Less Pain On Holiday?

Written By Drew Coverdale

Holiday Pain Freedom

There are times when pain is less in someone's life. Holiday time is one of these moments when someone who suffers from persistent pain sees a change in their pain pattern. It is puzzling to them, so to reconcile that phenomenon, they have to gain some understanding of what is happening to them.

There is a fundamental belief that a structural element is at the core of chronic or persistent pain in many patients. Although structural elements are relevant and evident in some, these are never the main drivers of constant pain.

We know this because different structural elements are present in many other people who don't have the same experience of pain with those structural findings or may not have any pain at all.

Beliefs Must Match

So if a person believes their pain is due to degeneration, wear and tear, arthritis, or some other proven structural element within them, a change in pain from that structure could only happen through a belief system that marries that.

For example, people who believe their pain is worse in the winter and the cold may more easily think that their pain will ease in hot or warm weather. That means holidays can present a time of reduced or little pain for those who believe in this phenomenon.

Those who may believe that the disc damage made stiffer in the cold could logically expect to be more comfortable in warmer weather, so as they spend time in a hotter country on holiday, their pain is reduced or non-existent.

Pleasant Illusion

It is a pleasant illusion to them, and although the relief is natural, it is an illusion to focus on the weather as the leading cause of change. The relief from pain has more to do with the shift representing a conditioned response. One underpinned by a strong belief and probably one where the experience has repeated a sufficient amount of times to be considered predictable.

It is both consciously predictable to the person anticipating the relief on holiday and predictable to the unconscious systems of the brain and body, which work much faster and affect the changes which appear consciously.

Invisible Mechanisms

Because the changes are happening due to invisible and unconscious processes, the person has to make some meaning of them and explain them somehow. If they are not aware of the true meaning of the change in their symptoms, then any idea which sounds plausible will do.

Just like the child can only explain the half-eaten carrot on Christmas morning as tangible evidence that Rudolph and Santa paid a visit, the relief must only be due to the warm weather and the loosening up of those stiff back joints. However, it is no more accurate than believing in the presence of Rudolph and Santa based on having seen a half-eaten carrot.

Shifting Belief

Shifting that belief isn't easy for a child, and it often comes with big disappointment. It's even harder to change ideas in adults. To have held a view for some time and have it challenged creates an autonomic response that we all don’t usually take easily.

Changing beliefs around causes and influences on persistent pain isn't easy. However, it is essential to do because the neglect of not making that challenge risks the patient holding onto a belief that could dictate a life of persistent pain. 

Tipping Point

The tipping point in change can come from a loss of fear when new reality appears to that person. In the same way, when a child realises that Santa and Rudolph aren't as real as they first thought and the excitement fades, so does the fear around the structural elements considered to be the primary source of a person's pain when their beliefs change.

So the next time you hear yourself or someone else says that their pain is less whilst on holiday, think twice about what they are leaving behind.

Other Pain Drivers

That life and all its complexities may be the primary driver of the pain in their life, and getting a break away from that brings relief, but not in the way the person believes. 

It is not because those stiff joints are warming up, but because that holiday represents a place of relative safety from the overload the organism experiences in its life and eventually resists through the manifestation of pain.

What’s next?
Take Your First Step to Recovery.

Drew Coverdale
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