Today, in Surgery, I thought about the phenomenon of phantom pain. I'm not sure what actually triggered the thought, but anyway... here goes...
Ok, so briefly put, phantom pain is the pain a person feels in what used to be a limb that has been severed/amputated. It is a phenomenon that is still a gray area in science, especially with regards to 'curing' it. The most recent (and I use the term 'recent' loosely) findings suggest that if you can get the brain to realise that the limb is not there anymore, you should be able to effectively get rid of the phantom limb pain. It has proven successful in some, bit al cases. One of the best known tricks for retraining the circuitry of the brain is the use of the mirror! Another has been to get the person to visualise the absent limb doing almost impossible movements. (It appears that the latter is a bit like performing unusual movements with your two limbs (simultaneously and differently) to cure hiccups.
I'm no expert on the intricacies of this, but I cannot help but come back to the topic of meridiens as seen in acupuncture and reflexology. I hasten to add that in my opinion this is directly connected to the fact that our entire being started off as one cell, and therefore everything in our bodies (regardless of the level of differentiation it has undergone, is connected). The other thing is, if every living thing has an energy field (and let's simply focus on the strictly orthodox scientific view of energy fields), then based on Einstein's famous equation E=mc^2, phantom pain is not such an anomaly! Let me explain. Whether the energy field precedes the formation of life, or life precedes the formation of the energy field to some may be a case of the chicken and the egg. Just bear that in mind, as I proceed with my explanation. If you use a thermal imaging camera to look at a person, you see a thermal signature. Some areas warmer than others. What you also see is the fact that the outline of the heat signature is not exactly the same as the boundaries of the person's physical form. If you could raise the sensitivity of the imaging equipment, you would probably see that the heat signature of the person actually extends beyon the physical boundaries of the persons body. Where am I going with this? You see, I'm building a case to make a point about why I think phantom pain makes perfect sense...and also why I think that acupuncture helps. I'm going to keep oscillating between what conventional medicine accepts to be fact and what the other theories say. You know the humunculus? There is the corresponding part of the face arms and legs in the cortex. To treatment for phantom limb pain is by applying these needles to certain points on the scalp. I think, if some electrical waves were applies to the scalp, targetting the specific area in the cortex that applied to the 'missing limb' some relief would be gained from this. I'm sorry, I'm moving backwards and forwards, but the ideas are just popping into my head and I don't want to forget them so I've lost a bit of the chronology of thought in the process of trying to capture the ideas..The reason I think that phantom pain is not such an unusual phenomenon is that even after the physical body part is removed, I think that there is some residual energy in that specific region, and if E=mc^2 (Gosh! I love that equation!! Seems to shed light on so many things that baffle me!! Gosh! Einstein!! Such genius!!).. Yes, if E=mc^2 then could it be that the pain of the limb being severed (or whatever) could have been converted into energy and therefor is existing in that form and then transmits through the nerves again? So the sensation of pain is physical (at the time of amputation); and then it gets 'stored' as energy, then it gets converted back into physical and transmitted along the nerves to the brain. If all cells have memory, then perhaps this is no different. Perhaps to help the neurons to forget or let go of the pain/memory
to be continued...
Monday, November 16, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
I hurt myself to feel...
I recently experienced something that gave me an insight into people who inflict pain on themselves in order to feel alive. I'm referring here to those who do this not as a sexual thing, but for a mind that is in the shadows. It never quite made sense until I experienced what I'm about to share with you.
A while ago, I realized that when I touched my skin, it didn't feel the same as before. It felt like my skin had gone slightly numb. It wasn't that I could not feel my fingers touching my skin. The sensation seemed a little blunted. It bothered me quite a bit. And I drew the conclusion that over the past couple of years, I had endured so many painful experiences that in order to just function and maintain some sanity/stability, I had numbed myself to pain somewhat. It was as if my body had physically manifested what my mind had set up. "...On Earth as it is in Heaven.." The body manifests that which predominates the mind. I remember when I had made that choice and I remember thinking how I would just switch because I didn't like getting hurt over and over again. I effectively manifested my intentions without even realizing what I was doing! Gosh! If I would only harness this power to manifest many more positive things!!!
Have you ever heard people who deliberately hurt themselves talk about why they do it? Most will say that it is to feel something. I used to thing this was really just a metaphor for something else, but having experienced this body numbing experiences, I realized it is a statement made in earnest! You see, the first time I noticed that my skin felt a little numb, I pinched myself just to feel the pain, because having pain reassured me that i was alive, that my sensation was intact.
As I pinched myself and felt the pain, it hit me! They really do inflict pain on themselves to feel something. Have I said that a few times already?
You see, most people who indulge in deliberate self-harm have suffered some kind of trauma that has pushed them into a state of mind that is self destruction. However, I believe that in that dark abyss of self inflicted suffering is a soul screaming out for help; looking for some way of waking up, of feeling alive again. You see, pain, as much as we hate it, tells us that we are alive.
You know how we say that someone has jumped out of their skin from fear or horror or following some trauma? Well, you see, jumping out of your skin means reducing your awareness of your senses and perhaps the most subtle would be that of 'fine touch' and vibration. It lessens the pain, physically to correspond with their reduced awareness. Remember that the body manifests that which predominates the mind!!
Where am I going with all this? Nowhere in particular. Just sharing an insight that I had, in the hope that you will feel greater compassion for those who hurt themselves because they have stepped out of their own skin!
I suppose what would really be helpful would be some solution to the problem.
I suppose, simplistically, if there were to get back into their own skins, they would not feel the need to cause pain. It's a bit ironic, though, since the reason they jumped out of their skin was because they felt a pain that was unbearable to them and did so as a means of self preservation.
A while ago, I realized that when I touched my skin, it didn't feel the same as before. It felt like my skin had gone slightly numb. It wasn't that I could not feel my fingers touching my skin. The sensation seemed a little blunted. It bothered me quite a bit. And I drew the conclusion that over the past couple of years, I had endured so many painful experiences that in order to just function and maintain some sanity/stability, I had numbed myself to pain somewhat. It was as if my body had physically manifested what my mind had set up. "...On Earth as it is in Heaven.." The body manifests that which predominates the mind. I remember when I had made that choice and I remember thinking how I would just switch because I didn't like getting hurt over and over again. I effectively manifested my intentions without even realizing what I was doing! Gosh! If I would only harness this power to manifest many more positive things!!!
Have you ever heard people who deliberately hurt themselves talk about why they do it? Most will say that it is to feel something. I used to thing this was really just a metaphor for something else, but having experienced this body numbing experiences, I realized it is a statement made in earnest! You see, the first time I noticed that my skin felt a little numb, I pinched myself just to feel the pain, because having pain reassured me that i was alive, that my sensation was intact.
As I pinched myself and felt the pain, it hit me! They really do inflict pain on themselves to feel something. Have I said that a few times already?
You see, most people who indulge in deliberate self-harm have suffered some kind of trauma that has pushed them into a state of mind that is self destruction. However, I believe that in that dark abyss of self inflicted suffering is a soul screaming out for help; looking for some way of waking up, of feeling alive again. You see, pain, as much as we hate it, tells us that we are alive.
You know how we say that someone has jumped out of their skin from fear or horror or following some trauma? Well, you see, jumping out of your skin means reducing your awareness of your senses and perhaps the most subtle would be that of 'fine touch' and vibration. It lessens the pain, physically to correspond with their reduced awareness. Remember that the body manifests that which predominates the mind!!
Where am I going with all this? Nowhere in particular. Just sharing an insight that I had, in the hope that you will feel greater compassion for those who hurt themselves because they have stepped out of their own skin!
I suppose what would really be helpful would be some solution to the problem.
I suppose, simplistically, if there were to get back into their own skins, they would not feel the need to cause pain. It's a bit ironic, though, since the reason they jumped out of their skin was because they felt a pain that was unbearable to them and did so as a means of self preservation.
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