chronic pain: adventures in transforming suffering

[Louisa]

a thread about my experiences with chronic pain and brain fog; and trying to alleviate or cure it. what i've tried, what helps, what i'm trying, if it seems to be helping, etc. i have wanted to keep a health journal but why not share it here? it may help others with similar conditions.

and yes... i gave this thread a strange title.. but i feel that my pain is an adventure.

if it was more debilitating, i know i would feel differently, as i've been there. my pain has been so severe that no one could call it an "adventure". it destroyed me. but that is not quite where i am now.

[Star Wolf Medicine Woman]

Sorry to read that you have Chronic pain, I'd not describe pain as an adventire to be honest I have had constant pain since last April.. even had surgery in Jan this year.. Still have pain and have been told to expect more, Gee Thanks... I finished a 6 week physio course this last week and I still hurt, I'm expected to continue an adapted form at home... I hate taking tablets etc.. show me an Ex Nurse who does :lol: Currently I use Reiki and have a Tens machine.. So whats your secret..?

[Louisa]

hello.
i'm sorry for your pain. i don't know if all pain can be transformed or seen as an adventure. i would say, not all of mine could i really feel that way about. that must be so difficult to have constant pain. i have had times when i was constantly either in pain or exhausted and in shock (what i think were cluster headaches). that was the worst time of pain in my life. i got through it with prayer and focusing on love all the time. i don't know if i'd call it an adventure, then, but only later did i see it as a sort of adventure, because it gave me ability to see how i can be very focused and faithful upon love even when i'm wiped out mentally and physically with pain. but that was just my experience then.

and now, well, my pain is much more intermittent and less severe. i transform it in different ways. i will write more about that later. one thing is that i think that pain, for me, might enhance pleasure. sometimes, but maybe not always. once again, maybe a matter of degree.

but i don't mean to minimize anyone else's experience or say pain can always be transformed. maybe i think sometimes all one may do is simply bear it, persevere and weather the storm. and pray, hope, try to do healing methods.

i will write a lot more later. not sure when, but this will be my way to document my journey with the pain, which is ongoing, though not constant, and my attempts to heal the pain... and what already has helped me. there is so much to it. not sure where to start but i guess just a bit at a time. will write much more later on.

...including seeing pain as an "adventure". but maybe that title is a bit of a denial sometimes. i'm hoping i can see it that way, as an adventure, more though, in my own experience, somehow, and as i have at times.

wishing you much healing.

[Deepsoul]

I know this type you speak of, I am unwilling to document anything from now on though and see it as reinforcement, although acceptance to the level of awareness for management and complementary healing I am doing. I refuse to be a victim of any condition any longer and give it NO power. I wish you relief,courage ,Grace and Love, Deepsoul

[Louisa]

Originally Posted by Deepsoul

I know this type you speak of, I am unwilling to document anything from now on though and see it as reinforcement, although acceptance to the level of awareness for management and complementary healing I am doing. I refuse to be a victim of any condition any longer and give it NO power. I wish you relief,courage ,Grace and Love, Deepsoul

i get you deepsoul, and it's something i'm trying to figure out. i think it's a matter of degree, for me, at least. i have tried a purely positive focus, but that didn't seem to make my pain go away, at times, any more reliably than a negative focus. if anything, at times it felt as though the pain got worse at times when i resolved to have a good attitude and not think about it.
so it's something i struggle with because i do believe that talking about pain can reinforce it, at times, but i don't know why not thinking about it also can seem to trigger a reaction. i think in my own case, at least, it's complicated.

some possible (not sure how much i agree with these?) explanations:maybe subconscious rebelling and bringing on more pain.. or the "pain body" i think they say (in terms of tolle's teachings) might rise up and rebel because it's not being "fed"..? or in my case, i feel sometimes pain is not all bad, .. i can accept it if i need to. just not so much pain that it really hinders my overall wellness. so when i say "i am well" it doesn't have to mean i am pain-free. or.. maybe the answer is.. something else? like, what, i don't know? life lessons, soul lessons. redirection from gods, higher self, destiny, perhaps. or something else. just the way it is? just the way the world is, not always changeable by us? i don't know, but these are perspectives i'm considering.. still i have my signature that says "i am well." i want to make that true. or "i am able to be well".. and i want to believe it and work to make it so. for i do think faith has some real healing power. at the least.

but i respect all different views and attitudes about it. there are many different approaches to dealing with intense ongoing chronic pain or debilitating illness and it's not easy any way you go about it. so,..

wishing you wellness and peace.

[Louisa]

well.. this is just a note to self.. i've been observing my pain and health, in the back of my mind, trying to notice any affects from different things.

my pain has been worse for a week or more, but intermittently.. i definitely think this is tied to my nasal allergies.

i also ate more wheat at times recently and i think i really notice it impacting my pain, but it could be something else?

[Arcturus]

I get pain in my legs if I eat wheat. So many potential causes it's gonna be tricky to isolate one oir a few huh? There was an interesting programme on UK tv; "Tonight with Trevor Mcdonald". One programme was about folk who suffered years of pain only to have it disappewar immediately upon removal of a metal crown. I believe any metal in the body can be a potential cause of chronic pain. Plenty other more causes though no doubt. I hope you find some answers, atb

[Louisa]

that show sounds really interesting and inspiring. it gives me more hope.

i really do want to get my metal fillings removed. i'll have to find someone who really knows what they're doing, i guess. i've heard that is a concern, and if the person doesn't know what they're doing they can cause more harm than good, by releasing a lot of mercury during the removal process.

anyway, thank you for that idea.

[Deepsoul]

Louisa do you or have you tried chi gong ? also if food allergies are a problem have you been checked for (salicylates) and (amines) ,naturally occurring substances in most foods and can cause alot of pain....... Is it fibromyalgia that you are experiencing ? Love Deep

[Louisa]

Originally Posted by Deepsoul

Louisa do you or have you tried chi gong ? also if food allergies are a problem have you been checked for (salicylates) and (amines) ,naturally occurring substances in most foods and can cause alot of pain....... Is it fibromyalgia that you are experiencing ? Love Deep

hi deepsoul,

i have tried chi gong. it really seemed to help me for a day or a few days, but then it seemed as if my energy sank so low that i couldn't do it anymore. so i gave up for a while as my energy was depleted a while afterwards.

then i happened on something: a book got opened up when i was moving boxes of books. it opened to a page on chi gong and also mentally tracing the meridians. it said that sometimes chi gong imbalances and exhausts energy in people who are weak or something like this.. but that you can mentally trace the meridians, and it will not exhaust you, but will gradually energize people. so i want to try that.

the same day, i also had that book fall open to a page that wrote about solomon's seal wine, which i might not take the wine, but rather the herb. i read some about it and i thought it might be helpful for some of my symptoms.

i have found there is a lot of personal variation in how people respond to certain remedies for issues.. so it's good i get guidance on this sometimes and sometimes it's really helpful. when i follow it.. sometimes i'm scared to follow it, contamination issues. i think guides may know a lot, but maybe they don't know everything. say i have a guide who knows all about herbal medicine, but not all about modern day contamination issues, for example? i just am not sure.. oh well lol one of these days i hope i can work up the courage to try something, and shell out my scant money for the herbs or whatever i try.