A friend gave me some wonderful advice a while ago. Her advice? When someone injures themselves, more often than not they tend to focus on the injury itself. Instead of having them focus on the injury, tell them that the worst part is over, and now they can just focus on healing and getting better. This works great on kids as well as adults at reducing anxiety, and also reducing the perception of pain.
For any of you who have experienced pain, it can be disconcerting and anxiety inducing, especially if the pain is severe and continuous or the cause is unknown. There are different levels and kinds of pain, and I believe that everyone experiences and handles pain differently.
What is pain? Can our thoughts change how we perceive it?
Pain exists as a survival mechanism to initiate action, because it is typically telling us something is wrong. It can initiate either an evasive action such as avoiding putting weight on an injured leg, or an active action such as seeking out relief or seeking to eliminate the cause. When we experience pain, we should be mindful of it no matter how minor, and actively seek out ways to heal the source of the pain.
I, like everyone else, have experienced pain in my life – from injuries, illness, malnutrition, toxicity and emotional stress. I have also experienced natural childbirth, which for the majority of our society is associated with intense pain, although I hesitate to support that notion. There are many, many women who have calmly and peacefully had a child without any indication of pain, because in their mind it wasn’t painful. Modern (western) society has placed into our psyche that childbirth is painful, has created a sense of fear about the prospect of natural childbirth, and so most woman enter childbirth with the notion that it is going to hurt. It is truly amazing the power our thoughts and beliefs hold over us. If we think it will hurt, it will. If we think it will make us sick, very likely it can and will. Using the power of our thoughts and exercising our mind can go a long way towards learning how to navigate life, and is very instrumental in how we choose to manage our pain or illness.
Sometimes, the only thought that enters our mind is to flee from the pain, by any means available. Additionally, if we don’t know the source of the pain, we can experience anxiety and fear, which can increase the level of pain we experience. Using our thoughts, we can change the way we perceive pain, and we can also control our fear or anxiety so that the perceived level of discomfort is lessened. Staying calm and relaxed, and using positive thoughts during intense discomfort may seem impossible, but it can be done. People have successfully undergone surgery without any type of medication, they’ve controlled their sensation of pain merely by controlling their mind. Known as self-hypnosis, people have successfully used it during childbirth, during medical procedures and surgeries, to deal with stress, as well as for dealing with emotional pain and trauma.
Since we know that there is a definite mind-body connection, we know that our thoughts can have a positive or negative impact on how we perceive pain. By choosing to control our thoughts and using our mind to control our perception of pain, we can more readily deal with what may come our way. This will allow us to make more conscious choices in how we choose to manage and heal the source of the pain as well.
So how do we most effectively manage pain?
The first obstacle to managing pain is the fear and anxiety that often accompanies it.
Fear and anxiety cause our muscles to tighten and constrict, they release a flood of chemicals into our system in preparation for ‘fight or flight’, and not only can these increase the pain, but they are counterintuitive to dealing effectively with it. I will use the example of childbirth.
When a women enters childbirth being fearful of it, believing that she will experience pain, her anxiety and fear can cause an actual physical change with her uterus. Instead of simply ‘letting go’, relaxing, and allowing her body to do the work (the uterus is one big muscle, so a contraction is simply a muscle contraction designed to cause other changes that allow the baby to be born), she tenses up.
When a women in labor tenses up she restricts blood flow to the muscle contracting (the uterus), which will continue to contract anyway. Imagine trying to do leg presses or some other exercise with no blood flow to that muscle, it would hurt!
When a women ends up getting a c-section due to failure to progress, surgeons have found that the uterus is actually white (muscles are typically pink or red), because there has not been any blood flow to the muscle (all due to fear and anxiety of the experience and thus tensing up). If she had been able to control her fear and anxiety, or better yet get rid of it completely, she would have had an entirely different birth experience.
My personal experiences with childbirth were not painful. They were overwhelming and intense, but it was not pain. Although, if I had gone into the process with the idea or belief that it was supposed to hurt, or if I was unable to remain relaxed, then I most definitely would have experienced pain. Learning to control our thoughts (and thus our fear and anxiety) will help us to discover the most effective means of dealing with the pain as well as having a positive effect on the level of pain we experience.
The second obstacle can be dealing with pain of unknown causes.
The unknown can bring on anxiety in any situation, so identifying the cause or source of your pain is often a major step towards finding relief. Approaching pain of unknown origin with a holistic view (body, mind and spirit) will increase your chances of finding the source since it can be as a result of any number of things (to include negative emotions). By controlling our thoughts, we are able to be more present and attuned to the signals our body is giving to us. Learning to become more aware of our body through mindfulness will enable us to be more able to find the cause, and thus bring about healing. For example, if we know our pain is as a result of something mechanical, than we would know to find a chiropractor who can treat the source of the pain, instead of simply relying on pain medication or ignoring it.
Most people manage pain with pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately, pain-killers only block pain signals, so usually do nothing to eliminate the source of the pain. Next time you experience pain , before automatically reaching for pain relieving drugs, I encourage you to try other pain relieving techniques (see some options below), and also to focus your efforts on healing the source of the pain versus continuing to mask it with drugs, which can have a detrimental impact on your health. Additionally, unless you eliminate the source of pain, pain will continue with the potential that further damage may occur.
Healing the SOURCE of the pain.
NOTE: If you experience an injury or illness that needs treatment, please see a doctor or health professional.
Pain from injury is typically the easiest to manage, because once your injuries heal, your pain goes away. Should you experience an injury that requires medical treatment, first get yourself to a doctor. During the process of receiving treatment tell yourself the worst part is over, address any fear or anxiety you may have, and focus your mind on healing and pain relief (you could try to use self-hypnosis techniques to control your level of discomfort).
Remember that your thoughts can impact the level of pain you experience – so learning to control your thoughts (an example might be: instead of continuously telling yourself it hurts over and over, try telling yourself it can only get better, it is healing, and imagine it happening while you’re thinking it over and over). Once the immediacy of the situation is dealt with then you can truly focus your efforts on healing the source of the pain.
Seek out, and try other options for pain management besides drugs (applying ice, getting therapeutic massage, using homeopathy are just a few). Seek out alternatives for healing a more serious injury (surgery may not always be the right solution – you always have the option to get other opinions). See the list below for some alternative options with links to websites that describe them in detail. As with anything, do your research, as there are many different providers in any given area, and there are many alternative methods for managing pain.
Pain stemming from illness, toxicity or malnutrition can sometimes be the hardest to identify. Approach it holistically. Your first step should be to see a doctor (whether it is your primary care or one in alternative medicine).
Keep searching for an answer, and once the source is identified, turn your focus and your thoughts to healing. Don’t focus on the illness or the pain. Be Positive! If you can’t find an actual answer as to what is causing your pain, but find that a treatment you’ve tried works (for example acupuncture relieves your pain, but you never identified what was causing it) just keep using that treatment unless of course you start notice it is no longer working.
Toxicity is unique in that it is very rarely addressed by a traditional doctor, unless of course there was an obvious poisoning, etc. We live in a world full of toxins – it’s in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, in the food we eat, and in what we put on our skin. When toxins build up in our system, it can cause pain like headaches, and general body aches. When we are living in a moldy home, the toxins in the mold impact our bodies and can cause aches and pains, headaches, etc. So staying present and aware, and actively seeking for the source of the pain will help you find a way to heal.
For some, your primary care doctor may not be able to find the cause or source of your pain and may try to suggest that it is ‘all in your head’ and prescribe anxiety medication or antidepressants. If you are truly experiencing uncontrollable anxiety or severe depression, than obviously this is something to consider. However, if you are experiencing pain and discomfort (which can cause anxiety and depression by the way), I would suggest getting second or third opinions from other doctors and/or see someone in alternative medicine.
One of my personal experiences involved systemic pain with no discernible cause. After unsuccessful attempts at getting help thru my primary care physician, I sought help from a Naturopath who put me on Vitamin D3, and my pain disappeared within 3 days! My primary care doctor had simply instructed me to take pain medications, and tried to put me on anti-anxiety pills. More information on Vitamin D here.
Negative emotions can also be a source of pain. Viewing health from a holistic point of view (body, mind and spirit) will greatly increase your success in identifying and then healing the source of pain.
If you are experiencing pain, and aren’t satisfied with progress you have been making thus far, seek second opinions, seek out alternatives. Simply tolerating the pain, relying on pain medication, surgery, or anxiety medications are not your only options. Listen to your intuition. Treat the SOURCE of the pain so you can eliminate it altogether.
Take action, be present, and seek the best way for you to eliminate pain in your life. Focus on healing and stay positive! Your body, your mind, and your spirit will thank you.
Post contributed by Amy Stafford. Amy has a BS in Exercise Physiology, and has studied nutrition. She worked in outpatient physical therapy for 6 years and was a consultant for orthopedic surgery patients for 2 years. Amy has a passion for all things holistic, and prefers to use natural remedies and treatments before using pharmaceuticals to treat any injury or illness.
Amy- thanks for writing this piece. I really learned a lot from it, and I’m looking forward to learning more.