Cancer ☯ Facing Death ☯ Letting Go ☯ Loss of Job ☯ Balance Spirit & Self
Cancer Meditation ☯ What Worked for Me ☯ Pain Management
Radiation Therapy ☯ Padre Pio ☯ Our Christmas Miracle

Managing Pain

The drugs that are required to manage pain tend to take away your clarity. I myself did not want to loose my mental clarity. I found managing the pain requires some studying.

Not everyone with cancer is going to suffer with pain and require medicine to control it. My lung cancer had metastasized into my spine an eaten away the bone until it collapsed causing great pain. The Morphine and Percacet cocktail I was on created a mental fog that blocked my communication with Spirit, causing a lot of distress. I took the time to understand my treatments and medications so I could help in achieving what was comfortable for me.

You have to dedicate time with the Doctors so they understand your need to have clarity of mind in your life. They will respect that. There is no reason why you should have to suffer with pain. Pain will distract you from your focus on mindfulness and working with Spirit. When you can hear Spirit and you can keep the pain under control then you will be able to move forward and that was one of my goals. There are a lot of pain management resources available but only you know what works for you. Listen through your heart and clarity of mind to know how much is enough.

By the way it is well documented that people who have had spiritually transformative experiences have a greater chance of being sensitive to drugs.

You have to be assertive when the medical team want to increase the dose, let them know how you are feeling and what is happening. Let the staff know that a little pain is ok as long as you have your clarity. If it is not working for you then let them know that you need to switch drugs because you are always in a haze and have no clarity. I can't emphasize enough work with the pain and pay attention, management of it is very important to your recovery and healing.

I found my pain medications have cycles in controlling my pain. Sometimes the pain may be high and different medications work better. I don’t like to wake up in the middle of the night to take medication. Of course in the Hospital you don’t have any choice they wake you anyway. When I’m home I’ll stretch the time a little bit so I don’t have to wakeup if I can help it. I might take something else like a weaker over the counter pain medicine instead of the stronger pain medicine to stretch out an evening. By doing this I have been able to do some of my spiritual work in the early morning hours when the pain medications are not as potent in my body and I have a higher level of clarity and connection with spirit. This is where you have to spend time studying your routine and the cycles of pain and medication.

Pain Management Visualization

When in the hospital I was suffering from great spasms of pain in my upper back. The doctors and nursing staff were trying to get it under control. At one point spirit spoke to me and gave me this visualization to manage the pain.

First give thanks for your life. Then honor and be grateful to the aspects that have the greatest meaning in your life (i.e., Love, Truth, Acceptance, Compassion, Tolerance and Respect). Then take a few minutes to relax and find your meditative state.

After those prayers and you’ve found your calm, then start to visualize that your heart is a rose bud that is starting to bloom.

As the petals grow longer they start to glow with a pure light. As the flower starts to open it becomes brighter with the light of pure love and compassion.

You can start to feel the warmth from the love and compassion growing through your heart and after a while all there is, is pure light.

Then begin to expand the light to the other parts of your body. To the base of your spine and to Mother Earth. To the top of your crown and to Father Sky.

Take time to feel your body being bathed in this warmth of love and compassion.

Then wrap your pain or suffering with the light. Visualize the pain and suffering being transformed or converted into love and compassion. Allow it to dissolve away until only the light of love and compassion are left.

Now raise up this light through your crown to Father Sky and release the transmuted pain and suffering as love and compassion back onto the winds of the universe so your truth is known.

Slowly come back to your body.

When I used this visualization in the hospital it helped me a great deal. Every time my pain would increase my blood pressure and pulse would start to go up and up. They would give me my pain medications but they would take a while to work. When I used this method to change the pain into love and compassion, it would give the medications a chance to work.