Pain Does Not Equal Harm

Pain does not equal harm. What?

I admit that this was one of the hardest things for me to understand. How can that be? But I have nerves that are spasming. How is this not damaging them? Are you sure they are not getting torn each time this happens? No?

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A migraine is a great example of this. I have the kind with red zig-zag lines across my field of vision before the headache hits. I know that the tissues in my head are not being damaged with each migraine. It might feel like they are especially when I lose the vision on one side of my head.

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Ask your doctors what is going on inside of your body each time you have aches and pains especially those that last longer than three months. Know that the zings, zaps, and flares are not harming you for most kinds of chronic pain.

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Maybe you hurt your back and it healed long ago. You have no ongoing tissue swelling, no bulging, cracked or pinched vertebrae and yet you still hurt. Why? “The tissues heal but the nervous system remembers.” (Jo Belton)

One of the all-time amazing proofs of this is when a person loses a limb and they still feel pain. How is that possible? We do know that pain is strange.

“The relationship between pain and the state of the tissues becomes weaker as pain persists…. pain does not provide a measure of the state of the tissue.” Lorimer Moseley

If you want to look at cutting edge evidence-based pain science, look up Lorimer Moseley. He is amazing. Click here for a great article:

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Once I understood that “Pain does not equal harm” is true, I felt better. Seriously. I quit worrying so much about what was going on inside of me. I hope this helps you with your pain.

Hugs!

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Gail Sinclair, MHt, CNC is a hypnotherapist who helps those living with chronic pain go from discomfort to thriving by using hypnosis, pain management tools and resources.

She is a Master Hypnotherapist, Nutritional Consultant, and a Reiki Master Teacher. She has over 20 years in healing work and is an international award-winning speaker.

Gail lives in Portland, OR with her delightful husband, son, and cat. She can be found cooking, knitting, writing, and figuring out new ways to thrive with Trigeminal, and Occipital Neuralgia.

You can reach her gailthriveswithchronicpain@gmail.com.