Dooley Noted: 5/19/2015
Patients make great observations.
Yesterday, one patient pointed out to me just how much ignorance is bliss.
She stated how she was an athletic person – until she got hurt.
Dealing with the pain was arduous, and she shirked medications to better understand why she felt her pain.
So she went to a meditation retreat to try and understand her body sensations.
She said she entered Awareness Hell.
As she became acutely aware of her sensations, she struggled with shutting them down. Then, she spent most of her day simply feeling pain.
This is the nature of our somatosensory cortex of our brain. In many ways, it allows us to feel what we feed it to feel.
What an amazing awareness system!
But pain can be an awareness that creates a hellish environment for the patient.
Pain is often perceived as scary.
Many believe pain equates to structural damage.
But this simply isn’t true.
Awareness can be as much a cerebral program as it is an inflammatory response or structural change.
This is true for most chronic pain, where the injury is long gone but the pain program is still running.
Having experienced pain myself, I relate to patients with pain provocations.
But I know this much is true.
Awareness doesn’t have to equate to awareness hell.
Awareness doesn’t have to equate to feeling broken.
Awareness doesn’t have to equate to injurious processes.
Some injuries don’t hurt.
Many structural changes don’t hurt.
Awareness can be perceived as a gift to initiate change.
This change may be perceptions of sensations.
These changes may be guided by therapy, movement strategies, diet, environment, emotional states, stress levels, stability seeking, and relationships.
And many times, it’s a combination of the above that works specifically for the patient.
No two patients are alike in the way they perceive the world.
Why would their pain awareness be any different?
Consider the factors of awareness and how they can change, before confining yourself to Awareness Hell.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley