helpful tools for pain management

             do you want to start a group to share the tools we find useful for ourselves for pain?

[omhome]

    
       so let's share with each other those things we do (perhaps creative off-the-wall or alternative tools) that help us with our day. Maybe things to share with our kids---they see us struggle. I have appts today but will start later with some things i do in my yoga classes that people have said really work for them.. Practical stuff. It is called   mugabaji  slomanije!! Memorize that!  just
kidding.  Inhale and refresh---exhale and relax. That's it. However of course there is a lot more to it as you practice and can become very powerful . More about that and more later.  But don't wait for me. somebody  SOME BODY just go ahead and jump in. we can all benefit when we share.  later   om    yogadon
      

[omhome]

  
ok   so inhale-refresh. Any position(back straight) is fine just do it when you remember but every morning for sure. The feeling-state or your mental state (i call it inner weather) during refresh is like this===when we said the word "beach" to our lab there was instant JOY---tail going whole body excited happy happy dog---or the feeling of a child night before or morning of christmas---or you before the trip to bora bora!!That feeling! Imagine it! Really. imagination is powerful. The mind can believe it. Like placebo effect.  Or conditioning.  If you like add a word or image (or both) to help. So maybe say the word refresh (or beach) as you inhale and feel sunshiney. The more you practice this (tailor it to you) the more effective and reliable it becomes. At first just pretend you feel the refreshment. What can you lose.  
      Now don't hold or force your breath---just relaxed but full inhale---primary nutrient!! Elixir.  I know it sounds weird or hokey or?  but is bases on scientific principles.    Give it a try and see.   There is yet more to it than that but first  just this step..  
      Next time the exhale-relax practice. I bet many of you have done the exhale with relaxation and ahhhh  etc before.   Anyway make it a good day in spite of the challenges.    Sometimes it is a choice.   sometimes not.   om    yogadon          

  

[omhome]

    
      
OK  so what does this have to do with pain? One of my good friends is a doula and she says that the women who use the breathing techniques that are core to the program swear by them. (not the swearing during labor!HA!). The more that they had practiced (often with the husbands) the more effective was the pain relief and the relaxation of the muscular tension!! Many of them continue the breathing exercise---along with some husbands (i see so few men in my classes) and teach it to their children (can be a "miracle" for some) It works for pain and the key is practice practice practice.  More about the inspiration (the inhale) next time.  om    don

[omhome]

   if anyone is interested i will continue with different techniques and tools and comforts for pain. If not let me know and i will stop posting and wasting time and space.

[Cindee56]

I am very interested in how to relax my muscles--the pain makes them so tight and tense, as well as any activity.  

How can a bedridden person do this?  I can only walk and/or sit for a short time  before the pain is  beyond belief.  I still have pain lying down.  I can't do anything at all anymore.  I have no pain meds.

Plus, I'm alone a lot and feel helpless.  I want to move, but can't--everything very swollen.

Thx

Any advice?  Thx

[omhome]

let's straighten this out somehow because there is much confusion and there is difficulty in posting for some reason. Can we grow our group is the question
and then we can get on with the Tools we can use to improve our daily qualityy of life.  I like what you are posting dalubaba--keep it up---all of us here is a chance encounter in a world called med-help and for whatever reason here we all are. Let's not miss this opportunity! We can make it how we want.,. OK?  More people climb on board---we'll use both or more sites and new sites about particular "tools"  etc. ooops   gotta go   yes  yes   yes   more later (on the breathwork etc.)    om    yogadon

[Motowngirl67]

I am having trouble seeing the post but am very interested. I am two years post op, have gone from a very productive member of society, cps worker, casa, foster and adoptive parent, grandparent and very active 45 yr old to a sedative, drug dependant, disabled burdon on society. OK a little dramatic but I haven't worked in two years +, live off of pain killers and not very well, I am on LTD and SSDI, and soon medicare. I would love to learn how to manage my pain and get my life back. Learn how to control it instead of it control me. I am still an adoptive parent thankgoodness, love my kids, but no longer participate in there lives no sports, no extra activities, no fostercare or motivation. So, lets do this please! Lets claim our lives and get started!

[Motowngirl67]

Some tools I use:
Great gel packs 1 part rubbing alcohol to 2 parts water, ziplocks, freezer you get the picture. They are customable to size and weight you can stand and because of the alcohol they don't freeze hard so are moldable and work greak to reduce swelling and calm irritated nerve pain.

[Motowngirl67]

I have a motorized bike that helps me work my legs when I just can't get up and walk, keeps circulation going. I turn it on sit on the couch get to the point I can't stand it and place a 3min timer on and breath through it! Sounds crazy but the oxy or mental aspects makes me feel great when irs over. I lie flat and wait for the pain to pass up to two hours at time but then try to stretch

[Motowngirl67]

I use a tennis ball and massage the balls of my feet with back and fourth motion while on couch as well the circulation and trigger points do wonders.

[Motowngirl67]

I have several others but will wait to see if anyone wants to hear them before I continue.... Hope you all had a great weekend. And remember for every task we are unable to do we grow stronger, more determined to accomplish them which makes us stronger, accomplished survivers...

[Motowngirl67]

Oh wanted to add one more: rice socks they are inexpensive. You buy everyday rice, I like long grain, put in a tube sock, you can find these on sale in bulk, knot and warm in microwave the supply you with warm, moist heat and it last for about 45 to 60 minutes. I love them! You customize size and weight you can stand and alternate heat and ice is a great pain therapy!

Just my two cents for the day!

[omhome]

thank you thank you THANK YOU motowngirl---this is just what i was wishing-hoping praying etc. for. I love that you can share with us these things you do that help. And please YES (my favorite word and thought) please yes keep posting. People will use these tools and there will be a little less suffering in our world---buddha would love it---jesus would love it- who wouldn't??
   i have a busy day but will post when i can----maybe continue with some breathing insights??  The thing you do with your bike (3 minutes or so?) i would call a meditation (you can move and meditate--despite some folks saying you have to be perfectly still). each person will discover (uncover is the better word!) their own path.. Later----om   yogadon

[omhome]

another great thing about MT"s suggestions is that they are Affordable---Practical--Do-able--they make sense---don't need help to do it---no withdrawals---tolerance?HA! We laugh in your face----
   Seriously though ---what if those of us with limited incomes could afford daily "spa" treatments--massage--all the different kinds of massage---kinds of acu   treatments---retreats--workshops--personal life coaches etc etc etc. Of course if most of us had those funds we would probably divert them to help others in need (especially children) of things we take for granted (or just take-) you know? like water food  even Air to breath. I sincerely believe we would give up our daily massage don't you---give up that $$100 wine once a week. You know  sacrifices!  HEY!  we got soul.  and we got some pretty nifty "tricks" from motowngirl!! We got a Day!  Oh yeah  chant  yes yes YES (out loud or to yourself> Don't scare the dogs or children with your joy. Play!  om   yogadon

[omhome]

i really hope someone will keep this thread active rather than me----this thread just got pushed to the bottom by some "answers" by a doctor.  none of us is a doctor---i don't think--and if we are we also have CP and don't answer15 questions in a row do we?  please someone respond about this for me.  om   don

[Motowngirl67]

Hello Om Don, just a quick note on your last post!  My last flaire that has had me basically bedridden for this past month started by a trip to the SPA! My guy crawled up on my back and started kneeing me.... Never had anyone do that before I about, popped a gasket! I twisted, he fell, I hopped up, screamed get out! Next day couldn't walk. I have had several flares in the, past years but what ever this guy did really through me for a loop this time! I don't know if I will EVER get a massage again!  So, being rich and having a SPA day everyday does not sound exciting to me at all!

I will come up with some more home remidies for yea! But you are on your own with the other! lol

[Motowngirl67]

A really good but stnky soak that my mother-in-law from AR shared with me years ago befor the whole MJ movement.  This is just a recipe please I am not a doctor nor am I condoning the use of MJ, but since you can now get it by legal means I thought id share.

She would use the green rubbing alcohol not the clear.

Old gallon jug
Two bottles alcohol
Tyme
Jasmine
Bay leaves
MJ steams, buds, and seeds
Tiger balm- 1 12oz cream
Blend in mixer, more alcohol if needed, the green kind
You can add lanolin and vasaline for a creamier lotion type consistance but do that after MJ soak at least 2wks
Once mixed into a juice put in gal jug add additional MJ steams, cloves, and bay leaves.
Let soak for at least 2wks... She always had some under bathroom sink but I like to keep in freezer.
Keep in freezer and use as rub for localized pain or add to warm water for an awesome foot soak.


She tought me this over 25yrs ago and it works wonders they now have a cream u can buy at the MJ store if you have a car with much of the same stuff and it is around 20 for a 1/2oz of cream. Smells better though...lol

[omhome]

yes thank you motowngirl and keep those recipes coming---how about some Take-Away-The-Pain  chile or spaghetti sauce!  HA!  And about that "other"? It seems like i have always been "on my own" about "That". And we all know what "That" or the mysterious "other" mysteriously means don't we?  Hell i don't have a clue!! Will we ever solve "the mystery"?  I think thinking about it is a good distraction for the mind and we can use distraction to help with the constant chronic pain (what we are really discussing here). So my two cents is to find a hobby or pastime that takes your mind out of that pain loop for a few minutes and start adding that to  your other modalities. It is a plesasure rather than a "Pain" to do. Unlike that massage you got (i don't do well with it either) . Or the hot tub? I have rosacea and doc no to it.  you know how it goes everybody----oh look another roadblock--a new pain--a new med--etc  etc..  good god what a challenge!  Hang in there it looks like a supportive group is forming.  Right you guys??   Om  yogadon

[Motowngirl67]

Hobbies! Those are great, I totally agree something to keep your mind occupied and off it.

The pain can totally help with the psyc of it all.

So, what is your hobby? I use to garden and scrapbook but both are out.... Suggestions?

[omhome]

thank you for your positive energy motowngirl. It's interesting that at first my hobby was yoga and all things spiritual. I love to read and there are volumns of very absorbing and inspiratiional "posts". I just discovered You Tube (daughter commands!) and oh my god check it out under yoga--or osho---for beautiful music and video maybe start with deva premal--and then just look on the sidebar thingys (me=computer newbie) . Then all the weird stuff and postures and bed of nails and levitation stuff shows up Fun! Put ramakrishna in the search---ammachi----mother teresa---saints  etc.
      now what happened was that yoga hobby turned into my avocation--my profession--my lifestyle--My Life. So that's one . More about hobby later (poetry and painting (ha!) and oh yeah people watching) Anyway some of you guys tell us your absorbing pain killing hobbies.   OK now--about the i don't have the time thing? You have to make the time --very important to keep up self nurturing. Major. Make the time.  Om   yogadon

[omhome]

another hobby that took my mind away from the pain-loop for a while was (and i guess still is) writing--of any kind. Or maybe i should say "thinking" and being able to transfer those thoughts in some kind of organized manner onto paper and then into another person's mind. If they "receive" those thoughts and they are still similar to what was on or in my mind then Success. The deal is i create another "train of thought" that takes over the track for a while and the other "pain-train" of thoughts gets put on the side-track for a while. It works sometimes. Just a thought! Ha! Good 'ol hobbies.  Anybody else with some practical useful "tools of the trade"?   om   yogadon

[omhome]

don't throw out the gardening as a hobby just yet motowngirl--make it a slow moving almost tai-chi like meditation. Movement and meditation are very high on the list of effective pain management techniques. So is fresh homegrown food!  I loved to grow stuff but thought i had to quit doing it but then discovered container gardening. I had big doubts at first but started really small and when i saw the results i wish i had planted more.

     You can co-ordinate the breathing with the slow movement (even add chant or inner song to it) and keep the focus right on  what you are doing--smelling and feeling--tasting---nurturing the little ones---so much help in many areas of distraction from the pain .
   research (i won't waste the space here) about container--or greenhouse etc. gardening with maybe hydroponics---lightweight containers and soils--and all of the info for we who are Challenged you can find and get to work planning a chard crop! Lettuce---peas---garlic--flowers (some edible)----Did i whet your appetite???  OK  anybody else with your favorite pain management- tools-techniques--tricks?   Om    yogadon

[omhome]

  wow! I just don't get it? Do any of you?  What's up?

[omhome]

it appears few of you have any interest in this idea. that's why i said wow etc, perhaps people get more pain relief from venting than from using different tools distraction  etc. seriously  there are studies underway to test that assertion. Relief does seem to follow some "venting" (not sure that's a right descriptor) a release of some tension maybe i don't know?  what do you think?   don

[omhome]

here are some more helpful tools from Dalubaba
  
Dalubaba  
10 minutes
To: Cindee56
Very sorry to learn your condition.Anybody having problem like yours will be depressed.Yoga is really good but it is not a panacea which can solve all the problems of all the people. Have you done hydrotherapy.It is water therapy.If you have any naturo-path in your area, you may take some treatment from them. Google chair Tie Chi. You may find some exercise you can do.They suggest acupressure point as well. Another therapy you can try is clapping your hands in any rhythm you like..This helps in blood and energy circulation. You can also meditate on your breathing. Just breath normally and concentrate on your nostril,and getting aware of your breath.This relaxed concentration may help you to bypass sensation of pain.You may give me feed back.I am not a professional healer. I am interested in holistic therapy and do read on the subject. In spite of fading vision, I read 4 to 5 hours a day. If I find anything good for you, I shall contact you. In the meanwhile, I will incude you in my Reiki prayers.Thanks. anybody else wanna share?  comments? using the tools?
Reply

[omhome]

any more information about the clapping exercise dalubaba? any special breathing or chanting with it?

[omhome]

there is a new Positive Posts thread starting at Chronic Pain Couch for some positive energy.
What do you think?