1. Pain

What is Pain?

When you hear the word “pain,” what association comes to mind? How does it make you feel?

If you’re like me, the word might evoke feelings of anger, frustration, fear, helplessness, devastation, loneliness, and a sense of being misunderstood by doctors, friends, and family.

However, after much prayer, studying pain, and conducting various self-experiments, I’ve learned how to deactivate my pain. Now, I want to give back and help others achieve the same. If it worked for me, it can work for you too! You can become pain-free or significantly reduce your pain level in a very short time.

So, let’s explore your relationship with pain. Perhaps take a piece of paper and jot down what pain means to you. For example, it might signify fear, sadness, anxiety, etc. You’ll need this list later. It’s essential to understand your emotions and feelings related to your pain.

It might seem like an unnecessary step, but it’s crucial to grasp how the brain functions and its role in generating pain. The brain can produce pain through neural circuits activated by:

1. Emotions
2. Stress
3. Learned pain
4. Injury (structural damage to tissue or nerve)

If the pain stems from an injury or structural damage, it will persist. The pain may intensify until you address it. Upon consulting a doctor, they will provide a specific treatment plan or recommend immobilizing the injury, as with a broken leg cast. In these cases, pain serves as a ‘DANGER’ signal, aiming to protect you from causing further harm to the injured area.

However, there are instances of intense, debilitating pain that remains unexplained even after thorough examinations, including blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, and other medical tests. In such cases, doctors might send you home with potent medications. These drugs might have detrimental mental and physical side effects and may not alleviate the pain. When pain persists for months or years, it is termed ‘chronic pain’.

What causes this chronic pain? And what’s the nature of pain in general?

Pain primarily serves a protective role. It isn’t there to ruin your life; its primary purpose is to signal when something’s amiss. Usually, it’s quite effective at this. However, there can be instances where it sends error messages.

In some cases, despite there being no identifiable issues with your back or legs—no inflammation, infection, nerve damage, or arthritis—your body continually sends ‘DANGER’ signals, which the brain interprets as pain. This type of pain is termed ‘EMOTIONAL PAIN’.

What distinguishes EMOTIONAL PAIN from pain due to injuries or illnesses? Let’s categorize:

Do any of these descriptions resonate with your pain experience? A significant majority, around 98% of pain sufferers, report experiencing EMOTIONAL PAIN.

In the case of emotional pain, the ‘DANGER’ signal operates similarly to acute pain from physical injuries. The distinction is the absence of ACTUAL PHYSICAL DAMAGE. However, emotional scars—like childhood trauma, job loss, divorce, or feelings of rejection—exist. These stored emotions put you on high alert, scanning your surroundings for signs of DANGER (such as feelings of rejection or insecurity). Thus, when your brain encounters these triggers in your environment, your pain gets activated.