I just found this page and thought it had some good helpful tips on imagery for dealing with pain. I find that breathing through the pain doesn't really help (it helped with labour but this is much much different!), this might work a little bit better and if it helps someone on here then that's all good.
Any such coping technique for chronic pain should begin with controlled deep breathing: 1. It is best to be in a relaxed position in a dark room, with eyes closed or focused on a point. 2. Breathe deeply, while continuing to focus. 3. Continue with controlled breathing for a few minutes. 4. If you sense this control of respirations is allowing for a slowing down of breathing, then try a particular imagery technique.
Examples of imagery and chronic pain control techniques include: 1. Focus on a non-painful body part, and see whether this diverts the mind away from focusing on, say, chronic back pain. 2. Mentally separate the painful body part from the remainder of the body; use dissociation to keep the pain away. 3. Divide different sensations of pain into separate parts: If a patient feels burning associated with pain, he or she might find it helpful to focus solely on the burning sensation, and not on the pain by using such sensory splitting. 4. Imagine a numbing injection of some miraculous medicine. 5. "Travel" back in time, when the patient was pain free. 6. Imagine a symbol for one's chronic pain, for example, a loud noise; turn the volume down, and reduce the pain. 7. Use positive imagery to focus on something pleasant. 8. Count silently to divert the mind from the chronic pain.
Thanks for posting this, Porcelina. FYI, techniques of this sort (sometimes called "creative visualization") have been used for many years as supportive therapy for advanced-stage cancer pain. They don't help all patients all the time, but there is substantive medical evidence that they do help to reduce perceived levels of pain in some people. Mind-Body interactions are only now beginning to be investigated rigorously by means of controlled studies employing real-time functional MRI of the brain. There seems to be a lot of promise in work of the sort you describe above.
I have always done something similar to this as a chronic back pain sufferer. It does help, at least to "tone" it down a bit and any relief at all is a milestone in my book! Thanks for sharing, I hope others find it helps them as well!
This one is "A Keeper", thanks for breaking it out in discrete steps, which is always helpful. In the early 1970's I was doing Transcendental Meditation (TM) a mind-relaxation technique that seems very similar.
I haven't used TM in decades; but wouldn't it be ironic to use TM to greatly tamp-down TN pain? I might even feel better about that $200 "contribution" I had to make to be given my "Mantra" and a brief introductory lesson.
Well, Hmm...I'd call that Karma...
(All, please forgive the incoherent ramblings of an old former Hippy--Sadly, since I bathed regularly, they pulled my Member ID card)
As I think about it again, my previous post probably came across as a bit flip, and I never actually spoke to your topic; my apologies.
When I was going through USN advanced physics and electronics classes back in the 1970's , many of our instructors were into TM. They would bring in a TN facilitator for any students that wanted to learn how to meditate. Many off us did so because the class material and exams were challenging and we needed some stress-relief...Long story short: TM is a great way to relax and get centered; two 20 min. periods a day in a quiet, dark place is all it takes to quickly become calm, relaxed and to not sweat those tests. TM worked great for me to relieve stress for almost 2 decades. When I rededicated myself to the Lord, I stopped meditating because I had had a new way to stay centered (that came with the greatest free life insurance imaginable). I still believe in meditation; just not for me. There are other kinds/types/systems of meditation, but I don't know much about them. Blessings, Rick