After my whole vasospasm thing I was in for a session and overheard a nurse telling a patient that what I had as a reaction was a possibility (she even pointed me out as someone that had actually happened to). This is progress. I wish I had been told the same thing when I had my first session. But if through their experience with me they’ve updated their procedures to include discussing it, that’s great. I’ve found that doctor’s are reluctant to tell patients what all the side effects or reactions may be for fear they will somehow manifest them psychosomatically or get overly anxious about it. This to me is treating adults like children. Of course if they are treating another doctor, they’ll talk about all of it. So I was happy to see the change.
Guided Imagery
One of the more interesting events that happened to me while I was in the hospital last week was going through what’s called guided imagery. Basically, you are put into a state of relaxation and given a scene in which you take whatever is paining you and send it away. For Christina and I the scene was our 10-year anniversary trip to Turks Caicos. Our guide asked some questoins, took some notes, then took us both back there. After a few deep breaths there we were - sun, sand, margaritas, clear water, a cool breeze - then a ship anchored itself close to the shore. I took the pain from my abdomen, put it into a box, closed it, put it on the ship, and watched as it sailed away.
Since that initial session, I have successfully used this technique myself twice to essentially think away the pain. It’s amazing really. I short cutted the method last Saturday morning. When I felt a spasm coming on instead of taking my deep breaths and going to the Caribbean, I just said “No motherf*cker,” and that worked just fine. Of course, severe spams will not be overcome by this method, and that may be due to my own inexperience, but for low-level ones, this technique can work. Now this doesn’t mean I should stop taking my medication, but it does mean I have another tool to deal with all of this, and I’m free to apply it to other situations as well.
