If you have to manage pain on a regular basis it can be hard on you both mentally and physically. I was diagnosed with connective tissue disease three years ago which can cause pains within the joints. Pain can cause sleep disturbance, lower mood, tiredness and reduce concentration to name just a few.
There seems to be a plethora of approaches to deal with pain one such approach is drug therapy which from my experience always seems to be the first port of call. I find a lot of drug treatments cause gastric upsets and the prescription pain killers cause me side effects like sleepiness and out of body feelings. I have to drive and I feel these side effects are not good if you need to drive. I have been given other types of treatments for managing pain which unfortunately give me unpleasant side effects. For some people the drug approach works fantastically but unfortunately there are people such as myself where the remedy is worse than the condition.
Other approaches that can be used are Acupuncture some people swear by this and is effective for them however it does not work that well for me.
The things that I find are good for managing pain is meditation, mindfulness, visualization and the best is Reiki.
Mindfulness breathing techniques work very well as the focus is on the breath following the breath in and out without judgement. Meditation helps the mind to focus away from the pain. Many of us when in pain tense into the pain which makes it worse, so if you can learn to relax into the pain this can help as tense muscles will make it worse.
Visualization is effective as you can learn to create in your mind ways to help you. My best one is in the morning to stand in the shower and feel the water running down my body as the water runs down the plug I imagine the pain running out with the water.
Reiki treatments can help with pain and have a calming and de-stressing effect. However learning Reiki you can treat yourself. Reiki 1 is all about self healing and learning to use the Reiki energy. You are also taught how to meditate and centre yourself all good things to help you manage pain.
Over the years my journey with Reiki has taught me how it can help at night in bed if I am in pain I can use the Reiki to help relax me and ease the pain. I hope this has helped some of you who may read this. Please post any comments as I would love to hear from you.
If you are interested in Reiki and would like to know more then please contact me.
