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Pain
Management: Learning to Heal by Ellie O'Steen, LMT Pain
Management Consider this story from Dr. Paul Brand's excellent book Pain:The Gift Nobody Wants (Harper Collins, 1993) The setting is Carville, LA. A doctor is walking in some fields near the hospital and comes across an old, rundown shed. Curious, he tries to turn the old, rusty doorknob to see if he can get in but it won't budge. A young boy from the living center at the hospital sees the doctor trying the doorknob and offers to help. He opens the door, unaware that he has cut up his hand badly on the rusty doorknob. Why? Because he has no pain sensation. Then, there is the touching story Dr. Brand tells of the boy who had surgery on his hands to correct a deformity. The boy was delighted with his "new hands" and soon could return to his home in Madras to spend time with his family. Two days later, Raman returned with thick gauze bandages covering both hands. Raman had stayed up late one night reading by a hot hurricane lantern. He had fallen asleep and his hand had slid over to one side against the hot lantern. A large patch of skin had burned off the back of his hand but he didn't know that because....Raman felt no pain. In tears, as Dr. Brand examined the damaged hand, he asked the doctor "How can I ever be free without pain?" That is a thought-provoking question! How can I ever be free without pain? That was the question posed by the young man who felt NO pain and was sorely limited because of his lack of feeling pain. Usually, we think of ourselves as being limited by our pain and would like to imagine ourselves without pain but since medical science has not reached that lofty goal as yet it is up to us, the pain carriers, to learn how to manage our pain. In our culture, we are given the idea that it is the responsibility of medical science to "fix" our pain and take it away. Don' you just 'love' that TV commercial where the woman falls off the ladder, takes an aspirin-free product and conveys the idea that she is now pain-free?! It always makes me feel that I picked up the wrong bottle of that product at the store. Many times our increased pain is the product of overstepping the limits our pain places on us. Now of course we are not speaking of pain from major diseases such as cancer or something like gall bladder disease. We are generally covering chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic low back pain, chronic neck pain, chronic headaches, conditions associated with nerve damage or nerve irritation, arthritis in its varied forms.....etc. But what definitively is pain? Taber's Medical Dictionary defines pain as ..."a sensation in which a person experiences discomfort, distress, or suffering due to provocation of sensory nerves." Pain, therefore, is a subjective experience. Our perceptions of the pain plays a large part in affecting our experience of chronic pain. Q- "Can I be 'cured' ?" Pain
is not caused by "a" single factor but by numerous factors such
as.... Again, pain is a subjective experience. Restoration can be thought of as similar to one going through the grief process. And, we who live with chronic pain do, in many ways, go through a grief process...of letting go of that someone who we once were. The grief process has a number of stages: 1. Disbelief, agitation 2. Anger 3. Sadness, despair 4. Adjustment 5. Acceptance, hope
I came across an excellent article on Grief and Your Health by Margaret H. Gerner, M.S.W. {copyright 1997 by Counseling For Loss & Life Changes}. Ms Gerner explains that grief leaves us open to many diseases due to the extreme stress created in our bodies. We've all heard about some of the common "stress-diseases" of our era i.e. rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, heart disease and cancer. Ms. Gerner relates this particular article to the loss of a child but for our purposes I want you to consider any loss in your life. The loss of a job, a move to a new region, the loss of a treasured friend, the loss of mobility as you once knew it. We've all experienced losses in our lives but reflecting on them...even if we don't think them of much importance....can give us some clues as to why our pain appeared or, why it has increased. Perhaps go back 5 years before you were diagnosed. Personally, my fibro hit an all-time high a year after the lay off from a much-enjoyed job plus the loss of my son's dog (he was so special to me!) plus the loss of quiet in our little neighborhood due to some inconsiderate "neighbors". All this in less than 6 months. How does stress affect the body? When stresses affect us, the brain sets in motion a complicated series of chemical reactions. ACTH (adrenocorticotrophin hormone) is produced which prepares the body for 'fight' or 'flight'. This ACTH is sent to the adrenal glands which signals these glands to produce cortisone. If the stress is continued for a long period of time (each person is different in how much they can take), then the adrenals continue to produce more and more cortisone which sends the immune system into a frenzy. The immune system functions to protect the body from enemies i.e. bacteria and viruses. The white blood cells are our fighters which defend us and try to eat up the invading 'enemy'. But with the over-abundance of cortisone circulating in our bloodstream, the immune system may get 'out-of-whack' and function improperly. Thus, we become more susceptible to germs, bacteria, viruses. Sometimes we cannot change the stressing situation (i.e. the inconsiderate neighbors or the loss of someone dear). It is here that we have the option to do whatever we can and help our bodies with whatever reserves we can muster. Good nutrition, proper rest, stretching, mild exercise, vitamin supplements, laughter.....these are all measures that we can take to help us through the difficult experience. Uhhh, did I hear some of you growling at me that you don't feel like laughing? Gotcha! I understand. Then go to your library check out and read Norman Cousins' book Anatomy of an Illness {W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1979} Right? This man certainly had nothing to laugh about with his own body literally destroying itself but....his perception of the cause of his pain and how to help his body ward off the damage being done certainly did a lot for humankind in our day and age! Check it out and be amazed and encouraged. Laughter helps our bodies heal themselves. Bernie S. Siegel, M.D. has also learned this from his many experiences as a surgeon and in dealing with patients in acute/chronic pain and terminal conditions. His book is a must if you want to get a handle on managing your pain !!! Love, Medicine & Miracles, {Harper & Row Publishers, 1986} Another change we can make is in the area of good nutrition. This just makes sense in managing pain because what you feed your body is what it has to make the proper components for fuel (energy) and healing. And ...no , potato chips and diet Coke isn't on the good nutrients list! Sorry. May I say again that I understand because I struggle with these tasty tempters, too Check out Denise's website for a common-sense approach towards improving your nutrition. Did you know that caffeine and nicotine played a BIG part in increasing your pain? They are vasoconstrictors which means they constrict or narrow the blood vessels & limit the blood flow. Hence, the nutrients have a difficult time getting to the muscles plus the constriction may cause pain. Hint: Try putting a rubber band around your index finger just until it's comfortably tight. Now, go about your normal business for 10-15 minutes. It hurts, doesn't it? OK...when it gets real uncomfortable OR before your finger turns blue...take it off. That hurts, a little doesn't it? The blood vessels were clamped down on and then with release, the bloods rushed through the constricted vessels. Caffeine and nicotine are also nervous system stimulants. They "increase functional activity" in the nervous system (Tabers Medical Dictionary). In other words, they hype it up. That's about all that is necessary to say about these drugs except that they need to be limited. Hint: For those cola lovers , like myself, try limiting yourself to 10 oz. per day and only in the morning. That's helped me a lot because I still get my cola taste and, if I don't drink any caffeine after 1-2 pm, I'm in a calmer mood to rest better at night. What sense does it make if we're taking sleep medication to rest better but sabotaging the medication with stimulants? Another suggestion is to mix the cola drink with seltzer water. I like the fizz in my sodas but I don't want the sugar-high or caffeine-high so I'll mix these or, in the afternoon, have my seltzer water with a juice. Try it! Now we're going to talk about another area we can use to manage pain. Well, you knew I'd mention exercise sooner or later, didn't you? Yup! The old adage " Move it or lose it" is up-to-date. Now, we're not talking about aerobics with Gilad (although my pain clinic groups did use his videos and did we ever have a ball !) but you can exercise even confined to bed or chair. That's what Physical Therapists do with bedridden patients and post-surgical patients b e c a u s e muscles and joints STIFFEN UP without use!!! Movement increases circulation. Weak muscles cause more pain when you have to use them.....which is just about anytime you move! Consider this statement from Hippocrates (the 'father' of medicine) about 2,500 years ago.. "All parts of the body which have a function, if used in moderation and exercised in labors to which each is accustomed, become thereby healthy and well developed and age slowly; but if unused and left idle, they be come liable to disease, defective in growth and age quickly." Gentle stretching of those stiff, sore muscles goes hand-in-hand with gentle exercise and keeps you flexible. Easy does it! We'll get into these areas soon and walk you through them, instruct you, answer your questions, cheer you on! |
