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Article about chronic pain and potentially new modalities

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  • Article about chronic pain and potentially new modalities

    This article contains some seriously cutting edge brain science that sounds hopeful for pain patients...

    In Mackey's study, healthy subjects in an fMRI machine were given live access to an image of their brain's activity in a region known as the anterior cingulate cortex — a key regulator of pain signals. Using a heat probe on the arm to cause pain, Mackey and his team asked the volunteers to dial down their level of discomfort when the temperature reached unbearable levels and to dial up their pain sensations when the probe wasn't generating enough heat. They did this not by actually changing the temperature of the probe — that was under the control of the researchers. Rather, they actively refocused their brains either away from or to painful thoughts, depending on the effect they were trying to achieve. To decrease their painful feelings, for example, the subjects were told to distract themselves with thoughts of more-pleasant experiences or events.

    Surprisingly, it worked. After the training, the subjects improved their ability to control pain intensity by 23%. And in the ultimate test, when Mackey next trained patients with chronic pain, they reported a 64% reduction in their sensation of pain.

    Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...053375,00.html #ixzz1EvPoqxBW
    It's all brain science; The rest is commentary.
    Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

    No island of sanity.

    Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
    Answer: Medicine


    "We are all African."

  • #2
    i think many people who live with chronic pain can relate to this...
    for example, when i worked two jobs, i got so busy, it distracted me from my pain...for a while...
    HOWEVER...it only works for so long...as soon as i sat down , the pain came rushing in...AND...it created a bigger problem...as we know and have read on forum, waiting too long to take pain meds creates a problem, because the pain gets out of control...i just read something about that here on forum this week...i don't remember the technical term for what happens...
    i do remember my doctor used to warn me that by waiting to take pain meds, i ended up with a bigger problem...kinda' like asking too much of the pills by waiting too long to take them....

    i have heard from people who like to talk about "mental control" of pain...
    months later, i have then heard that they are at their doctor's office, as the "mental control" only did so much....for only so long....and no more!!!!

    jess

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    • #3
      Okay then! Obviously I am not familiar with this field.

      I think the term someone used was there is a "wind up" or something.

      I believe it. When the pain got away from us in the hospital with both daughters, it just seemed like it was so hard to calm it down again.
      Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

      No island of sanity.

      Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
      Answer: Medicine


      "We are all African."

      Comment


      • #4
        I was told basically the same thing as jrnyc's doctor. I can tolerate a lot, but when it gets to a certain point, and that can come very quickly, then pain meds are all but worthless and I end up in the ER getting the "big guns" so to speak. It's a very fine line on what one can tolerate and where the line has been crossed. It is true, however, in my case, that I can be distracted from pain, but like Jess, it catches up with me later when I try to rest from the hard day. My doc just suggested keeping up with the meds so the pain can't get ahead. So, when I feel it coming, I just take the meds. I hate it, but like one doctor told me, "With a back this bad, be glad they are giving you something for it."
        Last edited by rohrer01; 02-27-2011, 08:53 PM. Reason: bad grammar!
        Be happy!
        We don't know what tomorrow brings,
        but we are alive today!

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