Re: Pain relief: meditation better than drugs, study finds
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:25 pm
It was in Burma in the early 1950s, Akuma.
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Still - assuming that ergotamine wasnt existing in Burma at that time plus he actually did have migraine headaches there still is no causal connection established between his meditative practice and the disappearance of the headaches. And there certainly arent any studies indicating such a thing.Ben wrote:It was in Burma in the early 1950s, Akuma.
I agree that I think there's a major placebo thing going on here. I'm very skeptical of meditation alone doing anything for intense pain. I know they've done some interesting work in pain management using video games. What they do is help distract you away from the pain, making it easier to ignore. After all, meditation is an exercise in PAYING ATTENTION. Ignoring things is the opposite of meditation. Meditation can help you not be frightened of pain, but stopping a severe organic problem? Doubtful.Akuma wrote:From migraine forum I am in it seems apparent that there is not any effect of meditation on migraine whatsoever and from my own experience I know that an attack itself makes concentration impossible. So without trying to be negative I am very doubtful about Goenkas information, not only because morphine is not a migraine medication, he shouldve been using anti-inflammants or triptanes or ergotamine obviously combined with an anti-emetic.Justsit wrote:Any documentation for better pain relief during a migraine headache using meditation vs. drugs?
Justsit
There are masses of people trying to make a buck with migraine patients, exactly because the causes are so far not exactly (enough) known and because its a neurological illness that at this point cannot be healed.
There are whatsoever all sorts of prophylactic measures you can work out with your specialist - some being really hard meds, some being additives like f.e. high dose magnesium, riboflavine or something. But there too the effects are rather limited and I myself am unsure if what the pros wanna sell there really has effect beyond the placebo range.
This is an important issue, that I pointed to above: http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 46#p174698" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;MrsCogan wrote: I know they've done some interesting work in pain management using video games. What they do is help distract you away from the pain, making it easier to ignore. After all, meditation is an exercise in PAYING ATTENTION. Ignoring things is the opposite of meditation. Meditation can help you not be frightened of pain, but stopping a severe organic problem? Doubtful.
That's the sort of description Bhikkhu Bodhi gives in the talk I linked to.manas wrote: So I'm exploring it. What is it, really? Throbbing...pulsating...(this all happens over the course of half an hour or so)...go deeper into what hurts the most (in peace) - there, what is that? And while I was trying to find it's centre, it's 'essence' or 'substance', I started to perceive it as heat. It was like, the pain had changed into something else. This was amazing. Anyway, I kept going, into that...and over a period of time it began to dissipate, fade away.
Bull pucky!MrsCogan wrote:I agree that I think there's a major placebo thing going on here. I'm very skeptical of meditation alone doing anything for intense pain.... After all, meditation is an exercise in PAYING ATTENTION. Ignoring things is the opposite of meditation.