Pain: we live it differently
We fell with our bike, close in our finger, injure our thigh, the coffee machine burns us, the mosquito bites us. From all, we immediately feel pain. However, those with stomach ulcers, worn joints, and those who want to give birth to kidney stones also feel pain, but these pains are longer lasting, less acute, deeper, sometimes cramping, and have a completely different character. Many have been suffering from pain for many years or almost in their entire lives, and they would give anything to live without pain. But a world without pain may have long meant the extinction of humanity. The intention of avoiding pain saves us from burning the body, breaking the bone, and from the injury to cause irreparable damage.
One of the undoubtedly very successful product range of the pharmaceutical industry is the group of painkillers. It is the medicine used in the largest numbers, we buy it a lot, may times only for safety reasons to stock up, so that if there is a headache, toothache, abdominal pain, then we have something to reach for. People take everything and take on all the side effects, just to be free of pain for at least a few hours. However, we can pay a serious price for regular analgesic use. Danish researchers have analysed data from 1.7 million patients who used painkillers and found that painkillers significantly (can up to 50%) increase the occurrence of vascular obstruction and cardiac arrhythmia. In the light of these researches, there has already been such drug that got withdrawn from the market, but it is likely that drugs containing diclofenac, ibuprofen or metamizole will not be withdrawn even if there are a series of warning research results.
Which drug is the most popular in Hungary?
Algopyrin, the popular painkiller for Hungarians, for example, can cause immune weakness and lower white blood cell counts. Others irritate the mucosa of the stomach and intestine by causing ulcers or damage to the liver and hematogenic damage, possibly kidney failure. Therefore, any analgesic method by which chemical pills or injections can be substituted should be considered.
The difference of pain endurance
In the surgery room, some patients behave astonishingly when we are preparing for fingertip needle puncture or acupuncture. Some people do not even blink an eye, some are already sweating even before the puncture, apparently they would do anything to avoid experiencing this pain. Some people can still hide it well that time, but in the moment of the needle stab, they suddenly jump so big, that the items on the table fell to the ground or they are close to fainting and they need to be laid down. So we experience pain differently.
What does Ayurveda say?
According to Ayurveda, the feeling of pain is the activity of one element of our fine physical body, of our false self-identity. Those who identify with the body to a greater extent (instead of the spiritual identity within the body) are more likely to suffer from body pains. Partly because of this that hypnosis can successfully treat pain, even tooth extraction without medication, but painlessly, if the doctor is trained and well experienced in managing hypnosis and with its methods, can adequately isolate the patient’s consciousness from body events.
Pain
The Vedas also say that the pain that the body has to endure is the result of one’s individual life course, actions and reactions, the consequence of one’s karma. It is not difficult to understand this if neck pain or headaches develops due to an irresponsible diet or neglected lifestyle, but it is less understandable if one seems to be suffering from chronic nerve pain caused by a viral infection for no apparent reason. The opinion of the Vedas in a situation like this too is that our previous actions determine our present state, but we might hardly remember the root cause. And my experience is that any pain can be influenced by the combination of a change in lifestyle, perception and natural methods.
What does modern medicine say about pain?
Modern medicine explains pain by the pain sensor and pain transmitter abilities of the nerve cells and its receptors. There are many guessing in this area, as there is little explanation for how our body can differentiate between different types of pain and compared to acute pain how chronic or slow pain is created, which can upset the life of a patient for years. How does metabolism, deposition, deterioration, complete disruption of the system, or its independence from the cause, takes part in the function of the neural network. The final methods of medicine are those which they cut the entire nerve fiber by surgery, so that the transmission of pain is completely eliminated.
We know that inflammations are painful, but pain can be triggered by external (accidental) or internal (mucosal injury caused by medicine or bad bacteria), tissue growth (tumors, stones, deposits), or even by deterioration (e.g. knee or hip joint overload due to obesity or excessive sport), malfunction (e.g. cervical vertebrae displaced from its original position). Chronic variants of pain are those that require more careful medical consideration, as the alleviation of long-term pain is not well resolved in today’s medical science.
Lifestyle and nutrition
Because we are able to soothe inflammation through our diets, and as a form of minimal inflammation, edema develops in almost everyone due to daily lifestyle errors, that is why detox diet, radical plant diet, breathing exercises and professional detoxifying treatments can alleviate the intensity of any pain. Whether movement helps or makes things worse can be judged by the condition of the individual. Obviously, any movement cannot be done with wearing joint pain, but other musculoskeletal pains due to laziness or neglected metabolism can reduce the effect of movement.
Neural therapy
Neural therapy was discovered by the German Hunecke brothers a hundred years ago. By using 1% Lidocaine, I stab the so called neuraltherapic points of the body, which are, through the vegetative nervous system and the connective tissue space are beneficial for the healing of chronic inflammations, pains and dysfunctions.
Neural therapy points often coincide with acupuncture points, but they are also very different. Many times we puncture into deeper layers of tissue that is close to the given regulatory disorder, we puncture the gum, the tonsils or its scar, surgical scars, around the thyroid gland, both sides of the spine, certain nerve centers, or in the case of chronic gynecological problems, the pelvis. Neural therapy should be repeated 3 to 10 times, in most cases one treatment is not enough, but after the first treatment the improvement is usually felt.
The most shocking neural therapic phenomenon is the so-called secunder phenomenon, which can manifest in the relieving of pain. The essence of the phenomenon is that the injection of a neural therapic injection into a connective tissue nodule removes the seemingly unrelated pain in the very moment. I had experiences for example with one of my patient the unexplainable pain in the big toe, during the underinjection of the area of a tooth, completely disappeared, or with another patient when the underinjection of the area of the tonsil eliminated the headache.
Traditional Chinese Medicine – Acupuncture
The existence of energy lines that connect our body is best understood through acupuncture and the Chinese medical view. According to Chinese medical thinking, when the energy channels (meridians) in our bodies get stuck, there is a shortage before the blockade and there is stasis after, and along with that pain is formed. According to the Chinese system, energy can be channelled with the help of acupuncture needles on side branches, or the blockade can be eliminated with the help of chi-kung exercises and herbs. It can also relieve pain.
Ayurvedic (Indian) way to relieve pain
According to Ayurveda, pain is an advanced stage of the process leading to the disease. Detoxifying methods, an Indian system of panchakarma processes are needed for the removal of excess doshas (energies that disturbs the balance), to the removal of the factors that started the entire disease process.
Before and after the main treatments with different pre- and post- therapies, with physical methods (with massages, herbal balls, heat treatments, relaxing oil treatments and with herbal infusions) pain, tissue rigidity and edema is alleviated. Herbal remedies, diet, the right choice of the oil, good treatment technique, and well-trained manual therapists play an important role in Indian pain relief. The treatment is completely personalized, so no general prescription can be given. For example, for someone fasting and cold is beneficial, for others heat and oily-fatty food that is preferable, one needs dry, others need oily massage. We also individually design yoga and breathing exercises to treat pain, which can also relieve chronic pain.
Simple physical therapies – e.g. Kneipp treatments, manual medicine
Pain often develops or worsens due to improper skeletal muscle, joint tone and position. In this case with simple physical stimuli (cold or hot water, wraps, pourings) result can be achieved. Manual medicine, more commonly known as chiropractic or osteoporosis (though each term means different), can repair a condition of the joints, mainly the positional disorders of the spine. The dislocated joint is unable to do its original movement, the surrounding muscles and ligaments become swollen, and the pain sensor receptors become active. In this case, following a well-established diagnosis, a well-directed manual therapy move may be able to correct the disorder without the necessity of taking medication for months. Various magnetic, thermal, light devices (Zepter lamp, infrared light) are included in this group, which use electrically generated forms of simple physical stimuli to relieve pain, but sometimes sunlight and good air is also essential for the healing of pains.
Only by taking into consideration the unified methods of medicine as a whole (which also includes natural cures) can the patient’s pain be relieved with sufficient efficiency and with the least harm.
Medication is not a solution in itself, especially in the case of chronic pain, but natural methods are not always enough as the pain itself can generate additional pain through additional muscle cramps and fears. In such cases, the cycle should be interrupted with the correct application of the medications, injections for the right time. However, it is possible that all of these together are not able to solve the issue of pain while maintaining the life quality. For example, the pain of cancer patients can reach a stage where it is only through sacrificing waking consciousness that we can save the patient from unbearable pain.
Our life is a continuous experience, pain is certainly one of the most typical experiences in life, without it we would not learn, we would not walk on the right way. It would be a pity to leave it out completely. Our job is to reduce suffering, not to turn it off completely.
Source: my article in Naturopath Magazine