I have wanted to share something with everyone. It's actually just a personal experience but a very intresting one. Back in early November I had a family member who was ill, and it sent me into a bit of a shock. During the months of November & December I was focusing on helping this person & all my attention and energy was shifted towards them. I was not active on the forum due to all of this going on.

Health wise I felt very good with little discomfort. No anxiety, and good BP numbers. This lasted for nearly 2 months. Then as all of you remember the Ultram problem I had over Xmas. I was in more pain than ever and having panic attack after panic attack. I was afraid to go to sleep and my BP was high. I had convinced myself that the Ultram changed my brain chemistry.

Over the last 10 days I have had a family member staying with me and we have been shopping,talking,having tea everyday, and trying to enjoy the time we have together. Again my focus has shifted from my illness to enjoying the time with family. My anxiety went away,I have slept 10 consecutive nights with no help from xanax or antihistamines. I have felt serene... better and happier.

They left yesterday to go back home. Last night I was feeling a bit down and I could sense the anxiety coming back. I fought it off.

I have always disregarded the strength of our minds to help us conquer this illness, but now I am convinced that the illness may even be exaserbated by our minds.There is nothing worse than focusing on an illness 24/7 with no intermission.That would give any illness great strength over us. I think that it is almost like slow torture in many ways.

I am not saying that we shouldn't discuss our health nor am I saying that we shouldn't seek support. But I have to say that all the time I personally spend focusing on my illness and probably even obsessing over it probably caused my health to worsen. When I shift the focus and occupy my mind with something else besides my PN, my pain lessens, I am calmer, & happier.

How many of us choose to stay home all the time instead of calling a friend or family member and asking for some company or to go out for a while? How many of us spend countless hours on the net reading the same things over and over and over about PN?

My story ends here because although I have PN, I don't want it to have me anymore. I would just like those who are not aware of the mind/body connection like I wasn't aware, to consider it. Possibly even invest a little of their time that would be otherwise allocated to PN and PN related activities on having some fun,or spending some time with a relative they love. Doing something different to break the routine.

Anything...

Hugs to all

Cheers

Is great Aussie and i'm glad it works for you,I'm the same way.. My mom use
to say don't just sit there do something. Don't worry about cleaning
we will just mess up the house anyway,there is so many of us. See
I can make it next weekend,J ,K,C,D well you count us all up,i'll
bring the tator sal.yum yum. Thanks for the invite mate Sue

What you are alluding to is called distraction.

Distraction works quite well....no one should BE their disease.

Staying busy and goal orientated helps a lot...dwelling on your disease does not.

As with all things in life, balance is important.

Distraction is an excellent way to cope with pain, just don't ignore things such as broken bones, like I did...

Live life large....be who you aspire to be, who you want to be, regardless of what ails you...

No person is ever their disease....we are folks who for whatever reason, got this problem...it should never be our whole life.

That said, I am not going kiteskiing again....

but there are plenty of other things that beckon me still...I just have to make sure I stay realistically optimistic, and believe in myself. I haven't let myself down yet...what is a missing finger here and there, right?

You have some darn good weather downunder.....ever thought of a kite? If not, sounds like you are primed to buy one.

C is completely right about everything,incuding the broken legs,but i'm
all metal,,so we are on our way to the great weather . Come on
C. we can get are kite when we get there..And always remember
you go first.. Aussi how old are your children,I can't remember,but
I think there young.. You have been busy keep it up,you won't
have time to think of anything but a nice sleep.. Also your a very
sweet person with a big heart..I just looked up the area you
live in just lovely..Hugs Sue

Now you know why I go around the corner every summer evening, and sit on my 75 year old friend's porch, surrounded by her neighbors, the dogs, and we just sit and chat, and I bring a tin of my muffins, and the little kids come up on the porch and play with my keychains, and all just CHILL!!!

When someone sees me limping, or I'm in such pain and they go, "how are you", I always say "Hey, I'm just happy to wake up and kiss my husband". That always gets a laugh.

And sometimes, the pain goes away. For me, the pain is gone when it is 95 degrees outside and everybody is croaking and staring at me like I've lost my mind because I'm smiling from here to there.

They are pouring bottles of water over their heads and looking at me and saying 'why the heck are you so happy, it's 95 degrees, aren't you melting?" and I respond. "Are you serious??" NOTHING IN MY BODY HURTS in this weather. I could live in the Sahara Desert (if I could afford it, I probably would".

So from about May till October, everybody sits outside or we all go on Vivian's porch and just chat about what we saw on tv, or what new outfit someone is wearing. But what they all love is when I go home, and bring over some new gadget I had just bought.

You should have seen all of them, when I took out my Vidalia Onion Shopper and I was chopping my veggies on Vivian's porch.

Now it's January. But by May, when I go on her porch, I'll bring my One touch Can opener, my Reynold's Handi-Vac, and my Pedegg, and my Tater Mitts, and I'll do informercials on her porch.

They'll laugh their heads off.

That's when I say "life is good".

melody

Aussie, like everyone else, I agree that distraction is a good device to employ for pain control. Unfortunately, while it can help us improve our quality of life, it is not a cure and will not make pain disappear. I have found that, while it works well at times, I do still get tired, as if the effort of pushing all that pain into the background takes some energy. Also, if my pain becomes too great, distraction becomes more difficult to accomplish. And.... at some point, there still comes a time when I have to rest, pull back, settle down.....and then the pain comes back. I find I can't be running around doing fun and fascinating things at every moment. I do find that my new walking cammpaign is helping, as do my art lessons and Yoga class. Anything that turns my thoughts outward. Now, if only cleaning the bathrooms would distract me....!!!!!

Susan:

You want something to help you clean your bathroom??

The Mr. Clean Magic Reach.
Also Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I use it to clean my ceramic tile floor. Takes off EVERYTHING.

You'll love these items.

You probably have them already.

The art of distraction is a balancing act for me. I would much rather go out and do something I enjoy, but I do continue to hurt at some level the entire time, and if I completely ignore my body and do too much, I'm gonna hurt twice as much the next day. But I am all in favor of doing whatever you can safely handle.

I can no longer do my most favorite things like traveling, hiking, dancing and big photographic expeditions, but I do manage some lower-key stuff from time to time. My most frequent distractions are watching comedy on tv (or DVD) and listening to music (right now "Air Force Ones" by Nelly is playing on my iTunes ). Laughing out loud is very therapeutic, so I treat myself to that as much as possible.

And when I am too sick for the face to face social thang, I might try conversation via telephone, and if I can't even handle that, I might e-mail someone (works well for people with cognitive dysfunction because of the opportunity to edit before "speaking" ). Melody, you reminded me of when I was at a reunion in Florida in October: everyone was complaining about the horrid humidity, but I was happy because my eyes weren't dry and felt better than they had in YEARS! One thing I find that really helps is to make an effort to really appreciate and be grateful for what is good; that sort of thinking can crowd out the being overwhelmed by the bad.

Do the best you can with whatever you've got to work with. That's my motto.

fanfaire

it discussed one of the universal laws of physics. We all know about the law of gravity? Well essentially the law of gravity is an undisputed truth. There is another law called the law of attraction or "like attracts like". It's essentially stating that we as humans are both magnets and receivers of energy,particles,circumstances etc,etc.

Essentially doing things I enjoy and surrounding myself with family is a distraction,but also positive on the energy spectrum. Having a positive outlook and behaving positively according to this law, can change ones circumstances such as their health. If you practice thinking upwards and think good things and good thoughts you will feel good emotionally, and this can alter your pain,and may even alter the illness. The book also goes on to explain that we are on a frequency in this universe so a negative person who is frequently distressed and worries constantly will attract "like" things on the same frequency towards him". The same is true for a positive person.

We all say that emotional stress often exaserbates PN. So the law is, Like attracts like. Most of the time we go around in a moderate way or an emotional even keel. I am wondering what the course of PN would be on someone who spent there time being positive, not giving the illness fuel, and being happy?

Just think Aussie, in 20 years, how much wiser you will be than any of us.