Pain killers

Hello everyone

When I get an acute back pain episode i feel the need to take pain killers. The problem is i take an anti inflammatory that kinda works but I think it's a placebo effect. The fact that it is anti inflammatory seems to be reinforcing that it is physical and not psychological. Does anyone have any suggestions on something different to take that is just a straight out pain killer so that I can refocus on the program?

Thanks
Adria

 

[Deleted at BeWell's request]

 

Hi, Adria. Dr. Sarno says it's okay to take medication to relieve strong pain, and I also agree with BeWell, that you should try to ignore the pain and find ways to enjoy your day. It helps very much to believe in TMS 100 percent. To help in this, here are Dr, Sarno's 12 Daily Reminders, in an extended version I like a lot from another in this TMS healing community:

Herbie’s Extended Version of Dr. Sarno’s 12 DAILY REMINDERS

1. The pain is due to TMS. This is real pain or anxiety but it is caused by subconscious tensions and triggers, stressors and traits to your reactions and fears and also when at boiling point your conscious tension can and does also cause real pain.
2. The main reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation. This means that when you get in pain or anxiety then the blood is restricted from going to your lower back, for instance. The blood being restricted causes oxygen deprivation which causes the pain. Remember, where there is no oxygen then there is pain in the body. Also, the pain stays because of fear.
3. TMS is a harmless condition caused by my REPRESSED EMOTIONS so even though you think you can harm yourself from the years of pain you have felt and how you feel in general -- so far no reports have been heard from TMS healing knowledge causing damage to anyone, it only helps.
4. The principle emotion is your repressed ANGER -- this means under your consciousness lies something that happens automatically to everyone. TMSers have repressions that are stored because of our personality traits, traumas, stressors, fears, strain, etc... When these stored repressions build and build, then eventually they cause the brain to send pain into your body to keep you from having an emotional crises. The mind-body thinks it is helping you.
5. TMS exists to DISTRACT your attentions from the emotions, stressors, tensions and strains of your personality traits because if you can get distraction then you won’t have to be in emotional turmoil. When you don't face and feel your emotions and they get repressed because you didn't want to deal with something -- they are just adding up in this beaker, ready to pour over and create real pain and anxiety in your body.
6. Since my body is perfectly normal, there is nothing to fear. So in reality when I fear the pain or anxiety I just cause myself undo strain and tension adding to the beaker of pain. If I fear, then I feed the pain, If I fear, it’s impossible to recondition. Fear keeps the pain and anxiety alive in the body through focus.
7. Therefore, physical activity is harmless. If I want to work against the pain I could but it’s better to lose some of the pain so when I start my life over I have to be in pain trying to heal because facing the repressions and all the other activities that cause the pain and reversing my fear and focus to them, then I can heal.
8. I am resuming all normal physical activity. I don't fear moving anymore. I believe in my body’s ability to heal now. I can move as I want. I will not fear moving with a bent back anymore. I will also practice going out and acting normal again, not in fear of what pain might do to me.
9. The pain is unimportant and powerless. Its only power is how it is hidden -- its illusion, its fear.
10. I will keep my attention on the emotional issues. I will think about my emotions and feel my emotions throughout the day. I will not judge, criticize or fear my emotions. I will not run from my emotional issues but face every one of them. I will feel my emotions fully and cry if I need to. Then I will release the emotion and get my mind and thoughts back to my life and living in the present.
11. I am in control of all of this. This is how I recover.
12. I will be thinking PSYCHOLOGICALLY AT ALL TIMES. This means I will keep my thoughts on psychological issues like happiness, fear and anger -- traits and triggers, conditioning and journaling -- The science behind mind-body/TMS healing, etc.... This way I will not feed my thoughts to the body -- that is a trick of TMS. TMS will always try to get me to focus on the body caused by the pain until I break its show and flair. When I get my attention off physical symptoms and on to emotional issues and psychological issues then I will not feed the fear of the physical issues anymore, thus making the TMS of no pain effect on the body. This will in return, give us the cure and become pain-free.

 

Thanks again

 

When I had chronic pain from fibromyalgia (fortunately, I've recovered), I took the pain medication Tramadol. It didn't really effect the pain that much, but I cared less about the pain when I took the medication, and found it helped me keep working during the worst of my pain. I will warn you that I developed a tolerance for it fairly quickly--it gradually took more medication for me to feel its effects. Also, when I got rid of the pain finally, I went through withdrawal from it, but I'd taken it for about 20 years at that time. There is a downside for every medication you take. Proceed with caution.

 

Adria, you might try adjusting your perception of the placebo effect. I use it to my advantage (described in a number of my recent posts) and there are researchers who are looking into ways to harness it. The placebo effect is a serious indication of just how powerful our brains are, and we should be using that power, not putting it down as not worthy of our attention.

Check out an older post from Forest for a link to Harvard research on the placebo effect: http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/harvard-researcher-studying-placebos.1440/#post-7462 (Harvard researcher studying placebos)

Dr. Sarno's work is all about changing your brain, and using your thoughts to create physical change. The placebo effect is also about the power of our brains to create a physical change. My gut reaction to your post is that if you think that "real" pain killers (whatever that means) will work while an anti-inflammatory won't, I'm afraid you are restricting your ability to embrace the concept of the mind-body connection. If you can't do that, you won't find healing.

Besides, over-the-counter analgesics have been shown to calm emotional pain in addition to physical pain. When I'm having a bad day and feeling the physical effects of stress, I take a Tylenol - just one - and I'm often surprised several hours later to realize that I feel better.

Good luck,

~Jan

 

Thank you all for your help

 

[Deleted at BeWell's request]

 

A week ago today I stopped taking an over the counter NSAID (Aleve) twice a day for severe, intermittent knee pain that began abruptly and with much inducement of fear, about 3 months ago. Stopping the drug was prompted by my first access of this web site and spending a few hours exploring/reading. I have been free from knee pain since I stopped the drug and I am able to exercise daily either by taking 3-4 mile walks or going to the gym. I read through the recovery program content on this site and started working my way through the daily assignments. Before coming here, I had read The Mind Body Prescription and The Great Pain Deception books with enormous interest and with 100% belief and understanding that I am a TMSer, and have been for 50 years. This was a welcome revelation to me and I was trying my best to figure out how to make Dr. Sarno's concepts actionable when I found this website. Everything that I have read here has been enormously helpful. Many thanks to you all for posting and for creating one place to go for resources.

 

Diclofenac (Voltaren), a recent study published in the Lancet said it was the best of the NSAID's:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/860579 (Medscape: Medscape Access)

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It's one that been around awhile. The article said a meta-study found it superior for knee and hip arthritis. I pay about $9 for a month's supply, in some countries it's OTC. I've found subjectively about a 30% improvement in my pain. Whether it's a placebo or not, I don't know. I would prefer not to take anything, but whatever works.