#258 Break the flare


Last night I had a truly awesome pain experience. On day 15 of my self prescribed one month "I-am-not-going-to-use-ANY-pain-meds" trial period I had a major flare of neck pain and a throbbing migraine (which can come from my whiplash but has been really rare the last 4 years) was building force. It's like an incoming storm, you see all the warning signs: dizziness, nausea, extreme stabbing headache, visual disturbances.... and I was freaking out: "oh no.. I'm not taking any meds, will I be having a migraine for several days before it goes away? What about all the things I need to do? Do I have the strength to go through this?"

Then I tried listening to my body, which for some reason was craving sugar and felt too warm. Ok, bag of candy + ice pack seemed to bring some relief, but the pain was still there. Then I remembered the effect of smiling, and decided to trick my brain into thinking it was not dangerous by fake smiling and repeating calming affirmations. Curbing my worried mind was sort of like taming a wild horse, but after a while it worked, at least for a few minutes. I took a hot bath, which seemed to draw the blood down from my head to my body and did some breathing exercises, and you know what? The flare just totally ...  disappeared.... with no meds?!! That's like... NEVER happened before... I actually got a good night's sleep and woke up with only mild pain, which disappeared after a morning yoga session. Day 16 and no pills. wow, I feel like a healing superhero!!!

2 comments:

  1. That is wonderful! I don't take much pain medication because they agitate me. I am going to try this too. I saw myself go into a ROARING bout of pain once in just a few minutes due to anger so it makes sense to try the reverse. Way to go, and thank you,
    Patti

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  2. Thank you Patti! And yes, I'd say your experience shows a lot of healing potential:) Good luck!

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