Pain Control

Imagine…Pain Management Without Medication!

Five Steps to Pill-Free Pain Control:

Here’s how it works:

PLEASE NOTE: Remember that pain is your body’s signal that something is seriously wrong, becoming overused, or out of balance. If you are experiencing swelling, redness and heat on a painful area, GO TO YOUR DOCTOR FIRST!! You may have an infection or blood clot that needs immediate attention. Do not under any circumstances discontinue a prescribed medication without first telling your doctor and reducing the medication dosage methodically.

1) Basically, fear = anxiety = swelling = pain = swelling = more pain = more anxiety = more swelling = even more pain, and so on. It can be an endless loop. To successfully manage chronic pain, first you must release your biggest obstacle: fear, because it inhibits two important abilities, concentration and relaxation.

You must confront not only the fear associated with the pain, but also any fear of using Self-Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy. Fear can hijack the intellect into playing the “why me?” or “what if?” game, compromising your ability to focus and concentrate on more productive strategies.

The opposite of fear is: love, and sometimes love hurts. Fighting with your body will only make it worse. So it makes sense to love your body; it’s the only one you have. Learn to listen to your body, make peace with it, and have patience. You are married to it, in sickness and in health. So take that vow right now to love, cherish, and respect it unconditionally for the rest of your life. You are stronger together!

2) Next you must generate infinite trust in the virtuosity of your body and an understanding of the hypnotic process.

As far back as 1840, while practicing in India, a Scottish Surgeon named, Dr James Esdaile, discovered that the majority of his patients who used hypnosis for pain control during his surgical procedures experienced a much faster recovery time and much lower incidence of post-operative infection than those who used standard anesthesia at the time.

Now we know our brains produce a range of anesthetic compounds very similar in chemical structure to morphine called, “endorphins”. (That’s why morphine and its derivatives are so addictive, the brain has these receptor sites built in.) The brain deploys these locally sourced pain-relievers in a site-specific way, delivered at the exact right dose, at exactly the right time, and without harmful side-effects or dangerously compromising the body’s major functions as with general anesthesia. Ever notice a bruise on yourself and not remember how it happened?

Self-Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy are tools of self-empowerment and a means to consciously deploy natural pain-relief. The truth is, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. To better understand this, go to your local Hypnotherapist for a first-hand experience. It’s not magic; it’s a focusing and amplifying technique that can come in handy for learning how to focus on and amplify your brain’s ability to do pain-relief. This holds especially true in natural childbirth. I dare say natural pain relief has evolved with us over countless years, and it is helpful to learn how to use it.

3) In a peaceful, comfortable setting, the third step of pain control is to focus your awareness and concentrate only on what you are experiencing in the present moment for an extended period of time. Pain is a three-fold construct…the pain you remember from yesterday, the pain you are having now, and the pain you anticipate in the future. By closing your eyes and focusing inwardly, that’s the first step in the hypnotic process. When you concentrate your awareness on just the sensations you are experiencing in the moment, focusing on the act of slow rhythmic breathing, and paying attention to the other sensations you are having in your body besides the pain, you have already reduced that pain by 2/3.

4) Next, use your intellect to engage in systematic/progressive relaxation. Relaxation is absolutely necessary for successful pain and inflammation management, especially for chronic pain and for natural childbirth. You begin with slow rhythmic breathing centering in the abdomen, paying close attention to expelling ALL your air with each exhale using your diaphragm muscles, focusing on just one long, slow exhale at a time. Then, methodically, focus on relaxing one group of muscles at a time, starting with your eyelid muscles, and progressing all the way down to your feet…mentally relaxing each muscle group as you go. Plan on spending at least 30 minutes to do so, if not longer. A guided relaxation recording or nice background sounds are often helpful, enabling you to hang out in that nice “fluid” state, on the border between waking and sleeping. By the time you reach your feet, at this level you will have reduced the pain by about 75%, in part by raising your comfort level, without relying solely on medication.

5) Now you’re ready for complete pain-relief through the process of dissociation. (Dissociation through Self-Hypnosis is a controlled process, not a mental disorder.) Some people, like those in the creative arts, are better than others at dissociation, out-of-body journeys, and deep trance states; yet, with enough practice anyone can master it. To navigate in a deep trance state you must be completely relaxed but rested enough to remain awake. You can also think of it as a form of applied meditation. The key here is to realize that you are removing yourself from the pain and not vice versa.

Recall in as much detail as you can your most vivid memories of a relaxing place when you felt great and make that your pain-free place. Beautiful outdoor scenes work well, but any serene location will do. Talk yourself slowly and softly through the details. To maintain focus for longer periods of time, a background soundtrack consistent with your experience or my Personalized Self-Hypnosis MP3 Recording can prove useful. Eye masks can help. The more absorbed you can become in your imagery, the more oblivious you will become to your symptom. With enough practice, at this level you can completely anesthetize any part of your body, undergo surgery or, coupled with proper physical conditioning, you can mentally detach from labor contractions for a drug-free, natural childbirth. You can also consciously influence your nervous, circulatory, digestive, motivational, and healing systems through visualization and mind/body guided imagery.