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Meditation and Medical Cures
AllbuddhaBound
Veteran
I have had some gastric problems over the years (severe acid reflux) which concerned me significantly. I had a sister who was younger than me die from stomach cancer further complicated by acid reflux so it is something that I think about on occasion.
I used to suffer from this acid reflux for months at a time and it felt like a heart attack at times. Year after year it would continually plague me. Once I began meditating in earnest, it simply disappeared and I have never experienced it again. For acid reflux I definitely recommend meditation.
Does anyone else have experiences of meditation curing what ails them?
I used to suffer from this acid reflux for months at a time and it felt like a heart attack at times. Year after year it would continually plague me. Once I began meditating in earnest, it simply disappeared and I have never experienced it again. For acid reflux I definitely recommend meditation.
Does anyone else have experiences of meditation curing what ails them?
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Comments
I've also tried using meditation to help with pain managment. I have a chronic condition which was causing me severe pain for about one or two days out of every month. After giving up with pain killers as I couldn't find any which actually worked, I tried meditating. (Well I say meditating - it's something I made up out of bits and pieces I'd read over time, but I don't know what else it would be called if not meditating.
Well your story was a bit more amazing than mine since meditating seemed to cure the problem completely in your case.
When you meditate about the pain, do you focus on it with acceptance? By that, I mean just spend time with the pain and not try to make it go away. I have found that to help with the heart burn.
I recall my colleague, Dr Charles Farthing, the UK's first AIDS registrar (thanks to Elton John's generosity in funding the post), saying on a BBC interview: "Meditation and brown rice will certainly strengthen your immune system but they won't cure AIDS."
Even the Bodhisattva of Chenrezig, HHDL, took medicine when he had jaundice.
In my own case, the various meds that I take for ischaemic heart disease and BHP have uncomfortable side-effects. I have found that meditation has genuinely helped to mitigate them but I would not rely solely on meditation to keep me alive, nor would I exchange my bypasses and stent for it alone.
In my own case, the various meds that I take for ischaemic heart disease and BHP have uncomfortable side-effects. I have found that meditation has genuinely helped to mitigate them but I would not rely solely on meditation to keep me alive, nor would I exchange my bypasses and stent for it alone.
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Actually HHDL had his gallbladder surgically removed. I doubt he had much choice. I feel the same way as you about my two stents. That's one pain you can't meditate away.
I was referring to HHDL's attack of jaundice immediately after his arrival in India in 1959 consequent on his changing his diet, as he records in his first autobiography. My point - like yours, I think - is that meditation isn't magic!
I don't expect it cured it but I have not been on medication for a couple of years and it has not reoccurred. The fact is, it used to be with me all the time and I suffered with it often.
It is possible some of my acid reflux was due to stress and I know that has been lessened considerably with meditation. I also used to have high blood pressure but it is now always quite low and that is without medication.
I am not recommending that people forgo medical attention at all. I only wish my sister had been seeing a doctor instead of suffering through it. She would likely be alive today so by all means, do not consider meditating as a treatment approach. I know I meditated because of my beliefs and these are some of the positive side effects that occurred for me, and that is all. I should also state that I have received my fair share of medical attention over time and I would suggest everyone does the same.
In a way, yes. I wouldn't try to make it go away, but instead I'd try to notice the gaps between the pain, and then after some time visualise the gaps spreading out. (At first it seems like there are no gaps to find). Also with some awareness of breathing thrown in too.
I agree with what others have said about not relying solely on meditation. I saw many different doctors over the years, but the pain killers they suggested I take came nowhere near providing adequate relief. Eventually though I found a good doctor who investigated the cause of the pain, and after some surgery and receiving proper treatment (not just pain killers) I don't experience the pain like I use to any more.