Vemma diary: April 2009

Migraine pain prepared me for chiropractic pain

I have been seeing a chiropractor for the past three months. The sessions are painful and from the start, I have seen my treatment to correct my spine as a challenge; a challenge to overcome the pain and get better as quickly as possible. How I cope and how others cope with the pain fascinates me. I have heard screaming, groaning and swearing from the treatment room while I wait for my turn. No-body can blame another person for being vocal, however, I don't like to swear and I have never seen it as an option to groan out loud. That's not to say that I haven't felt like crying at times. If I cope with the pain and I cope with it well, it feels like an achievement.

The chiropractor and sports therapist often say I have a high pain threshold. Is this something that a person is born with or is it developed over time? Do I have a high pain threshold because I had such horrendous migraines from an early age? As a child, I had to learn very quickly to find a way to deal with the pain of a thumping headache, which could go on for hours at a time. There was definitely no swearing or screaming, just the need for quietness and concentration. Laying down the pillow felt like concrete and sleeping would be impossible. So, the thumping headache became waves crashing against rocks - a beautiful vision in my eyes - and this mediated state was often how I dealt with the pain of a migraine. I would try to relax and go along with the pain. If the body and and mind is relaxed, the pain would be easier to deal with, and this, I have realised is how I have been coping with the pain of the chiropractic treatment.

Finally, it seems, a good thing has come out of being a migraine sufferer. Migraine pain, I believe, has mentally prepared me for the chiropractic pain. In comparison, the pain endured in a chiropractic session is far easier to cope with than the pain of a full-on migraine attack, for the sole reason you can tell the doctor to stop at any time and in the back of your mind you know the pain will be over in 30 minutes anyway. With a migraine, there is no such luxury.