Through my eyes

Pain. The world is full of pain. Some unexplained. Some so numbing it makes us blind. I have met with some pain in my life and I must say, I am not a huge fan of it.

Often the cause ofpainis obvious, a broken leg, or a bruise. But sometimes pain is unexplained. Some scientists say pain is a particular pattern of brain activity; dodgy motivational talks might call pain 'weakness leaving the body' or profess 'No pain No gain!'

Pain scientists have agreed that pain is an unpleasant feeling in our body that makes us wants to stop and change our behaviour. We no longer think of pain as a measure of tissue damage - it doesn't actually work that way, even in highly controlled experiments. We now think of pain as a complex and highly sophisticated protective mechanism.

Recently I have bumped into and old friend and a local doctor who has experienced extreme pain related to a sit bone injury, which was pressing on his nerve. He was unable to sit or stand, his most comfortable position was to lie flat on his back but even in that position he felt certain discomfort.

A few weeks back we saw our doctor, who not so long ago could swing a golf club like a pro, being assisted on the promenade by his wifehe did not look good and some of the precious light has gone out of his eyes.

He was not keen to chat and preferred that we did not visit, as he was really not in any state to receive visitors. My heart sank. It felt like a ton of bricks weighing heavy on my chest.

And then out of the blueone bright sunny morning our doctor was out and about upright and chirpy, walking the Ballito esplanade like an Olympic champion gymnast.

What had changed

The pain had gone away. As suddenly as it had arrived, it had left and his eyes got their sparkle back. Doc has shared his dark chapter with us, explaining the horrific dark days of gloom. His pain nearly drove him to suicidal thoughts;

"I lay on my bed and stared at the sea," he told me, "And I almost wished I was dead." But then one day something changed in his mind and he realised that the only way he was going to get out of this horrible space was by being positive and changing his mind about how he was going to deal with the pain.

"The mind is a very powerful thing." He told me, "Do not ever underestimate how your mind can heal you and how it can take away your pain." Pain is painful, but it isn't all bad. It's your body's early warning system that something is wrong, so you can take steps to correct the problem.

Pain is real and it is in the mind but not in the way you might think. What we want to figure out are methods to successfully train the brain to process pain ina different way.

If you are experiencing pain, do not loose hope, know that with the right mindframe and positive attitude can help you fight the worst pain.