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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2002 >> pain management technique
        
(Message started by: godeep on May 11^th, 2002, 11:58am)

Title: pain management technique
Post by godeep on May 11^th, 2002, 11:58am

I just found this site,am new OUCH member but long time dancer.I am episodal since onset at age 16, If I get a shadow, I can count on being at kip 10 within 45 minutes. I also am privileged (not) to have drug allergies which include most painkillers/anodynes e.g. novocain, codeine, vicodin, predisone, morphine. my reactions to these drugs ranges from no effect whatsoever (doesn't relieve pain at all) to acute anaphylactic shock (lethality).
I gave up on medicines a long time ago after a lot of unpleasant experiences, one of which nearly killed me. I came up with this technique that, I will be honest with you, does not eliminate the presence of the pain, but allows me to, for lack of a better word, HIDE from it. I can do this at kip 10 and not feel the pain, but if I let up a little the pain finds me, so I "hide" some more, I keep "coming out" and testing the water occasionally until the beast is gone.
I do this; eyes closed, start by visualizing a point, this will become a center. when i say visualize this i mean so you can "see" it. next i start another point moving around the center point like an electron around a nucleus, moving in one plane (like around the edge of a plate). then i start moving another "electron" around at right angles to the plane of the first. I would draw a picture if i knew how. Then i start moving a third electron at right angles to the first two, forming an "atom". I am concentrating very hard by now on visualizing this, allthree electrons are spinning around the center point and i can "see" them.when i have this going, i fill in the planes of the electron orbits like flat intersecting discs, once i have the three discs figure visualized, i start rotating the entire affair. remember the discs are solid planes,i can't see through the discs so now i have sections appearing and disappearing as i rotate the figure.
The increasing complexity of this visualization requires increased concentration to achieve, as my pain increases I add a component to the figure, i can be completely unaware of kip 10 pain at the rotating figure stage. The less complex stages work for lower levels of pain, if start to feel something i increase the complexity of the figure. A funny thing about this is that even at the most complex stage of this visualization i am still dancing, as a matter of fact it seems to help me concentrate, I don't have to make an effort to keep dancing, the dance just keeps going all by itself. My particular dance is the roll on your painful side with your head and torso one.
unrelated item-did any of you dance before onset? I did, before i ever had pain when very young, iwould do the roll thing or bang my head against stuff.

Title: Re: pain management technique
Post by Not4Hire on May 11^th, 2002, 1:06pm

Hey godeep...am intrigued with your topic and want to see more details....this board is NOT restricted as to size of post...(altho some posters SHOULD be...LOL)....make sure you use the sliders at right of the message area...I think your message IS there, you just don't see it .....of course I may be full of Peruvian butterfly gas, too....

Title: Re: pain management technique
Post by godeep on May 11^th, 2002, 1:10pm

figured it out, go back and read it again if you like,i added the technique,would like feedback on clarity of the explanation

Title: Re: pain management technique
Post by Not4Hire on May 11^th, 2002, 1:26pm

OK godeep- got it and I definitely can relate to this technique. The "Colonel" has shared with us a similar method of coping...check the archives-I don't remember the name of the thread, but his point was that "any" distraction you can create in your mind is good....like conjugating Latin verbs or visualizing brush strokes for Chinese cuneiform or whatever.

The automatic "dance" is a strange one...we *all* do it and I'm not sure why....the nature of the Beast is different for each sufferer, if not in kind, than in degree....

Thanks for sharing and PFDAN to ya...Steve

Title: Re: pain management technique
Post by Bear on May 15^th, 2002, 10:50pm

Hi all! First, I am so grateful to find this site. I am "episodic" now with nightly visits. I have danced and paced and all that other stuff, even tried some prescription drug that wigged me out and made me nauseous. What I've found that works for me is 2 ALEVE tabs when I start to shadow. Then, I sit at the computer and play Hearts and Solitaire as quickly as I can. Usually, within 15-20 minutes, I am pain-free. Of course, then it wakes me up again in the middle of the night. One more ALEVE and another round of cards or two, drinking water like mad. After about 1/2 hour, I am back to normal and can sleep the rest of the night. My theory is similiar to godeep's "atom creation." Concentration. Although, I wonder if the computer screen doesn't interact with the eyes and brain in some cyclic manner. Any thoughts? It sounds strange, but it beats anything else I've tried.