But I have dealt with frequent episodes of debilitating pain for most of my life, and have learned a few things. YMMV. NSAIDs screwed up my gut lining and I haven't been able to use them for decades, I'm not willing to use anything stronger because of the potential for addiction and nasty side effects, so finding "alternative" ways to deal with pain has been a big deal for me. Caffeine is at best a temporary band-aid and at worst just prolongs the episode, like hitting the snooze button on an alarm clock. Here's what works:
1) Water. Obviously, it's going to depend on what resources you have available to you and the nature of the pain, but my first line of defense for pain is always water, whether that's crouching under a scalding shower (muscle pain), dousing myself in ice water, or floating in a lake-- water helps. It's not a cure, but it loosens the grip of pain.
2) Plants, sun, and fresh air. I know. This sounds so trite. It's not. Getting some sun regularly helps, in a way that supplementing vitamin D is not really equal to. Breathing the air outside helps. Hanging out with my plants and checking up on them helps. If you've got any trees you're friendly with, pay them a visit, lean on them, talk to them. I don't know why it helps or how, but it helps. Maybe they just have a longer perspective on things ;) For back and hip pain, my herbalist friend taught me to find a sturdy smallish tree-- not a sapling, but not something you can bend and narrower than your own trunk-- face the tree and clasp hands around the trunk horizontally (like, not reaching up or down, but straight out from the shoulder), with knees bent, back straight, and just sort of lean/pull for as long as you can manage, as though you could teach your spine to imitate the strength, and straightness and suppleness of the tree. Repeat often.
3) Prayer/meditation. Helps if it's repetitive. I'm not going to be doing anything discursive while in extreme pain, but I can handle repeating a short prayer, and it helps to have a set of beads or a knotted rope to keep count. Not because it matters how many, but because it helps me keep going even when I want to quit, and I need repetitions in the hundreds to get where I'm going. I keep a regular pattern of breathing with the words, focus on *being* in my chest (it's usually my head that hurts, no good being there), and this can often get me at enough of a remove from the pain that I can be aware of it, but it's not an urgent concern.
3a) I'm religious, so it's not a big step to go from here to re-framing pain as "OK, I'm paying attention, God, what do I need to learn here?" Which is an act of trust, and just try to relax and hold onto the state I've drifted to by meditating, and listen. Be attentive. I won't say I've had any grand revelations this way, but a) it feels like the right thing to do, and b) it re-frames the experience as an opportunity to learn something, rather than just something awful happening *to* me, and this is extremely helpful. Pain that you can't do anything about is like that old kids' game: "Can't go over it, can't go under it, can't go around it... gotta go *through* it!" Any time you sidestep, try to avoid, curl up and self-pity (been there lots) you're giving up the opportunity to learn what it wants to teach you. But you can decide to go THROUGH, consciously, with that end in mind. And you will learn things. It's maybe a bit like bodybuilding. Maybe you don't *like* the exercise, but doing it regularly, on purpose, with good form, does build muscle. So perhaps when the opportunity is handed to you, try to treat it like leg day at the spiritual gym. At the very least, it gives you a sense of agency.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2023-06-20 03:35 am (UTC)But I have dealt with frequent episodes of debilitating pain for most of my life, and have learned a few things. YMMV. NSAIDs screwed up my gut lining and I haven't been able to use them for decades, I'm not willing to use anything stronger because of the potential for addiction and nasty side effects, so finding "alternative" ways to deal with pain has been a big deal for me. Caffeine is at best a temporary band-aid and at worst just prolongs the episode, like hitting the snooze button on an alarm clock. Here's what works:
1) Water. Obviously, it's going to depend on what resources you have available to you and the nature of the pain, but my first line of defense for pain is always water, whether that's crouching under a scalding shower (muscle pain), dousing myself in ice water, or floating in a lake-- water helps. It's not a cure, but it loosens the grip of pain.
2) Plants, sun, and fresh air. I know. This sounds so trite. It's not. Getting some sun regularly helps, in a way that supplementing vitamin D is not really equal to. Breathing the air outside helps. Hanging out with my plants and checking up on them helps. If you've got any trees you're friendly with, pay them a visit, lean on them, talk to them. I don't know why it helps or how, but it helps. Maybe they just have a longer perspective on things ;) For back and hip pain, my herbalist friend taught me to find a sturdy smallish tree-- not a sapling, but not something you can bend and narrower than your own trunk-- face the tree and clasp hands around the trunk horizontally (like, not reaching up or down, but straight out from the shoulder), with knees bent, back straight, and just sort of lean/pull for as long as you can manage, as though you could teach your spine to imitate the strength, and straightness and suppleness of the tree. Repeat often.
3) Prayer/meditation. Helps if it's repetitive. I'm not going to be doing anything discursive while in extreme pain, but I can handle repeating a short prayer, and it helps to have a set of beads or a knotted rope to keep count. Not because it matters how many, but because it helps me keep going even when I want to quit, and I need repetitions in the hundreds to get where I'm going. I keep a regular pattern of breathing with the words, focus on *being* in my chest (it's usually my head that hurts, no good being there), and this can often get me at enough of a remove from the pain that I can be aware of it, but it's not an urgent concern.
3a) I'm religious, so it's not a big step to go from here to re-framing pain as "OK, I'm paying attention, God, what do I need to learn here?" Which is an act of trust, and just try to relax and hold onto the state I've drifted to by meditating, and listen. Be attentive. I won't say I've had any grand revelations this way, but a) it feels like the right thing to do, and b) it re-frames the experience as an opportunity to learn something, rather than just something awful happening *to* me, and this is extremely helpful. Pain that you can't do anything about is like that old kids' game: "Can't go over it, can't go under it, can't go around it... gotta go *through* it!" Any time you sidestep, try to avoid, curl up and self-pity (been there lots) you're giving up the opportunity to learn what it wants to teach you. But you can decide to go THROUGH, consciously, with that end in mind. And you will learn things. It's maybe a bit like bodybuilding. Maybe you don't *like* the exercise, but doing it regularly, on purpose, with good form, does build muscle. So perhaps when the opportunity is handed to you, try to treat it like leg day at the spiritual gym. At the very least, it gives you a sense of agency.