How Pain Is Felt In The Brain

Join Jim Fazio as he discusses "how pain is felt in the brain" with Dr. Paul Canali of Evolutionary Healing Institute.  This is part of an ongoing series of interviews Jim did with Dr. Paul Canali on chronic pain, PTSD, Healing Trauma and Unified Therapy.

Chronic Pain Is More Than Lifestyle Choices

Do you ever have one of those cartoon moments, where steam comes out your ears after reading something?  Well, today was one of those days.

When I read the following quote, it made steam come out of my ears.  No, I'm not going to name the source because far too many people think this way and quite frankly, they are only seeing "part" of the story.


The quote is:

Lifestyle is the cause of chronic illness and lifestyle is the only evidence-based solution for the prevention of, and recovery from, chronic illness.

In addition to the entire premise of this statement being short-sighted and downright wrong from my own experience, when you use the word "ONLY" as the foundation for your statement, you are standing on melting ice in the middle of a lake.  This is one of the things that is wrong with our health care system and why people don't get better.  I know the place that wrote this means well, but there is more to the picture than this "belief" about chronic illness.

Inadequate at best and harmful at worst...

I will not disagree that chronic pain often has lifestyle choices that are not healthy.  However, that is like telling a person with depression, to just be happy or a person who has sleep issues, that they should just go to bed at a set time.  These forms of advice and counseling and help are inadequate at best and harmful at worst.  They don't assist the person and help them.  They only cement the judgment and shame deeper into their consciousness.

In many of the chronic pain and chronic illness, there is something more below the surface.  There is something that set the person up for the situation they are now facing.  Maybe no one can see it.  Maybe no one can even begin to believe it.  Maybe it is something that no one is even thinking about, but it is there.  I've worked with far too many people and seen evidence of what I am saying, to not be able to believe that lifestyle changes along can help every situation.

All too often we've seen people look for help that isn't there.  We've seen this person or that product offering the "cure-all" for their condition.  I used to work in research evaluating products for a company before we took the plunge and spent millions to find out if something worked or not.  Of the products that were backed up by science and research and trials with big name companies, approximately 85% of them did not show a statistical improvement for whatever it was that we were testing.

Needless to say, these companies and even colleagues of mine would rip my research to shreds.  Yes, it was meticulously done and yes, myself and other individuals reviewed it before the data was released.

I find the same thing in the health and healing communities.  Some of the "products" out there make my eyes do flip-flops and the claims make me vomit.  Sorry, if you're one that does not want to hear this, but from my experience, it is the truth.

Chronic conditions have deep layers...

Chronic pain and chronic illness is present for a reason.  It has deep layers which I don't think we truly understand today.  However, there is new pioneering work that is being done and can often reverse these conditions or have a significant impact upon them.  Situations and health conditions that we thought were not treatable are now being seen that we can influence them.

Yes, lifestyle choices does make a difference, but if there are underlying situations and stresses below the surface, then you can beg someone to change all day long with little results.  Heck, even the person suffering from Chronic Pain and Chronic Illness can hope something changes, but unless the underlying pressures are released, this will be nothing but a prayer.

A message from our body to our brain...

Pain is there for a reason.  It is a message from our body to our brain trying to get our attention.  Sometimes, maybe most of the time, it is difficult to understand how this could even be true, let alone how we can solve it.  The answers are not from feel good statements, but are through interventions that takes us deep within where we feel our body.  It is not where we escape it.

Here is a good video by good friend Jim Fazio as he interviews Dr. Paul Canali about Chronic Pain.  Dr. Paul Canali is a pioneer in the treatment of trauma, pain, and anxiety and offers a new approach that is highly effective.  This is not belief or theory, but actually applied therapy that has helped thousands of people he has worked on.

I want to push each one of us, whether we suffer from chronic conditions or we are in the healing community try to help people deal with these conditions.  We cannot sit back and expect the tired and old practices that have become our paradigms to continue being ineffective in our healing modalities.  We have to be more and often that starts where we least expect it to begin.

Instead of limiting your healing beliefs to lifestyle changes only, find out what makes the person tick from the inside.  What is it that holds you or them back?

I used to think that Dr Canali had some special gift, but now I'm beginning to see that what he has learned resides in each one of us.  It was not just him that could help others.  Yes, it may take another compassionate and caring individual without judgment to walk through the healing fires with us, but healing comes from within us.  Let us not look at it through simple eyes, missing the deeper moments.

Chronic pain and illness is not easy.  However, there are therapies emerging that can help so much, if we allow ourselves to go check them out.

#ChronicPain

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Dealing With Pain In Life

One of those subjects that we all experience whether we admit it or not, is most likely one we all want to be gone.  I'm talking about pain.  Pain is part of the human experience.  Pain is a part of life whether we want to believe it or not.

There are different kinds of pain from emotional to physical to chronic and then some that are the result of a physical accident or injury.  Each one takes its toll on us and drains our energy.  Sometimes the pain gets so unbearable that we do everything we can to avoid it, disconnect from it or believe that it doesn't exist.

As humans, we are pretty good at numbing ourselves from pain.  It is easy to do if we stay busy so we don't have to think about it or we have beliefs that help us hide from the pain.  It is easy to do if we just have gotten to a point where we ignore it because it is too much for us to deal with.  Numbing is a powerful human skill that we all possess and it is practiced routinely.

Chronic pain...

If you suffer from chronic pain, it seems like there is no end in sight.  It seems like there is nothing that will help.  There is no option but to deal with it in whatever form works for you.

Emotional pain...

If you suffer from emotional pain, tears will not always be enough to wipe it away.  Love is sometimes hard to let in to soothe it.  It is a loneliness that is felt clear to the bone when you suffer from emotional pain.

Physical pain...

Physical pain sends us running for help before we can blink an eye.  It is pain that we want to stop and have it stop quickly.  It is pain that is often hard to endure depending upon the severity of it.

Just hoping the pain will end...

Through all of this, our brain tells us something is wrong and either we know what that is, or sometimes it is just too complex for us to understand.  The more complex it is, the more we tend to suffer in silence apart from the world, just hoping that the pain will end.

Our bodies know how to numb us and try to protect us, but some days, that is not even enough.  Often we turn to all kinds of products, substances, and beverages.  Sometimes we turn to belief systems and medication all in an attempt to ease the pain.  Believe me, when the pain gets tough, I start looking for anything that will help, even if it isn't the best thing for me in the long term.

Pain is part of the human experience...

Pain is part of life.  It is part of the human experience.  Although I'm sure this isn't what most people want to hear, I know it to have truth from my own life and experiences I've been through.  I know it to be truth from what I have seen in others.

If you're experiencing pain, keep in mind, "this too shall pass".  If you're dealing with chronic pain, it isn't as simple as that thought.  If you're dealing with emotional pain, know that it isn't the end of the world.  Things will get better and they can get better.

I'm a firm believer in that whatever experience we are going through, things can change.  It may not change in the way we expect it to or in how we believe it should, but things can change.  I have overcome the odds of physical situations when the doctors told me I would never make it.  It is hard for me to accept that things cannot change.  I've seen a different world.

 
Whatever you do, try not to hide and disconnect or numb from the pain.  Try to keep yourself grounded with what you feel, but look for ways that physically take you out of the pain, not just mask it or hide it or make you believe it doesn't exist.

We all have far more potential within us to heal and deal with pain than we realize.  Yes, it gets hard to do.  Yes, it gets hard to endure.  I'm not saying it is easy or quick.  I am just saying, we have far more potential than we realize.  We have strength we know not of and I fully believe that for every inhabitant of this planet.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Chronic Pain Prolonged With Painkillers?

There is nothing worse sometimes than when you hurt.  When you're in pain, you just want it to be gone as quickly and simply as you can.  If you're a highly sensitive person, pain is not your friend.

Let's face it though, no one wants to suffer through chronic pain or any type of pain.  In this country we will do just about anything to avoid it.  Painkillers often become the way we deal with life, medical conditions, chronic pain and other situations we find ourselves in every day.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2010, enough prescription painkillers were prescribed to medicate every American adult every 4 hours for 1 month.  (source:  drugabuse.gov).  We all have most likely read just how much painkillers are being abused and overused these days but that statistic is frightening.  I have seen the recent news of Prince overdosing on Fentanyl (Fentanyl Deaths Soar) . 

Pain medications among fastest rising additions...

Heroin and pain medications are the fastest rising addictions in the US according to www.addictions.com. As they discuss, there is great potential for addiction no matter what drug is used.

While painkillers seem to be America's best friend, they are dangerous and according to a new study by University of Colorado, could be more harmful than good.  In the study, they reveal that opioids such as morphine actually increase chronic pain.

Not just long term painkillers...

We are not talking about a long term painkiller that is being used, but just a few days of treatment that ended up causing chronic pain for several months.  In their study, the painkillers were triggering an immune response which caused the release of pain molecules.  Once this happens, it increases the perception of pain in the brain.

I am saddened to see just how many painkillers are being used today and how many addictions result from this practice.  It has been many years since I have taken any prescription medication whatsoever.  I try hard to keep myself healthy or find effective alternatives if something is needed.

Self-Medicating is not helping our bodies...

We cannot keep self-medicating our bodies and expect us to be fully human.  It is not helping us individually or our society, because rather than getting rid of the pain, we are just numbing ourselves to it.  Numbing does nothing but take you further into the darkness of life while helping you believe that you're doing the right thing.

The more we go into the pain, the more aware we are of what is happening in our body.  Yes, when the pain gets to great, then it is very difficult to manage and I do understand that.  However, taking more painkillers is not the answer like this study suggests.  Finding ways to connect with our body and come out of numbness will yield much better results over the long term.

If you want to learn more about how the placebo effect works, take a look at the following blog post on Placebo Effect And Medical Care .

(click image to read)

Question Of The Day

What ways have you found to alleviate pain without using painkillers?

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Chronic Pain Is A Public Health Crisis

A 2011 report issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) calls pain a “public health crisis,” emphasizing that more people are suffering from chronic pain than from diabetes, cancer, and heart disease combined.

 

Book:  Freedom From Pain by Peter Levine
Levine, Peter A. Phd; Phillips, Maggie (2012-07-02). Freedom From Pain . Sounds True. Kindle Edition.

Stress-aches

We all tend to get them.  Some of us hide from them.  Some of us self-medicate.  Some of us drink them away.  Introducing the one and only all encompassing visitors of the night, give it up for stress-aches.

Have you ever woke up on the wrong side of the bed with a stiff neck and sore shoulder?  How about that back that just aches after a long hard week in a stressful job?  Maybe, its the constant headaches that build up and bring you to your knees?

There are a number of things that show up as stress-aches.  From back pain, to digestive issues to headaches, colds, stomach illness and everything in-between. These can be chronic issues that flare up and drive us to the brink of our endurance.

We all know them when they show up.  Yet, we don't always seem to connect why they are showing up with what is happening in our life.  Hey, I'm just like the next person.  I tend to minimize all that is going on around me or in my life.  I pretty much fail to see the connection to the pains and aches and stress-aches that are happening in those moments.

What Is Chronic Pain - Interview With Dr Paul Canali

This video interview is a very good one.  It is done by Jim Fazio and Dr. Paul Canali.  Unified Therapy by Dr. Paul Canali has changed my life.  He has helped me to understand that chronic pain can be treated and healed.

Chronic pain is in the brain, even though it feels like it is in each individual muscle of the body.  I know that may sound weird, but it is true.  I have felt it and experienced the difference in my own body going through the healing work of Unified Therapy.

Did you know that 15% to 20% of all adults in the world suffer from chronic pain.  It is what keeps doctors up at night and drug companies in business.  Yet, we aren't getting better as a world society and that is because don't fully understand chronic pain or the nature of pain.

Many research studies have been done in neuroscience and they are finding that the volume knob for chronic pain is not in the body, but in the brain.  They are also finding on brain scans that if the person experiences pain in the arm, it does not show up in the region of the brain for the arm.  Instead it shows up in the emotion centers of the brain.

Trauma And Chronic Pain

What we have learned over and over again in working with numerous types of pain is that whenever chronic pain is not resolving even when reasonable treatment has been used, inevitably trauma is the missing link. Once unreleased trauma is identified and liberated from the body, most conditions will then begin to resolve. - pg 23, Freedom From Pain by Peter Levine

Body Pain

The pain we find in our body is the connection to something greater. It is our fears that hold us back from going deep into the pain. For when we travel into the pain, we find that we have so much power within ourselves. As we find our power, we find something greater for our lives. Pain is about getting our attention. It is about us moving forward. It is not about us masking it, trying to get rid of it or running from it.

The Placebo Effect

Placebo in Latin means "I shall Please" and has its origins in medicine that was used more to please the patient rather them benefit them. Today, placebos are used in many forms that most of us would not even recognize. While many of the regular health care procedures we gravitate towards appear to be backed by scientific studies, many of the same positive results can be done without these routine health care procedures.

Placebos are anything from a sugar pill to an inactive or fake medication or treatment which is designed to mimic a drug or medical treatment and given in the same way. After a placebo is administered, any improvement in the health and well being of the individual whether felt, observed or measured is called the placebo effect.

In 1955, the work of Henry K. Beecher, titled "The Powerful Placebo" was published. In 15 trials, he claimed that 35% of the 1082 patients documented, were satisfactorily relieved by the placebo alone. Some researches now suggest that placebos can be just as effective as any medical treatment.

When I was a kid, my grandparents had been involved in a car accident on the way to our house. They were not seriously injured and were released after being checked out. While they rested at home, the doctor had prescribed some pain pills for my grandfather to take if needed. He of course needed them and so he took them as if they were treats. Unfortunately, we lived in a rural area, so he quickly ran out and because it was the weekend, there was no place to obtain these from until Monday. My mom, growing tired of hearing my grandfather complain about the pain he was in and how badly he needed the pain pills, devised a plan to treat him. She took the little sugar candies we got at Halloween called smarties and told him that these were very high powered pain pills. She convinced him that they were much better than his regular pain pills even though he questioned her that they looked like candy. And believe it or not, they worked. I actually remember him remarking to my mom that these pain pills were the best things he had ever taken.

When I worked around farms and would make visits with the Veterinarians, we had what we called the "boiling water option". Sometimes you needed to treat the people taking care of the farms as much as the animals. So often I would run into situations where some of what the care takers would see was not real. They perceived it was but from an objective mind, you just could not isolate what they saw. So instead of wasting money on medications that were not needed, we would find ways to make it look like we were doing more than we were. Often, we joked that we were "boiling water" so to speak but in all reality, it was a placebo. It worked every time!

In many clinical research trials, placebos are given to all test subjects prior to the start of the test without any of them knowing this. If there is a positive response during that time, then this test subject is kicked out of the trial results. In fact, more often than not, the prefrontal regions of the brain showed changes in activity as a result of the placebo.

Consider how many times you go to a doctor and you tell them your symptoms, which of course results in them giving you a "name" for the condition you have as well as a "medication" or "treatment" to get rid of the condition you have. While there are situations where this form of medicine is necessary and critical, much of it is interfering with not only the function of the mind and body but with the messages the body is trying to alert the person to. There is great power in having a name to put to our condition but often times, it becomes a hinderance because we tend to vibrate towards the condition instead of vibrating to heal it.

In our society, we are so closed off and shut down to all the messages that our bodies put out in a day. We barely listen and if we listen, we have almost inactivated that part of us which is there to help us. Instead we want to numb that which we feel and get rid of it so we do that through many different methods in our days including medications and medical treatments. If only we learned to listen to our bodies and listen to the messages from the pain or from what we felt, we would offer ourselves so much more than we could possibly imagine. The mind is very powerful and the body has the ability to heal itself from many of the conditions we face. Please don't get me wrong in that I am suggesting medicine or medical intervention plays no role because it does. However, until we learn to listen to ourselves first, we are only short changing life for ourselves. The more you interupt the normal balance and homeostasis in the body with the introduction of outside cures, the more you inflame the situation and force the propagation of it into other areas of your life.

While there are scientific reasons and research for medicine to suggest certain procedures, more often than not, the person may alleviate the symptom only to find the onset of another symptom or condition. Yet, in our society, this is the way we view things because as I say again, we have shut ourselves down to listening to our bodies. Some of the messages and pains coming through are more than we have the tools to deal with and so it is easier to just turn everything off. The only thing is, it is much more dangerous in the long term for our life.

I remember one lady I know that told me how she had suffered from a severe stroke at one point in her life. Talking to her and getting to know her, you could not tell that she had suffered from this condition. What astounded me more though was when she shared with me that she did not go through the normal health care routine to recover from it. She used alternative methods completely and recovered fully. She did not use conventional means to recover. There are many stories like this that I'm sure we have all heard and yet for some reason, we chalk them up to being some sort of miracle (which sometimes it may be) or we think that it only happens to others. We are the ones in control of our bodies and our health and we need to take that role much more serious than we do.

When I was paralyzed in 1991, the doctors didn't fully seem to know how to treat me or get me beyond my physical limitations. It was as if they were going to let time takes it course in whatever way it turned out. My impression was that they really didn't have a clue on how to get me from the point I was to the point I am at today. For years I struggled to fully regain all parts of myself even though most people would have not noticed what I saw in myself. At first, I had no clue how to get there and it took much discovery, searching and time for me to find my way.

Today we are blessed with the internet and especially google searches. There is a wealth of information out there and a wealth of experience that many people share about the conditions they have experienced. Many times, if we look long enough through the internet, we will find alternate ways that others have used to treat their own conditions and illnesses. Many times, these are not through conventional health and medicine that our society subscribes to.

So my challenge to you is if you are going through some type of health condition as long as it is not life threatening, consider the following points. (if you are in a life threatening situation, than by all means find qualified medical help. Use your common sense here, please).

1. Listen to what your body is telling you and see if there are any current, past or just prior events that may be going on in your life. See if these events have any connection to your situation in the moment because many times they do. We just have to listen to our bodies.
2. Search and seek out information through the internet, others or your higher power to help you find the best course of treatment for yourself. This could include the use of medical help and it may also include forms of treatment that you have never tried or are not aware of.
3. Don't stop there! Keep searching for more information, discovery and knowledge because as you find one piece of the puzzle, it will open up more of what you know. You may not have any knowledge of how to get past this in the moment, but if you start searching, you will find the way through.
4. Realize that pains, conditions, illnesses are often situations that are designed to get our attention and tell us something. It is our body's feedback mechanism and all to often, we ignore this. Start listening to it. Start allowing it to help you harvest more from your life and experience as a human. We are much more than we currently know.
   

I have seen conditions in people healed that I didn't think were possible and I have had this happen within myself as well. It isn't far fetched and it isn't some new age mumble jumble. This is real and it happens every day. Our bodies are wonderfully designed and they constantly work towards balance or homeostasis. It is what we do to our bodies and how we respect and listen to them that takes us out of balance. Stress, trauma and daily events in our lives do impact them as well, but we are designed to be much more than we currently are. Embrace that part of yourself and see youself for all you are, not what you aren't!

Trauma is

Trauma can be anything that hurts us such as mistreatment from others, accidents, natural disaster, physical and emotional abuse and accumulated stress. It is a biological, unconscious physical condition that freezes us in time, it keeps us stuck, attached to the past and unable to move forward in life.

It is the source of chronic pain, disease, suffering, fear, and anxiety. It is the main reason why people don’t heal from any condition.

Understanding how it affects each and every one of us is the most important secret that any therapist or human being can learn.

(From Seminar by Dr. Paul Canali, May 2009)

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