Hello DZ,

Thanks for sharing this simple pain management technique.

I wonder if others on the forum have similar useful tips for distracting one's attention away from the pain?

What kind of music do you like listening to when you use this technique?

Best wishes and a big welcome to our forum! Do come back here and let us know what the results of the investigations are. We are keeping all our fingers and toes crossed for you!

Best wishes,

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

This is quite a good technique and really does as you say reduce the intensity of the pain. Biopsies can be really painful not just at the time they are taken but for ages afterwards. I was taught a technique which I've practised over time which works well. This time you concentrate on the site of the pain and the level of the pain with your eyes shut. You then mentally move that area of pain to a region nearby but just outside your body, where you cant feel it so intensly, the further you can push it away the less the pain. It takes some practice but does work, I used this to good effect recently to control post operative pain and prior to that a long period of dealing with dental abcesses. Of course cancer can cause pain when nothing other than morphine painkillers will do but it is surprising what the power of the mind can do. I've heard from people who have used hypnotherapy to good effect in long term pain management. I have also tried using a TENS electrical pain releif unit with limited success for a slipped disc again I think this works as a pain distraction method. It is not recommended for use with cancer pain, or for use on the neck where I had treatment for cancer. Would like to hear from others methods that have worked for them.