
Dopamine has long been known to be linked to positive experiences such as eating and sex. But it's now known to be released when you're in pain, so you may want to try increasing your supply of it--naturally.
Dopamine levels tend to rise when something good happens that exceeds your expectations. The neurotransmitter gives you a pervasive feeling of well-being, making everything seem right in the world.
But dopamine also is released when you're in pain. That is, the same reward pathway that gives you pleasure during great sex or a great meal also releases dopamine when pain signals are received in the brain.
Dopamine and Endorphins
Dopamine and endorphins both seek to alleviate pain. But they have a complex relationship.
On one hand, when endorphins are released in response to pain, dopamine seems to be triggered to move into the frontal lobe of the brain, neutralizing the feeling of pain.
On the other hand, when dopamine levels are too high, they tend to reduce the amount of endorphins available for pain relief. That may be why antidepressants that are designed to reduce dopamine levels sometimes relieve chronic pain--they allow endorphin levels to stay higher than when excessive dopamine is present.
Attaining A Balance
The interactions between dopamine and endorphins illustrate how difficult it is to achieve optimal levels of brain chemistry while using drugs to target one neurotransmitter over another.
The subconscious, however, may be well placed to achieve the necessary balance for pain relief. Because it controls the involuntary functions of the body, it most likely has the knowledge necessary to guide the delicate tradeoffs between neurotransmitters that must occur.
The Role of Visualization
Through visualization statements it may be possible to focus your subconscious on balancing the impact of dopamine and endorphins on the pain process. This could be true for back pain or pain in the neck or other extremities, arthritis pain, fibromyalgia pain, or neuropathic pain (nerve pain).
Visualization statements represent the specific language that your subconscious wants you to read back to it to help ease your pain. They're simple and are targeted directly at the main factors that could bring you relief.
You can obtain these statements by learning how to communicate directly with your own subconscious mind. The process is straightforward and can be done at home by working with a facilitator over the telephone. You you need no special skills and no previous experience in working with the subconscious.
The Balanced Use of Dopamine
It's possible to ask the subconscious whether visualizing an increase of dopamine will be helpful in relieving pain. If at the same time it is also asked about endorphins and the other neurotransmitters involved in pain, it has the opportunity to provide balanced answers. This may be helpful in easing pain.
Ben Plumb is CEO and President of The Visualization Group, Inc. The company's service is delivered by people like himself who personally suffered from years of chronic pain, and used the visualization method described in this article to obtain relief when nothing else worked. For more information, please visit http://www.thevisualizationgroup.com.
(c) 2005 The Visualization Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The methodology and program disclosed in this article are Patent Pending.
AP - Lebanese militants fired at least three rockets into Israel early Thursday, threatening to open a new front for the Jewish state as it pushed forward with a bloody offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 700 people.
AP - President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday that the nation's recession could "linger for years" unless Congress acts to pump unprecedented sums from Washington into the U.S. economy, making his highest-profile case yet on an issue certain to define his early presidency.
AP - Wall Street headed for a mixed open Thursday, bracing for what are expected to be more bleak data on employment and retail sales.
AP - Illinois Republicans are promising tough questions Thursday for Senate-appointee Roland Burris on why he accepted a position offered by disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich and whether he promised the governor anything in return.
AP - The United States and its partners have shortchanged Afghanistan by focusing on short-term goals pursued without a cohesive strategy or a clear understanding of the way the poor, decentralized country works, an independent study concludes.
AP - More than 30,000 people were urged to leave their flood-endangered western Washington homes as swollen rivers, mudslides and avalanches engulfed neighborhoods and roadways.
AP - Showing the emphasis that some lawmakers are putting on health care issues this year, former Sen. Tom Daschle will be the first of President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet choices to undergo a hearing.
AP - Standing next to the crystal football, Bob Stoops was the picture of Mr. Agreeable. Any pose the photographers wanted, the Oklahoma coach gave them. Looking to the right, gazing to the left, smiling straight ahead. That is, until a shutterbug told Stoops to hold up one finger a "we're No. 1" shot. No chance, pal.
Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama will seek Thursday to rally support for a massive fiscal stimulus package by warning that the United States could remain mired in recession for years without bold action.
Reuters - Several rockets fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel on Thursday, slightly wounding two people, police and medics said, in an attack seen as linked to Israel's war on Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.
Reuters - Citigroup forecast a synchronized global recession in 2009 and said developed economies may "flirt" with deflation while emerging market economies will slow sharply, adding that global corporate earnings were only a quarter of the way through an expected 50 percent drop.
Reuters - India vowed to strengthen laws to prevent corporate fraud after Satyam Computer, the country's fourth-largest software company, shocked investors by revealing profits had been falsely inflated for years.
Reuters - The Bank of England cut interest rates by half a percentage point to a record low of 1.5 percent on Thursday as it battles to keep Britain from falling into a deep and lasting downturn.
Reuters - Russia and Ukraine failed to resolve a gas row at a meeting in Moscow but will continue talks to end the dispute which has choked off supplies to Europe, a senior Ukrainian gas official said on Thursday.
Reuters - It took war, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and the collapse of some of New York's famed investment banks, but Manhattan apartment prices are finally falling.
AFP - Rockets fired into northern Israel from Lebanon on Thursday jolted efforts to end the war in Gaza where Israeli jets carried out mass strikes on smuggling tunnels.
AFP - Israeli warplanes bombed suspected arms-smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza early Thursday, as diplomats worked to secure a ceasefire in an offensive that has killed 700 Palestinians.
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