Biofeedback
A brazillion years ago, scientists in the west were astounded to find that "swami" from India were able to control the blood-flow within their bodies. It was reported that these Hindu/Buddhist holy-men could vary the surface temperature of their hands and feet, for instance, by more than 10 degrees F.
Fast-forward two decades...
Western scientists discovered that similar results could be obtained using cash-hungry grad-students and ample caffeine. But instead of taking several decades, the results could be obtained within weeks. All the grad students (most of them anyway) had to do was to hold the bulb of a thermometer between their thumb-and-forefinger and "visualize" plunging their hands into hot, soapy water and washing dishes.
The grad-students used the rise in temperature as-shown by the thermometer as a measure of how vivid their "visualization" was and kept adjusting their "fantasy" to produce better results.
Fast-forward another decade...
Some on-the-ball researcher noticed the correlation between hand-temperature, nasal congestion and some kinds of headaches. After his/her third IPA at the bar, they floated the idea that MAYBE...they didn't need a thermometer. Maybe subjects could "play" with different fantasies (washing dishes, walking across a hot sandy beach, sitting in a sauna, playing hot-potato...) and dial into their most effective fantasy based on how much their breathing eased.
And that could be a path to drug-free easing of head-ache pain.
For obvious reasons, this line of inquiry received no funding and died a sudden death.
Imagine; being able to improve people's ability to breath and to totally crush some kinds of headaches without expensive, purchased, proprietary pharmaceuticals!
A mental exercise
Suppose you have a head-ache or your nose is extremely congested.
You "baseline" how stuffy your nose is and then ignore it.
You sit in your favorite recliner. You swaddle yourself with quilts or fuzzy blankets and put a heating pad around your feet and maybe a hot-water bottle at your hands.
You put on a knit cap.
You visualize flames between your hands and the water-bottle. You mentally form the picture of youself holding your feet up in the air near a wood-stove glowing cherry-red from the heat. You HOLD those images in your head for as long as you can.
And then, when you cannot sustain the image any longer, you ask yourself "Is my nose less congested? Has the pain of my head-ache eased?"
Be gentle with yourself. It may take several tries before you find the secret-sauce in terms of mental images that convince your body to follow your bidding.
Maybe it is stroking the fur of your favorite, childhood puppy.
Maybe it is playing "flinch" with your older brother...and winning.
Only you can figure that out.
Give it a try. It isn't going to cost you anything!
The term mind over matter exists for good reason...
ReplyDeleteAt the junction of the thumb and index finger bones is a blood vessel. Applying light pressure there off and on for a minute or so on both hands will stop most headaches after a while, or at least make them tolerable. During a headache that spot feels tender, almost sore, when it's pushed.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very neat trick!
DeleteInteresting... I've kicked the idea around before (there is no spoon). I suffer/ed from GERD for decades. Doc's just slapped you on a pill. I looked into alternative therapies, and mental projection was one of them (many reflux type conditions are stress-induced).
ReplyDeleteIce cream cones being scooped, made and dumped into a bucket, where the bucket represents my stomach. As each cone gets dropped in the bucket, the sour in my stomach lessens just a little. Half a dozen cones later, the pain in my stomach has subsided. No pills or drugs, peppermint tic-tacs in concert w/ the mental gymnastics is all I take now.
I still struggle w/ sleep, but have found meditative exercises in bed useful in getting to that trigger point of falling asleep.
It's the most powerful and amazing tool we have, and hardly understood. Instead they are working to hook wires up to it to bypass it. Odd.
Thanks for sharing. I am sure your experiences will help others out there.
DeleteLooks like Blogger is calling anon again :-)
ReplyDeleteThe power of the mind is often mislabeled as hands on nursing care, active listening and so on.
Knowing how to adjust your combat stress (EMS) with square breathing and such works.
I've never tried to use mental exercises to reduce the temperature of my skin as measured by an instrument.
But I know from decades of use that talking kindly to a person to distract them from their current fear of sickness often resolves a lot of symptoms and often the episode.
Can work the other way. As a prank a few of us kept walking past a perfectly healthy soldier, kept looking at him with concern and asking if he felt alright. In about 90 minutes he went from happy and healthy to a fever and off to sick call for 24 hours quarters.
I'm a little ashamed of that prank even today. But reversed with positive comments about how good he looked that seems to have done no real harm over the years I was blessed to work with him.
Michael
Went through Dr. Bradley's Husband Coached Childbirth back in the 80's. Found out that visualizing a happy place could help the mother deal with labor. I borrowed that concept as I didn't have much pain tolerance.
ReplyDeleteI use that now when I'm gonna have some possibly painful procedure done. I visualize rolling out the mat and getting strapped in on the 600 yard line. Adjusting natural point of aim, and snapping in. Then work through sighters and the last 20 rounds of the course. It is incredible how much higher the pain tolerance is. I don't know if it works for everyone or just those that take suggestions.
Wow - this trick worked the first time. Not really congested, just a bit of a runny nose going. Thathad been going on for about two hours.
ReplyDeleteI closed my eyes, thought how cozy my blanket felt in bed last night. Then I thought how a mug of microwaved hot ramen feels like in my hands, the smell of the broth as I sip it down before I begin consuming the noodles. Its how I eat ramen - no splash and noodles are easy to eat with fork
Then I opened my eyes. Runny nose gone. Been about ten minutes and no signs of returning (so far).
As TV star used to say : Fascinating!
I endorse the thumb pressure point. I see no reason why it works but it works.
ReplyDelete