meditation medication high

A place to discuss casual topics amongst spiritual friends.
Post Reply
sattva
Posts: 1254
Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 10:07 pm

meditation medication high

Post by sattva »

I had an interesting experience this afternoon. My one doctor prescribed a pain killer for me to take after they work on my foot at the wound care clinic. I almost never take anything for pain unless i am experiencing a really high level of pain. I took a pill this afternoon and at first i didn't notice anything at all. I was out at the time and when i got home i was going to take a nap and get off my aching foot. But i also had a strong desire to meditation again (I had already meditated in the morning). So i sat down and meditated. After about a half an hour or so, i felt really good. I stopped and called a relative. Afterwards, i started meditating again (breath meditation). Then i did metta. Then i went back to breath. I felt wonderful. Pain was gone and i felt both relaxed and focused. I can't remember the last time i felt so good, ---calm, happy, focused and NO PAIN!

I came to the conclusion i was as high as a kite. Thing is, i don't know how much was meditation and how much was medication lol. One thing for sure, i will take this medication only when absolutely necessary because it is addictive. But i wonder if any of you have had any similar experiences. Also, since the drug didn't seem to interfere with my ability to focus, if i were dying and in pain, this would be a good medication to take.
http://www.chatzy.com/25904628501622
User avatar
Ben
Posts: 18438
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:49 am
Location: kanamaluka

Re: meditation medication high

Post by Ben »

Hi Sattva,

Its medication and if used as a medication then there is no unwholesome result.
I am glad you had some relief from the pain!
Wishing you all the very best!
with metta,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
User avatar
poto
Posts: 369
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2009 3:21 am

Re: meditation medication high

Post by poto »

I have had similar experiences.

Had quite a bit of medical problems myself this last year. I have everything managed now, but I was in a lot of pain for several months.

I try to not worry about how effective my meditation is or how much progress I'm making and just do my best.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C. S. Lewis
User avatar
Viscid
Posts: 931
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:55 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada
Contact:

Re: meditation medication high

Post by Viscid »

Pain meds are fantastic.
"What holds attention determines action." - William James
sattva
Posts: 1254
Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 10:07 pm

Re: meditation medication high

Post by sattva »

After they worked on my foot today (well actually, it is now yesterday), it really hurt. I took a pain pill and observed my reaction. What I noticed is that about an hour after taking it, I seemed to go into a natural meditative state without trying. Several hours after I took the pill, i actually sat down to meditate. I did a breath meditation and then followed that with metta. Later as i went about my ordinary life, I noticed spontaneous feelings of goodwill and metta arose towards others.
I did not experience the euphoria that i felt previously.

Personally, I think it is a combination of meditation and medication. Like many of us who are Buddhists, especially those of us who are aging and who have health problems, I have thought a great deal about dying. I have always believed it was important to die with a calm focused mind. Although I believe one should try to avoid unnecssary medications, especially those that are addictive and that cloud the mind, it is good to know how this medication affects me. I could take this medication and still meditate as death approached.
http://www.chatzy.com/25904628501622
sattva
Posts: 1254
Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 10:07 pm

Re: meditation medication high

Post by sattva »

After they worked on my foot today (well actually, it is now yesterday), it really hurt. I took a pain pill and observed my reaction. What I noticed is that about an hour after taking it, I seemed to go into a natural meditative state without trying. Several hours after I took the pill, i actually sat down to meditate. I did a breath meditation and then followed that with metta. Later as i went about my ordinary life, I noticed spontaneous feelings of goodwill and metta arose towards others.
I did not experience the euphoria that i felt previously.

Personally, I think it is a combination of meditation and medication. Like many of us who are Buddhists, especially those of us who are aging and who have health problems, I have thought a great deal about dying. I have always believed it was important to die with a calm focused mind. Although I believe one should try to avoid unnecssary medications, especially those that are addictive and that cloud the mind, it is good to know how this medication affects me. I could take this medication and still meditate as death approached.
http://www.chatzy.com/25904628501622
Upasaka
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:20 am

Re: meditation medication high

Post by Upasaka »

I have some experience with pain medications of various types and the only thing I can offer really is a note of caution. If the medicine is opiate based, and it sounds like it was, the potential for abuse and subsequent addiction is very high. My unasked for advice is to, err, follow your own advice to the letter..
"i will take this medication only when absolutely necessary because it is addictive"
Anyway, I hope you and your foot are feeling better soon :anjali:
The heart of the path is quite easy. There’s no need to explain anything at length. Let go of love and hate and let things be. That’s all that I do in my own practice.

- Ajahn Chah -
sattva
Posts: 1254
Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 10:07 pm

Re: meditation medication high

Post by sattva »

DiscoFingers wrote:I have some experience with pain medications of various types and the only thing I can offer really is a note of caution. If the medicine is opiate based, and it sounds like it was, the potential for abuse and subsequent addiction is very high. My unasked for advice is to, err, follow your own advice to the letter..
"i will take this medication only when absolutely necessary because it is addictive"
Anyway, I hope you and your foot are feeling better soon :anjali:
Thanks for reiterating and for the hope for my foot. Actually, I went to the Wound Care Clinic (can't ever remember if it is Center or Clinic) today for a regular change of dressing, etc. The physical therapist working on it said it was redder and it was hard to the touch. The doctor who comes in for visits happened to be there so she had her look on it. She didn't like the way it looked either. They ended up paging the infectuous doctor, who they caught right as he was getting ready to leave the hospital. He felt it looked worse. They took another culture and he is going to review my chart to see if he should make any changes. I came home and took a long nap.
http://www.chatzy.com/25904628501622
User avatar
manas
Posts: 2678
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:04 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: meditation medication high

Post by manas »

Hi sattva,

I had a big rotten molar extracted, and they gave me paracetamol with codeine added. I did not want to take painkillers either, but when the anesthetic started wearing off in my jaw, and I felt a whole new level of pain with which I had been unfamiliar with for my whole life, I started reaching for the panadeine forte. Two of these, and the pain was almost totally gone, but that night I kept sort of floating out of my body (or so I perceived it) while trying to get to sleep, so I sat up to meditate, and kept floating out even with that, although a bit less. In case anyone thinks this 'floating' was pleasant, no, it was quite unpleasant...In the end I got up and put some music on, and waited till I became so thoroughly exhausted that sleep just descended upon me...opiates don't seem to agree with me!

:anjali:
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
User avatar
manas
Posts: 2678
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:04 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: meditation medication high

Post by manas »

sattva wrote:After they worked on my foot today (well actually, it is now yesterday), it really hurt. I took a pain pill and observed my reaction. What I noticed is that about an hour after taking it, I seemed to go into a natural meditative state without trying. Several hours after I took the pill, i actually sat down to meditate. I did a breath meditation and then followed that with metta. Later as i went about my ordinary life, I noticed spontaneous feelings of goodwill and metta arose towards others.
I did not experience the euphoria that i felt previously.

Personally, I think it is a combination of meditation and medication. Like many of us who are Buddhists, especially those of us who are aging and who have health problems, I have thought a great deal about dying. I have always believed it was important to die with a calm focused mind. Although I believe one should try to avoid unnecssary medications, especially those that are addictive and that cloud the mind, it is good to know how this medication affects me. I could take this medication and still meditate as death approached.
It's our intention that counts the most. Your intention to be able to have a calm and clear mind is what matters, and if a carefully dosed measure of painkillers assists with that, then it would fall under 'medicinal' afaik.

Because we can't really know how much pain another body feels (unless we have psychic powers, which I don't) I can't hope to comprehend what you must be going through sattva, but as always I admire your courage and concern for maintaining the practice of Dhamma through it all.

with metta and respect

:anjali:
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
User avatar
fig tree
Posts: 178
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:25 am

Re: meditation medication high

Post by fig tree »

Once as I was trying to fall asleep again I had this sensation of lightness, like I was made of some kind of fluffy material. I told a friend about it and said I didn't know whether I would ever repeat the experience. When it happened again it occurred to me that both times, I had taken some valerian and then done a breath meditation for awhile before trying to fall asleep again in the morning. I think the meditation makes the mild tranquilizing effect of the valerian more obvious. Since then I've found that I can sometimes get something of the same feeling without one or the other.

Fig Tree
Post Reply