Perfect Breathing

Imagine waking every day to face the torture of chronic debilitating pain. Pain with seemingly no reason or source. Pain that defies doctors and treatments. 

The board-certified psychiatrist and M.D. who authors the blog and website HowToCopeWithPain.org started her career with a curiosity regarding the nature of pain and an interest in how patients cope with chronic pain. Unfortunately, she was soon to experience firsthand what living this nightmare was like. Although she requested that her name not be used for reasons of privacy and care of her ongoing patients, she has shared the lessons learned on her journey of healing from both sides –  the perspective of a doctor treating this elusive condition, as well as a patient struggling to come to grips with the realities of living in constant pain.

Our doctor’s condition began as an increasingly common repetitive stress injury from, not surprisingly these days, excessive computer use. But unlike the majority of cases, it developed into a little understood pain syndrome called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or RSD. RSD causes a change in the brain in which the acute pain from a true injury takes on a life of its own after the injury has healed. Luckily, hers was a mild case. The consuming pain only left her unable to work for 6 months with pain levels in the 8-9 range in her arm (on a scale of 10). In some cases the pain can spread to the whole body leaving the patient completely disabled with atrophied and frozen muscles.

The Nature of Pain

Persistent chronic pain is distinguished from acute pain, which is generally short term and is the body’s way of telling us something is wrong. Chronic pain is a condition unto itself and may persist after the original injury or cause has been removed. There are many types of chronic pain conditions – fibromyalgia, migraines, and back pain, to name a few. Many of these conditions are just now beginning to be understood, having been regarded in the past as phantoms, cries for attention, or supposed symptoms of mental or psychological problems.

The road to recovery was a long one and required developing a deeper understanding of pain and the nature of this illness. Looking back she says, “The first thing I had to realize was that although my arm was hurting, it wasn’t injured.  Secondly, I came to understand that no one form of treatment held the answer.” Nerve pain is a notoriously slow healer and she had to mentally adjust to the idea that it would likely take much more time than she had hoped. In the end, it would require a combination of approaches and an abundance of patience.

The Road to Recovery

She began to explore the use of medications, hypnosis, acupressure, physical therapy, herbal remedies, breathwork, and visualization, each potentially holding a piece of the solution, but not the complete answer. Physical therapy was critical, both for avoiding physical complications like muscle wasting, but also for helping to navigate the long process of recovery. It was essential to have someone with a grounded perspective who could help distinguish between pain that indicated injury and non-helpful pain, who could tell when to keep pushing, and when to back off, who could help provide context to an unexpected flare-up, and who could counter-balance the inevitable emotional swings.

Managing Pain

Learning to manage the pain is crucial. Pain can become a circular process resulting in perpetually tensed muscles that reduce blood flow and increase the pain which causes the muscles to tighten further and on an on. Much like chronic stress, chronic pain leaves you in a constant state of “fight or flight” which further erodes health and emotional wellbeing. Medications may play an important role in managing pain, but learning to utilize mind/body techniques can reduce the need for medication, minimize the undesirable side effects, and perhaps most importantly, give the patient more control.

Conscious breathing techniques can be an effective way of interrupting the circular pain cycle, by helping to relax the muscles, delivering more oxygen to the affected area, and invoking the parasympathetic nervous system which counteracts the fight-or-flight response and activates the body’s recuperative and regenerative systems. When conscious breathing is combined with visualization and mindfulness techniques, it becomes even more powerful.

If a patient’s pain feels cold, imagining that the breath is surrounding that area with heat can provide relief.  If the pain is searing, one might imagine it like the intense bright reds and yellow of the sun and then imagine the sun setting and the colors becoming softer and cooler. These exercises in visualization have a powerful effect on the mind and body that is not yet fully understood, but visualizing a desired outcome programs the mind to accomplish the goal. “I find it amazing that when I make a suggestion to have the healing air warm their back, I don’t have to tell their brain to dilate certain blood vessels,” remarks our specialist. “The mind knows what to do. I don’t know exactly how their brain did it and I don’t have to know. It is like a black box. I make the suggestion, and the body figures out what it needs to do to have less pain.”

Transformation

Through her work with patients, medical students, and HowToCopeWithPain.org, she is able to use the synthesis of her professional training and her personal experience with chronic pain to help guide her patients through the maze of treatments, emotions, and the new realities of living with their condition. And therein lies the key: living with the condition. “For some people it takes helping them change their thinking and expectations. It may take helping them to admit that their pain may not go away anytime soon and that the life they had may be gone for good, or for a good long time,” she says.

Transformation takes place when a patient realizes that pain and suffering are two different things. They can live with pain and still have productive, fulfilling lives. They don’t have to suffer and live under the suffocating cloud of negative emotions. Once they have made this leap, they can become creative about working around the roadblocks their pain has erected. Can you work fewer hours? Can you take breaks more frequently? If you can’t use the computer, can you use software or someone to take dictation? Some people cannot return to work and must make gigantic changes. That might mean turning to volunteer work or staying home and taking care of the kids. Whatever form recovery takes, it requires the realization that you can live with pain. You don’t have to suffer.

######

Don Campbell and Al Lee are the authors of Perfect Breathing: Transform Your Life One Breath At A Time (Sterling Publishing/2008) and write, speak, train, and blog tirelessly on the subject. Discover more ways you can improve your health, performance, and wellbeing at www.perfectbreathing.com. Reach them at info [at] perfectbreathing [dot] com or call 1-888-317-6718 (toll free).