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Chronic pain

NamelessRiverNamelessRiver Veteran
edited March 2010 in Buddhism Basics
One of the users here was asking on another thread on how to deal with chronic illness because she feels like she is in a prison of suffering and it feels like such a waste of life.

I have no experience on that so I couldn't help much, although I think the subject deserves its own thread. I also noticed that there isn't much information available on pain management from a Buddhist perspective so I wanted to ask: has anybody here gone through this experience? How do you deal with chronic pain? How do you deal with chronic illness?

Comments

  • NamelessRiverNamelessRiver Veteran
    edited March 2010
    By the way, THIS type of thing is when Buddhism really should come into play. I just noticed I would be totally groundless if that happened to me. That makes me ponder how much what I have learned matters: all the words, the concepts...It's like all that falls apart and life leaves you with this eloquent silence. I wanna help but I can't, and that makes me feel bad.
  • upekkaupekka Veteran
    edited March 2010
    i had been suffering from severe back pain for a long time
    i took several medication for sometimes according to the Doctors' advice without any positive results
    when the XRay showed a wear and tear of the backbone the Doctor told me only thing i can do is take a pain killer whenever i can not bear it anymore

    one day i decided not to take any pain killer, instead watch the pain with full attention and see what would be the result (by that time i had heard about the vedananupassana meditation but never done it, however i knew how to do other type of meditation)
    no one told me to watch my back pain but i just took it as my enimy and i wanted to see what 'he' can do to me if i was alert sort of thing

    i had been watching and i didn't give in to the pain and go for pain killer instead isaw 'the true nature of him (pain)' and i am no more afraid of 'him'

    i do not even take a panodole for headache anymore

    only thing is just take the pain as 'nimitta' and don't give into it and see what is happenning with the concept we use as pain

    results be the person with who try this method and it can not explain with words
  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    edited March 2010
    I've had chronic canker sores since I was 10. I have just recently "heard" about Buddha's teachings, but being mindful helps. Instead of making the pain my enemy like upekka said I just observe it, and because I don't know if pain is good or bad just observing it helps me get along with my day. Awareness is sort of gradual, eventually you put more faith in this presence than the "ego" that makes definitions from words that are just signposts.
  • upekkaupekka Veteran
    edited March 2010
    ravkes wrote: »
    Instead of making the pain my enemy like upekka said I just observe it,

    very true ravkes

    in my case i didn't know what to do and mine was a 'trial and error' method and i was suceed in it

    what one has to do is 'just observe it'
  • ValtielValtiel Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Do you practice vipassana?
  • upekkaupekka Veteran
    edited March 2010
    o0Mundus-Vult-Decipi0o wrote: »
    Do you practice vipassana?

    in my case, life is just vipassana now
  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    edited March 2010
    upekka wrote: »
    in my case, life is just vipassana now

    I agree. Initially it's good to have formal practice combined with (all the time) "practice".. but it's when one realizes that this is it.. that it becomes life. Awareness is constant mindfulness.. Takes a little while, but like Upekka has realized you rest as awareness eventually. Reminds me of the quote in the peaceful warrior.. when the student says "you're out of your mind, you know that".. and the teacher says.. "it's taken me a lifetime of practice.."

    haha.. Enlightenment is just like this.
  • Subjectivity9Subjectivity9
    edited March 2010
    They have been doing some fine work, and promising results are being accomplished up in the U of Mass Medical Center. Dealing with chronic pain and meditation. It has been some decades now with documented good results.

    There is a book put out by the doctor in charge of this study/work called,
    ‘Full Catastrophe Living’ by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. I have read this many times and it is worth the read.

    Warm Regards,
    S9
  • ValtielValtiel Veteran
    edited March 2010
    The reason I ask about vipassana is because, in practice, all sensations are treated in the same way... whether severe pain, an itch, or an orgasm. :eek: We shouldn't isolate pain from all others. I've never had chronic pain, but generally, when pain arises, it always seemed like the natural time to practice meditation. I'm actually looking forward to going into labour to put my practice to the test LOL (watch me kick myself for saying this when the time comes). :lol: What I think is harder, is practicing with what we consider to be the good or positive sensations... those we have no problem indulging our minds in. It's only through practice that these things begin to flow into everyday life.

    This video, to me, is a direct answer to the OP: http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid= ... 352711693#
    28. But when the Blessed One had entered upon the rainy season, there arose in him a severe illness, and sharp and deadly pains came upon him. And the Blessed One endured them mindfully, clearly comprehending and unperturbed.
    "So it is, householder. So it is. The body is afflicted, weak & encumbered. For who, looking after this body, would claim even a moment of true health, except through sheer foolishness? So you should train yourself: 'Even though I may be afflicted in body, my mind will be unafflicted.' That is how you should train yourself."
    <!-- m -->
  • Subjectivity9Subjectivity9
    edited March 2010
    At that Hospital up in MS, they were mainly working at first with what is called intractable pain, which is pain that medicine cannot seem to alleviate. They had very good luck with meditation only.

    I believe that the pain eased some simply because, when you don’t fight with the pain and tense up or tighten your body, simple relaxation brings some relief. But the biggest thing, which has also been mentioned by others here, was learning to accept the pain and live with it. It seems that a good deal of our suffering could be directly attributable to wanting things to be other than they are.

    Let me share another thing. While working in the hospital years ago, I had a conversation with a fellow dying in the last stages of a very painful cancer. They were giving him morphine for the pain. I was curious, and so I asked him, “What does the morphine seem to do for you, and how does it feel.”

    He said (and I have no idea if it is the same for everyone) that he still had the pain. Yet it was better because it seemed like it wasn’t in him but outside of him over there, while pointing across the room.

    I was happy for him, but didn’t think much more about it. Yet, it lodged in my brain somewhere.

    Years later, when I started suffering from migraines and often the medicine didn’t help much, I remembered my old friend’s words and began to work with the pain with my mind.

    I began by looking right at the pain and studying it, refusing to look away. This hurt even more at first. It seemed to accelerate the pain, because distraction can sometimes help a little bit. But, I really wanted to understand pain.

    Soon I began to notice something very strange, a space between me and the pain itself. By God, like the Buddha said, it wasn’t me.

    For some reason just seeing this very clearly was a great relief. Not that the pain was gone, by any means. But it just wasn’t in charge anymore, and I could live along beside it.

    Warm Regards,
    S9
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2010
    I don't have chronic pain but I do have schizophrenia and there is a physical component. Of not feeling quite right and being less able to be active. Its said to be amotivational, but I find I still want to do things I just don't feel good when I do them.

    I have two strategies. One is to not let my life revolve around becoming free from that feeling. If that feeling comes, oh well. I am just going to welcome it touch the energy behind the feeling. And I am not going to make decisions in response or otherwise react or second guess myself.

    Second strategy is sometimes to give myself a break if it is too much. For chronic pain this might not be possible. But I usually feel better if I lie down for awhile because it is mental.
  • Subjectivity9Subjectivity9
    edited March 2010
    Jeffrey,

    I think your being schizophrenic must be a chronic pain of sorts.

    At least a pain in the neck at times. ; ^ )

    So one would probably come at it in a similar way as physical pain. We would have to see that the thoughts and moods were not the whole of who we are, and not let them rule our life.

    Friendly Regards,
    S9
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Yes. They are fine so long as they are not the center of your mandala. Of practice or existence or whatever. When they are at the center of the mandala that is letting a conditional thing to be the center. Which is another word for ego.

    So I put clarity openness and sensitivity at the center of my mandala. Which you could say is the desire for happiness. But not that which you desire (freedom from pain,,, or a car or whatever).

    The longing can be at the center but not that which is longed for. The longing is ultimate bodhicitta but its a bit distorted at this time.
  • Subjectivity9Subjectivity9
    edited March 2010
    Jeffery,

    I quite agree with you. It is this longing within us, little understood, which is our very Buddha Nature. It calls to us continuously, unendingly, and asks us to turn our back on illusion.

    Hard as we may try to fill this inner longing with earthly things, it simply doesn’t work to bring any constant satisfaction.

    Anything that is not constant is simply not reliable, or a Band-Aid solution. : ^ (

    Although some thing or idea may be somewhat soothing to this longing within us temporarily, may fill this feeling of emptiness within us for a few short moments, it will not last.

    Comfort is just the other face of pain.

    Warm regards,
    S9
  • Subjectivity9Subjectivity9
    edited March 2010
    I ran across this while reading today,

    Another book: ‘Hidden Spring: A Buddhist Woman Confronts Cancer’ By Sandy Boucher

    Quote:

    When she first tried to mindfully observe pain, the feeling seemed very solid and she wanted to scream.

    But when she stopped labeling the pain as anything and ceased defining it as part of her self, a shift happened:

    “Finally there were only sensations—without a name or definition or association—only an elemental vibration of phenomena expressing life. For a few moments I was able to stay with this…separate from my identifications and desirers. Then I fell back into my ‘I’ and experienced the sensation as if they were attached to ‘me,’ and they became pain again.”

    Tricycle, (magazine),
    Fall 2009, Pg 34.

    Warm Regards,
    S9
  • KikujiroKikujiro
    edited March 2010
    Pass this on:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weE4WO48_UU

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miX52Exkkqk&feature=related

    Not sure where part three is.

    I have much respect for Shinzen Young.

    Found part 3 :)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cearYQbXCds&feature=related
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