supervision over the claims folks trying to make a buck off of unregulated herbs and plants.

Originally Posted by Meskhetyw

Prescription pain meds can cause more problems than they solve.

And this statement is backed up...how? What problems? Certainly they solve problems too. Granted some may become hooked, but I think it's safe to say most use their medications responsibly.

I am not one to trust Pharmaceuticals 100%, but taken as directed you aren't likely to become dependent on pain relieving drugs.

Points taken.

I don't do drugs myself of either kind, but if I had to I would personally try alternatives first. I've seen too many cases of abuse I suppose; but I also suppose that this bad habit is not limited to pain medications by any means. I was generalizing in my suggestion of course, but had I not done so, I believe my post would likely have been the size of a novelette. That said, you make good points. Surely pain meds are not nearly at the risk level of certain other types of prescription drugs. Good catch.

Moderate use of kratom is far more beneficial than a prescription painkiller, if you were to compare the two. While prescriptions may work more immediate and directly, kratom is at least something that's stimulating aswell as painkilling, making it more motivating to do things instead of zone out and be sedated on opiates. Along with that many of the alkaloids are very healthy for you, look em up if you're curious, but there's a lot of beneficial properties to it. Usage of it in moderation is far easier than any other kind of opioid medication because it can easily produce nausea at a more "recreational" dosage, and one time taking too much kratom is enough to stop you for good (unless you're a fool like me I've tried a couple times and I've learned the hard way it will make you SICK if you do not respect it. That being said, it's very nice to fast with lol). Long story short, this is anecdotal, but I can tell you that unless you really have a problem with total reliance on substances, kratom can be used easily in moderation, and at least has a full spectrum of healthy alkaloids to go along with it.

Stretching, excersize with martial arts/kungfu/tai chi, is all great to release tension in the body and to channel things away from pain. This in combination with meditation is a great tool, especially meditation that works its way from toe to head: focus on one part of the body, imagine your mind massaging it, releasing tension, and relax it. Move onto the next body part up, until you've relaxed your entire body, not moving on until you've relaxed the previous parts. This is especially useful before going to bed or in the morning if you feel stiff, but of course, you should stretch and loosen up first otherwise the stiffness will be hard to unknot.

Focusing on re-associating the feeling of pain for something "less important" than pain is an essential part of this, when your mind just no longer feels the need to register the pain signals. Practice pushing it down the list of your mental hierarchy. Much more obvious when in a meditative state, but it can definitely be done.

For the record, not advocating kratom over the above two points, but I don't think it's a bad thing to have if it gets too bad to not sleep or something. Borneo Red Vein is the most therapeutic kind of kratom leaf for me when I had post-kidney stone pains, and intense cramps in my urinary tract.

Good luck with whatever happens with this, keep us posted!

Agreed, Meskhetyw. Re-reading I sounded belligerent. You made valid points and I suppose every case is individual too. It does make sense, if at all possible (you're not in terrible pain) to steer clear of chemically addictive substances like opiates.

A lot of really good ideas here. Just my two cents, I had recently read an article about using music as a way to lessen the perception of pain.

psychologytoday.com/blog/why-music-moves-us/201111/music-and-pain-relief (here's one article that talks about it, sorry I can't post links yet)

a few highlights:

"Stress and anxiety exacerbate the experience of pain, so anything that an individual can do to relax will help to alleviate pain"

"Because the experience of pain is partially subjective, altering a person's perception of their pain can change their experience of that pain"

"some music seems to be more helpful than other music"

and a couple short hypotheses found in the article

"Music may disrupt the brain's "pain - stress - pain" feedback loop and in doing so alter an individual's sensitivity to pain. How might this work? We know that music effects evolutionarily old subcortical areas of the brain, thereby influencing many different psychological and physiological states. Music modulates the brain's limbic system, triggering numerous accompanying neurochemical effects. The result of these changes in the brain may be to help distract listeners from negative feelings and modify the influence of past memories associated with pain. As a further result, music may promote relaxation by inhibiting the release of stress hormones and weakening arousal of the pituitary-adrenal stress axis. The brain's opioid system may also play a role. Music that listeners find emotionally engaging seems to affect the brain's opioid system, and opioids control both physical pain and the pain of social loss."

My mom struggles with debilitating pain all the time, every year it gets worse. So I'm always trying to find new ways to help her manage the pain without being completely dependent on drugs. This is one thing that I found quite interesting. It might be something that is worth looking into.