I request valium when I am scheduled for an MRI.

I use norco/vicodin 5/325, and ativan .5 for break-through. Doesn't always work. In addition I use medical marijuana. If I can get to a well-medicated state with this combination I may still be aware of the pain, but it is not so severe that I am unable to do anything. Even then, however, I can have pain that over-rides my meds, such as what I have experienced this summer during the course of our two "hot spells." I live in the Seattle area, where 90+ days are rare. I did not fare well when our unairconditioned home got above 84-86º with 40+% humidity. We are talking out-of-my-mind wacko, feelings of despair and fear, unable to do tasks, and all my energy spent just meditating to stay calm. We are seriously investigating adding air to our heating system before next year. Apparently climate change is here for good. . . .

I hear you on feeling out of control. I suffer both transverse myelitis/MS and Crohn's. Long ago I taught myself my own version of controlled breathing to ride out the severe cramping and pain from Crohn's flare-ups. I did this by using music I like to teach myself to automatically breath in a rhythm to the music: every night as I would fall asleep I would listen to and time my breathing to the music's rhythm, timing breath in and breath out to specific measures in each musical piece. After a while i could just put the music on and my body would be conditioned to respond, and I would automatically begin deep breathing. I learned to extend the exhale which in turn forces an inhale that happens automatically. Then I combined this with what is called "full body scanning" in mindfulness meditation, a method of progressive relaxation that you begin either at your head or at your feet (I chose my head first to get my mind of my painful feet!) Between the two I can usually arrest the panic that sets in when acute pain hits. I encourage you to research mindfulness meditation and give it a try.

So on a bad day I use my Rx meds, my herbal meds, and I meditate to get control of the pain. If at that point I can actually be productive, I then try to engage in a task that is physical enough to distract me while performing it, like laundry or vacuuming. If more pain sets in, I stop and meditate some more.

When we are faced with chronic, and sometimes constant pain, the best we can do is find a way to train our minds to ignore the pain signals. Involved in that is teaching yourself that the pain is not always an indication that something is wrong, but rather that there is a short in the signal, wires crossed. Some of my pain can actually be a signal to check a physical symptom for worsening with my Crohn's, so this becomes tricky. I can't always ignore it. However, I can and have learned to see it as temporary, something that I may have to work hard to, but can get under control.

And it is true . . . it is all about the breath. Pain increase when the body is deprived of oxygen. Oxygen is a nutrient, so when I breathe I think "nutrients in, toxins out" and that is how i visualize helping my body handle the pain, the disease, and life.

http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/mind...Meditation.htm

http://marc.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=22

Video of Jon Kabat-Zinn of UMass Center for Mindfulness: http://youtu.be/3nwwKbM_vJc