The Mind Connection

You have most likely heard the phrase, “Where the mind goes, the body will follow.” Now is your chance to really put this into action for your benefit. Perhaps, right now you believe your brain has failed you, because you have this awful illness; but, rest assured that your brain is constantly working on your behalf. Try these exercises and activities to strengthen your mind for being as healthy as you can be.

Take Charge of Your Illness

You probably have undertaken lots of projects in your life, work related and home. Now is the time to make YOU the project. You will fare better and feel stronger if you set goals for yourself specific to how you will walk out this journey with facial pain. Here are a dozen goals worth undertaking:

Re-focus

As challenging as facial pain is, it holds the power of providing you with the opportunity to pause and take a good look at your lives - what are your priorities, who do you want to “be” and how do you want to live. This is the best time to focus on living like the person you want to be. Seek activities that are fulfilling and those which can make a positive difference in your life and the lives of others. In other words: “Don’t waste your illness.” Use it for good.

“If there is one thing that my Anesthesia Dolorosa has done for me, it has helped me put the people in my life into the right priority. I am no longer as concerned about accomplishing “things” as I am with caring about others. I’m a better person for having had this illness, despite the wish deep down that I had never had it.” Barbara

Change Your Thinking to Change Your Responses

We used to believe the brain wasn’t very moldable after childhood, but now we know that it is quite pliable our whole lives, always allowing us to learn new skills, and to change old habits. You can in essence “reprogram” your brain towards more positive and healthy thinking patterns which will result in behaviors geared towards lessened pain.

Here’s an Example of How This Has Worked for Me:

When I first developed TN, I would retreat to bed in pain. I would moan, thrash, cry, and give it my full and complete attention - I did not know I could do otherwise.

As the days turned into weeks, I was faced with some choices. Either I could continue to retreat or I could move back into living. Although I needed much more “margin” in my life, such as planned periods of rest and reducing my tasks and involvements, I was surprised to discover how much I actually could do while in pain.

I began by intentionally changing my internal messages:

Every time you replace a self-defeating message with a positive one, you actually create a deeper groove in an area of your brain - like a channel. These “channels” are called neuro pathways which, when deeply grooved, result in changed thought patterns, followed by changed behavior.

Sensory Distraction

Did you know that your brain cannot attend to two distinct emotions or sensations at the same time? For example, even when you are in pain, if you happen to look up and see a beautiful sunset, your pain will significantly pull back or even stop for a while. You can take advantage of this phenomenon by distracting your brain through various sensory exercises.

For example,

• Light a nice smelling candle.
• Take a bath with scented bath salts.
• Get a massage, or ask someone to rub your back, feet, shoulders, etc.
• Go outside and listen to the sounds—see how many you can identify.
• Wrap yourself up in an extra soft blanket
• Do some stretching exercises to feel your muscles relax
• Watch a sunset
• Lay on the ground and look at the clouds

Count Your Blessings

Maybe it sounds childish, but it’s not. A friend of mine named “John” who has Atypical TN says that he finds strength in acknowledging all that is good in his life. Here are some of the blessings John mentions:

• I can walk.
• I can drive on most of the days.
• I can take medicine to reduce my worst pain.
• I have learned that slowing down my activities gives me more time to enjoy them.
• I have dabbled in wood-working now that I need to stay home more.
• I have a wife who refuses to give up on me.

Reading or Movies as Therapy

If you enjoy reading, here’s a great idea: Set a goal of reading only positive, humorous, encouraging, or inspirational books for a certain period each week. Here are some to begin with:

• Petey by Ben Mikaelsen (An honest yet hopeful story of living with serious disabilities.)
• It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong
• In My Own Words by Mother Theresa (Beautiful book by an amazing woman.)
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (Story of strength and faith despite great tragedy.)

Here are some inspirational movies to consider renting:

• Mr. Holland’s Opus (My all time favorite move!)
• The Emperor’s Club (My second all time favorite!)
• Emmanuel’s Gift (About a young crippled man who was determined to make his life count.)
• The Bucket List (Comedy about two men with terminal cancer who decide to live well until they died.)
• The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn (A man who was reluctant to move into the modern age..and what he taught others.)
• Something the Lord has Made (About the first open heart surgery and the brave men who risked it.)

Music as Therapy

“Music can calm the savage beast - that taunts us in our faces!” Find music that relaxes, calms, or perhaps energizes you. If you are "techno savvy", you can create a “playlist” on your iPod specifically for times you are in high pain.

Dealing With Anxiety and Depression

“Anxiety? Depression? You bet! Imagine standing up and beside you is an invisible person with an invisible needle. At any time, without warning, that person is going to stick you with that needle. You don’t know when it’s going to come, or how many times you are going to be stuck. Sometimes, you’re almost glad when you get stuck, because you can stop feeling anxious about expecting it for a moment or two. I get really fearful when I think about what my future might be; the anti-anxiety medication I take helps me to stay level while I continue to sort the ups and downs of my illness out. It’s what I have to do to be as healthy as I can be.” - Texas TN Patient

Anxiety and depression walk hand-in-hand with facial pain. There is no way NOT to become anxious when you are living with pain such as this, however, there are ways to reduce its impact upon you.

Treat it medically. Research by the National Pain Association showed that people who were treated with an anti-depressant in addition to their other medication, reported less pain overall.

Living in the Present

Author and lupus patient Kathleen Lewis writes in her book Celebrate Life:

“When I became ill, I felt I’d dropped off the end of the earth into an entirely new, fog-engulfed existence. I was consumed with fear of the future, and longed for my familiar, comfortable old life. . . Slowly, paths to my new life began to emerge. . . I forced myself not to dwell on the past and the future, but to concentrate on my todays. I found that taking one moment, one hour, one day, one step, one task at a time freed me to experience and enjoy where I was in the ‘now.’”

Victor Frankle, a psychiatrist who survived the Nazi concentration camp, observed that you can’t always choose your circumstances, but you can choose your attitude towards those circumstances. Living in the present-moment will give you more safety and comfort; it will also help you to better identify the people and activities most important to you, and will later help you move out to better face your much-changed life.

Counseling/Life-Coaching

When you are walking in a place of illness, it’s a good time to have an objective professional helper to help us sort through the many issues in our path. If there ever was a time you could benefit from counseling or "life-coaching" this is it.  ("Life coaching" is simply a new buzzword that may better portray a partnership relationship focus.)  Consider investing in 8 to 10 sessions for help processing the difficult issues which exist for you with Facial Pain.