Mental Pain
Emotional Pain
Physical Pain
What is pain?
-In layman terms it is a way for the body to tell us that something is wrong and needs attention.
Which is actually positive, however not so for chronic pain patients where no medication eradicates pain completely so we talk about pain management. For example in lupus, Fibromyalgia, MS, to name a few, pain is felt all over the body on various levels all the time.
Anxiety and depression can cause tightness and pain in the chest and disrupt digestion and multiple other functions.
Or an injury has healed but the pain stays.
Here is what Anita Hickey MD Anesthesiologist and pain medicine doctor has to say in her book ..Pain is not what it seems:
"We take the opioids, which act on the opioid receptors, which are on the descending part of the pain pathway. Meanwhile, the areas of our brain that register pain coming up the ascending pain pathway say, “You are not fooling me with that fake opioid stuff. I still have pain signals coming up here so I’m going to turn down my opioid receptors.” The patient then takes more opioids and the cycle continues”
Mental and emotional pain is even more diffuse and harder to treat.
For example Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
America and the healthcare system have started to turn to different approaches. Mindfulness, wellness, holistic healthcare are now house hold names and are used in conjunction with traditional medicine. Thereby giving us more tools to help ourselves and regain confidence.
How to help myself, how to learn to turn off the panic button and calm down the pain receptors. And maybe the pain does not go away completely, but I am giving my brain a different focus. Jin Shin Jyutsu and other modalities are now used in Hospitals around the country.
Lets do self care:
Sit back in your chair and give yourself a hug. Place your hands under your armpits, thumbs on your chest. Let your breath settle, focus on this movement of exhaling down the front of your body and up the back. Breath in and out 36 times or as long as you desire. Thank you
Susanne Carigo CJSJP and Labor support doula
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