Pain Relief Is In The Clouds
January 6, 2009 by Bonnie Boots
Filed under Hypnosis
Finding relief from pain can be difficult and expensive, but did you know one of the most effective ways to manage pain is free…and it's right over your head?
It's watching clouds!
That's right. Simply watching the clouds drifting by is an excellent way to reduce your pain or relieve it altogether.
Cloud watching has a naturally hypnotic affect that relaxes your stress and reduces feelings of discomfort. In fact, studies have shown that just looking up at the sky and watching the clouds can make you happier. In the study, people who looked at the sky several times a week were found to be happier and more content with life than people who seldom looked up.
If you've read my special report, 10 Surprising Things You Can Do To Decrease Pain (subscribe to receive it free) you know that learning self-hypnosis played a big part in my recovery from crippling chronic pain. One of the best self-hypnotic practices I learned at that time was to give myself positive suggestions as I watched the clouds. It never failed to make me feel more relaxed and comfortable and often my pain disappeared altogether.
Now, I know the sun isn't always out and sometimes there's not a cloud in the sky, so I've created a special video that will let you watch the clouds anytime you like. The video contains suggestions that will help you relax and feel good now. Look for it in the lower right-hand corner of this blog and experience the pain relief that comes from watching big, fluffy clouds drift by.
If the video helps you, please leave a comment so others will know. And share the video with friends and family that may be helped by it.\ After all, what better gift to give someone who suffers than free pain relief?
### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information and motivation to people living with chronic pain. You can stay in touch with her by typing your email address into the subscribe box in the upper right corner of this page.
Hi Bonnie,
I like the above tip, in fact I know someone who used to use that technique right up to the point when he got hit by the bus!
All joking aside (this too helps joking & laughing) I in my younger days & in the summer often used to lay out & look up at the stars & it is extremely relaxing. Its a pity we live in England as its often cloudy & raining here. I would love to live in a mild climate because sitting out in the fresh air always makes you feel so much better.
I unfortunately have for the last seven years suffered from chronic back pain.I have tried almost everything, I take various morphine based products & patches but none of it really touches the nerve pain. I get relief by laying flat & when its bad, I have to sleep to find relief. I am about to try the Spinal Chord Stimulator, but I havent really read too much about it. Would you or your readers have any experiences with this method of treatment at all?
I would welcome any feedback from anyone, Or any further suggestions for help.
I find depression a bit of a problem too at times. My wife Linda is a nurse & without her I really would be lost, She is so much more than a wife or companion & I dont mean in her nursing sense, we are both aged 50 & have been married just short of 30 years, Lifelong companions I feel.
I havent been able to work for five years now so I try to occupy myself using the online world of Internet Marketing. I’m only on the sidelines but I’m learning fast with a few websites & blogs etc. It’s the thing that keeps me sane.
Regards
Kevin
Hi, Kevin. I live in Florida where the bright blue sky is usually filed with big, puffy clouds, but even here we have a few dark, rainy days–inevitably the kind of days we all feel more pain or depression– or I want to do the cloud hypnosis at night. That’s why I made the video. Blue skies and white clouds on demand!
Depression goes with chronic pain the way chips go with fish. The two just seem to get served up together. And let’s face it–having chronic pain is a perfectly reasonable reason to be depressed! I’m always amazed that so many doctors don’t ask chronic pain patients about depression. You’d think checking for it and offering treatment would be a no-brainer. Doctors, of course, can only offer medications, and as someone who HUGELY benefited from taking an anti-depressant for one year, I can testify to the benefits of using one when depression is severe and long term. After a year, I easily transitioned off medication and on to alternative therapies, including nutritional supplements and hypnosis. Yes, back to hypnosis, and the video! When I first learned self-hypnosis, my pain was decreased by a whopping FIFTY percent. I could hardly believe it, but I’ve since seen similar–and even better –responses working with other pain patients in support groups. The video presented here is a great way to get started–even on a gray and dreary day.
I have not had personal experience with spinal cord stimulation by implant. I did use a “tens unit,” the small device that can be worn on a belt to deliver electrical stimulation and for a time, it was very helpful. I’ll welcome input from anyone that has used the implant.
Bonnie Boots
Hi Bonnie, Thank you for your comments , It’s good to have a response & a different person’s perspective, It would be great if I could get some added response from anyone who has had the Spinal Chord Implant. This method was the actual reason the external Tens Machine came into being. I learned this much from the Doctor who is putting forward this method of treatment.
I have to admit that I am almost at the end of my tether, as I am almost maxed out with the amount of drugs I am taking. The thing that concerns me most is,”What if it doesnt work”! I need mobility,I know this, but I’m in this cycle which I desperatly need to break out of & gain the mobility back. If anyone has any contribution to make I would really welcome it.
Sincerely
Kevin
Oh, Kevin, I can honestly say, “I know how you feel,” because in 1990 I was in the same situation. I was crippled by pain. I was maxed out on drugs. Doctors were offering me nothing but back surgery and people I spoke with who’d had the surgery advised me against it. “I was better for 6 months,” most said, “and then the pain returned.”
I couldn’t find help. I saw no way out. I was deeply depressed and questioning whether my life was worth living.
It was only at that point, when I really felt there was no other avenue open to me, that I started trying some of the alternative methods for treating pain.
Today, when I think of how much I suffered, needlessly, only because no one pointed me to alternative treatments that are proven to work, I could cry. That’s why I sometimes get almost evangelical when encouraging others to complement their standard medical care with alternatives.
So why didn’t I try them when I first developed a serious pain problem?
Because standard medical care was all I knew. I’d heard about chiropractic, hypnosis, electrical stimulation, magnets, acupuncture, nutritional support and other alternative treatments, but at that time, I firmly believed that if any of these were legitimate treatments, a “real” doctor would advise me to try them. Because no doctor did, I regarded all alternatives as quack medicine.
Today, of course, I know that most American medical doctors who’ve been trained in standard medical care don’t recommend alternative treatments because they don’t know anything about them. Because they don’t know anything about them, they don’t respect them or recommend them. I had the same opinion-until I began trying those alternatives.
Today, chronic, crippling pain is no longer a part of my life. I owe that to alternative methods of treatments. Chief among them were excellent chiropractic care-and I stress excellent-and hypnosis.
If you can get a recommendation to an excellent chiropractor and can afford the treatments, I highly recommend it. Doctors, whether they be M.D.’s or chiropractors, are not all cut from the same cloth. Some are worthless. Some are mediocre. A few are excellent. I saw 3 medical doctors, 2 neurologist and four orthopedic surgeons before I found a single doctor I could honestly say gave me good care. By the same token, I saw four chiropractors before I found one who gave me excellent care. That one chiropractor started me on the road to actual healing. He made all the difference.
The other thing that made a huge difference was learning self-hypnosis. Before I tried it, I could not believe that hypnosis could reduce my pain. I tried it simply as an alternative to blowing my brains out. I read several books on self-hypnosis, wrote out a hypnosis script to read to myself and gave it a try. To my amazement, the pain in my knees, which had kept me from walking, was reduced by 50% in one week.
Can you imagine how I felt when, after spending thousands and thousands of dollars on medical care, reading a simple hypnosis script took me from bedridden to walking in one week?
It totally freaked me out.
I began to question whether or not my pain was “real.” After all, several doctors had told me the pain was all in my head. Did this mean they were right? Had I-all unknowing-been faking it?
Absolutely not. MRI scans said there was a physical source for my pain.
What MRI scans can’t show is the level of pain. And here’s what I learned after years of studying hypnosis and working with many people in self-help groups.
Pain that lasts longer than 6 weeks leaves a sort of “trail” in the brain. When a new pain signal begins, the brain, to save time, simply reaches back and process the message embedded in that old trail.
This means that a new signal of a low level of pain can be interpreted as a high level of pain by the brain.
To that extent, a good deal of pain is “in the head.” And that’s where it must be treated.
I found, in one week, that a full 50% of the pain I had been feeling in my knees was-a memory. Hypnosis wiped out that memory and left me with a brain that interpreted the actual pain of the moment. And that pain was bearable-and treatable.
What I learned by experimentation is now supported by studies done by neurologists. Because of these studies, many doctors now recommend hypnosis as a standard treatment for chronic pain. But sadly, not all doctors are so aware. Nor will all insurance companies pay for treatment by hypnosis. And not everyone has a trained hypnotic therapist nearby.
The good news is that hypnosis is easy to learn on your own. I learned it from books. I became much better at it when hypnosis tapes became available. Today it’s even easier, when we can learn from CD’s and DVD’s.
One hypnosis program I highly recommend was created by Maggie Phillips, Ph.D., an expert in the use of hypnosis for pain and healing. Dr. Phillips is a licensed psychologist in full-time private practice as well as the director of the California Institute of Clinical Hypnosis. She has authored several books on pain and lectures around the world.
Her 4-CD set, “Hypnosis: The Pain Solution” is an excellent way to learn to use hypnosis yourself. It begins by explaining, in depth, how and why hypnosis works to relieve pain, and then goes on to talk you through several hypnosis sessions. Each session teaches a specific technique for managing pain.
This 4-CD set makes it easy to get started immediately using hypnosis to reduce pain. It’s very affordable, and comes with a one-year money back guarantee, so anyone can try this out with no risk and no worries that it might not work for them.
I own many, many hyspnosis tapes, CD’s and DVD’s. I give my highest recommendation to Dr. Phillip’s “Hypnosis: The Pain Solution.” It’s available through the Hypnosis Network. Their web site is here:
http://www.hypnosisnetwork.com/hypnosis/pain_management.php
My pain was reduced by 50% the first time I used hypnosis. If I had to live through my auto accident all over again, this time I would BEGIN with hypnosis, before anything else, before the narcotics, before the surgical consultations, before I was almost pushed to considering suicide.
To Kevin, to anyone who feels “at the end of their tether,” –if nothing else has worked for you, please consider hypnosis. You have nothing to loose and a whole life to re-gain.
Bonnie Boots
Hi Kevin and Bonnie,
I subscribe to Bonnie’s emails and saw her plea to give some advice.
I too have chronic back pain from a herniated disk in the L4-L5 region. I have tried everything short of surgery. the Tens machine was and is fantastic when things flare up. I have not tried the implant.
As I am a Sports Medicine teacher, I also have my Physical Education degree and other related courses, I come across your angst from time to time. Things that have worked for me are: strength training my core, proper amounts of exercise that suites me, weight control, a fantastic care team (chiro and massage therapist.)
I have also had fantastic success with some products that provide myofascial release and trigger point therapy. Specifically, they are called The Stick and PostureCurve.
By rolling over the muscles in your back with The Stick, you stimulate blood flow to the area. As a result, the myofascia is stimulated and any sore spots and knots are progressively broken down.
The PostureCurve individually stretches each vertebrae in the spinal column. It can be used by lying on the floor or sitting in a chair. By the sound of it, sitting is the best position for you or even lying in bed would help.
I hope my suggestions will help you out.
Ken
I also went the whole route with pharmaceutical management, not really knowing any other way- I had ‘heard’ about other ways, massage hypnosis,various body-therapies- chiropractic, various naturopathic options, acupuncture, the list goes on and on, mostly from people with vested interests one way or another- But the only thing that worked, or seemed to (in the absence of any support at all) was opiates, because at least they did SOMETHING. At a high price, monetarily and conciousness-wise, and they did take the edge off the worst of it. I didn’t know that it also took the edge off my soul- I just knew it either didn’t hurt quite so bad or I didn’t care quite so much. It wasn’t until I finally got hooked up with the right surgeon who knew the right surgery at the right hospital with the right team- and if that was God, god, goddess, higher power, pure dumb luck, prayer from some loving folks, alien q-rays or what I’m not qualified to judge. But when I could finally think a bit, I found myself with eft and I’m learning by leaps and bounds about that, nlp, other energy therapy modalities from here to quantum physics, and I am healing. Its a huge topic and a huge journey and I crawl 1 foot forwaed, 2 feet sidewayxs, 2 feet bac and someone lifts me a few inches and away I go again. But I live and the more I live, learn, love, stay engaged, stay grateful and keep learning to give and receive, the slowly better I get and the more I heal.
Blessings,
Trish
Hi Bonnie,
Thankyou again for your very helpful & positive comments, I understand what you mean regarding standard General Practice Doctors, not knowing or understanding that alternative therapies that are available now.
I have used a Chiropractor in the past & I know you tried a few before settling on the right one for you, I have only ever used the one & found he wasn’t improving my condition, however to be fair to him I was in agony & at a point where one of my disc’s had already protruded out & was crushing the nerve. I also carried on working, driving around to various homes to arrange Homebuyer Mortgages. I was a partner in a firm of advisors & felt I had to keep going otherwise I would let them down.Unfortunately this action alone has probably made the situation much worse than it could have been, if I had stopped to allow the body to heal. But that’s not uncommon is it.
I will take your advice & seek out another chiropractor & I will also look into the hypnosis website you have kindly recommended to me. I will be pleased to let you know how I get on with it. I would also be grateful for any other useful comments from other readers/members of your blog.
And Thank You once again Bonnie, I really do appreciate your comments even though your words brought tears to my eyes. I dont know why, maybe it was just relief knowing that someone out there may be able to help & had been through what I am going through right now. I have previosly searched the internet locally for any support groups etc but there doesn’t seem to be any. Then I came across your blog/website at the opposite side of the Atlantic which just shows how small the World really is.
Best Wishes to you Bonnie
Kevin
Hi Kevin, I have a ruptured disc that bulges and presses on my nerves at random times… it happened for a couple of weeks over the Christmas period which was fun. Laying on the floor can help me but I usually have to knock my self out with prescriptions so I have a slight understanding of what you must be feeling. The best part is I’m a delivery driver – 2 tonnes of potatoes hand delivered in a morning probably doesn’t help my case!
I wanted to ask if you have heard of EFT. Suspend all/any predjudices and have a look at this (i’m not financially involved in anyway but I have watched it work with people I know):
http://www.healthynewage.com/blog/eft-emotional-freedom-technique-video/
http://www.emofree.com/articles.aspx?id=13
http://www.amazon.com/EFT-Back-Pain-Gary-Craig/dp/1604150327
Google back pain and gary craig – the testimonials are pretty amazing. It might sound a bit nuts for you but hey, if I was in your situation I’d give anything a shot right? Nothing to lose.
I’m not saying it will work for you, just trying to help out by throwing it into the mix.
Hope you can sort yourself out, best wishes.
Bonnie, I received your email re helping someone with back pain in the same mail session as one from another person thanking me for the “extremely successful” results with his lower back pain.
Note: this is not medical advice! I have no franchise to practise medicine – only common sense and experience.Especially with lower back pain!
There is a key in where the pain originates: if lower back, it is highly likely to be kidney-oriented. (Yellow system according to the traditional Chinese system).
The combination of extremely poor Western diet coupled with deadly – seriously – deadly forced medication like the terrible mixture of Chlorine and Fluoride in the water supplies, is an incredible toxic load on the human “cleaning” system.
Any “chronic” pain sufferer should be able to simply adopt the following tactics and see improvement very rapidly.
Get rid of ongoing toxicity by eliminating all forms of fluoride and chlorine from your environment. ALL – Fluoride is one of the most toxic substances on the planet and is even absorbed easily via the skin.
Then, most importantly, alkalise your diet. In simple terms:
Give up everything you “like” and eat only natural foods. If it is white, (flour, bread, sugar) or comes out of a box, it is out.
Learn to cook and eat at home.
No more restaurant or esp. takeout food!
Tough to do, but beats having the pain.
Hello Kevin! I got an e-mail from Bonnie where she asked if I had a some advise to give you…I wanted to recommend EFT but someone had already written about it.I highly recommend it!there are people who have been healed from MS,diabetes,allergies,phobias,migrains,depressions,anxieties….you name it!it’s easy.you can do it your self,anywhere and anytime. I also recommend that you’ll check out http://www.TheReconnection.com. this is total new healing modality. it has nothing to do with energyhealing. it can do miracles! it did with my neck. I have been in two car accidents.first one in 1980,second for about 8 years ago. I lived with daily migraines.last spring I attended dr.Pearl’s seminar i Stockholm and after that my neck healed almost completely! I can get musclepain if I sit whit my laptop several hours,but i think it’s normal.please,go to the webbside and read Dr Pearl’s story.there are reconnective healers in Britain.Never give up! with best wishes,Maarit from Sweden.
Kevin – hello and I hear you. I am so sorry you are having to live with this. I also deal with nerve pain and other types of pain. It originates from my disc. It is there 24/7 for me and it is a question of dialing down the intensity to keep myself from going out of my mind. Not one thing works for me. It’s a whole bunch of stuff I do depending on what works best at that moment. Here are some possible ideas. I hope you are able to find a formula that will work for you.
Meds: anticonvulsant meds in combo with other meds. It took a lot a trys of various meds to find a doable combination. Work with a chronic pain management doc/specialist that understands how to address the different types of pain. Not all docs understand pain; especially nerve pain.
Avoiding certain chairs. Using a cushion for certain type of chairs.
Hot packs on the disc area of low back and legs. Bed buddy type with the rice inside. Microwaveable.
Lacrosse balls and miracle balls to work on trigger points in the low back muscles.
Body buddy (is similar to a theracane) to work on trigger points.
All kinds of relaxation cd’s and meditation cd’s.
Hot tub
Hot bath with epson salts
Chiropractor
Deep tissue massage
Stretching
Attend chronic pain support group- friends who understand, pain friends can guide you to best doctors and treatments, pain friends can help you to avoid the doctors that are not helpful. The pain group can expose you to the latest pain treatments and coping techniques.
Distraction methods for high pain day:
-cloud watching like mentioned on this blog.
-visit the dog park.
-visit petsmart and watch the dogs in the doggy day care.
-call a friend
-rent a movie.
-watch my funny movies from DVD collection.
-cry (release)
-sleep if possible
-loud music
-soothing music
-read jokes and funny stories online if I can get into a somewhat comfortable position in bed or on the couch with a laptop.
- watch videos on youtube or stupidvideos.com
-made a list of 100 reason why I am grateful even in spite of the pain. (How I have grown as a person)This was not easy to do at first. Lots of depression and anger to get through first.
-use my flare kit. It’s a box I put together in advance to have ready for pain flares. It is kind of an emergency kit for a pain flare. It has all kinds of things in it to comfort myself.
Funny movies, favorite tea, favorite blanket, hot packs, books, favorite magazine, favorite photos, favorite relaxation cds etc. Anything to comfort yourself.
Tens units and muscle stim units aggravated my nerve pain but work really well for others.
I looked into the spinal cord stim. Was not for me.
However, one guy in our pain group did get an scs and it helped him tremendously.
Just remember that everyone is different. Some will do great with a treatment and others won’t. It truly is trial and error. I have tried and failed with a lot of medical treatments and unconventional treatments. The key is to keep trying until you find a formula that works best for you. Also always weigh the risk versus benefit ratio to guard against making yourself worse.
With the spinal cord stim, consider asking the doctor for the name of the sales rep. Ask the sales rep for names of patients you can speak with that are doing well with the scs. Also ask the rep for names of the people that did a scs trial and did not continue to get the scs implanted. I wanted to know about the failures as well as the successes.
Keep trying until you get some relief. May comfort be yours!!!
Cory
You asked for some suggestions what I have found helps is seeing light in the effected area in forgiveness, love, peace and gratitude or letting go with forgiveness of any old stored anger because that can make things feel tentimes worse.
The other is to use like a wet suit fabric to keep in the warmth to the joints I don’t know what you call it in america all these aid pain relief.
When I find pain is getting too much I use my imagination or inner understanding to bathe where the cells and pain is in light, forgiveness, peace, love and gratitude it Just like having taken pain relief for me.
The other is to let go of what ever I am angry about in forgiveness.
Aura Sunshine
Kevin, you can see by the number of people offering suggestions here that you are not alone. Pain is a universal human experience. And sadly, the lack of appropriate resources for pain care seem to be universal, as well. The internet is a great gift to us all, allowing us to find and share information, help and support.
I went to four chiropractors before I found the one that was right for me. The first one was a total nut case who put me off chiropractic altogether. 2 years later, in agony, I tried again, going through two more doctors who were too enthusiastic about “upselling,” the art of inflating a patient’s bill by pushing all sorts of over-priced supplements and add-ons to treatment. The 4th chiropractor I tried turned out to be a gem, truly dedicated to healing and the welfare of his patients. I bless the day I found him. I had much the same experience with MD’s. It just goes to show how persistent you have to be in seeking good care. PERSIST, Kevin! There is help for you, waiting for you to discover it. Let us know what you find.
Bonnie Boots
Hi Guys,
Thank you , I really mean that, some of your suggestions are new to me so I will be looking into them all, some of them I have already got underway or I have tried without success. I know I’m not alone, its just that sometimes you become immursed with pain & it has the effect of forcing you to look inwards & thus making you feel alone.
As you all say there is no right answer here, Everyone feels the pain in different ways, with some feeling it much worse than others.
The treatments are many & varied too. In the UK we have the National Health Service, which is really good, but has linited resources & a huge demand placed upon it. Luckily I also do have private Medical Insurance and I find I have to juggle between the two. But once again, it is good to know that there are others out there (I don’t mean suffering in pain) but with knowledge of pain ,it’s causes & various treatments because what works for one person does’nt necessarily mean that it will work for another. All we can do is keep trying & moving forwards.
Once again I would like to thank you all,Josh, Trish, Ken, Cory & of course Bonnie.
ps. I feel a little better already. I will keep in touch.
Kevin
Hi Kevin
This a long shot but it could be what you are looking for.
I have recently discovered EFT and have used it on various family members and friends with astonishing results.
It is based around the acupuncture meridians and gentle tapping. Sounds crazy but it is actually very logical.
Here’s the deal, if you are willing, I will take you through the process by telephone.
It won’t cost you a bean as I am not after your money, it could change your life, it would be good for me and I live in the UK too.
You have nothing to loose except a few minutes of your time.
Don’t think too long about it mate.
Mike
PS You can find me at this address – http://www.efttappingandme.com
Thanks, Mike, that’s very generous of you. EFT has already been mentioned several times on this blog, and will certainly continue to be a topic. EFT stands for Gary Craig’s “Emotional Freedom Technique.” I took the certification program for EFT three years ago and have made it a cornerstone of my own health care. When you first hear about EFT, it sounds like absolute balderdash. When you try EFT and feel it working, it changes your entire concept of what you’re made of and how it all works. A free ebook teaching the technique (and vast files of testimonials) are available at Gary Craig’s website, http://www.emofree.com . EFT is easily learned from the ebook, but having someone talk you through the 5-minute technique adds that extra personal dimension that makes such a difference in learning.