Hi Spiritscript,

I do not mean to question your decision, but why deny yourself even 2 hours of relief? Towards the end of a normal month (this one is exceptional), my Tramadol, Morphine and Ketamine take my pain down from 8/9 to 5/6. The rest of my relief is from Lidocaine Infusions which I missed this month, so I am already 'up there'.

The doses wear off as the hours pass, and the pains gradually increase back up to the original levels.

I could not consider stopping my treatment, I have a short break in February every year to guage true pail levels and check for underlying, masked problems. This year I lasted a few short days.

Here:

http://www.how-to-meditate.org/breat...ditations.htm/

Is a link to my Teacher's (Geshe Kelsang Gyatso) Breathing Meditation page. It is simple to learn if you are patient, and is aimed at anyone - not just Buddhists. All you need is a peaceful room with no distractions for 10 minutes to start with, and aim to have Clarity and a peaceful mind for just 2-3 minutes to start with. Once the technique is learned, everything becomes easier.

A strong, calm mind makes living with Chronic Pain and conditions that much easier. I suffer multiple neck/spine injuries, TN, Chronic Cluster Headaches, severe Neurological Hypersensitivity, heart issues, cancer survivor, Depressive Personality Disorder, Severe Anxiety… If I didn't have a regimen including Meditation I would have given up years ago. As you can tell from my mental issues, it is not a Cure-All, but it does help one Cope - and it's free with no side effects.

I'm also a strong advocate of humour as a distraction. Being Depressed and in pain, there are few things better than finding something funny on tv or YouTube. It doesn't beat stroking your cat or dog if you are lucky enough to have one, but it helps.

Always here.

Dave.