A discussion on Pain

Saw this article and wondered what it would mean for us and our ability to modify our behaviors if we could turn off the pain we felt and didn't have that as a motivator anymore...

Definitely good for those who suffer from chronic physical pain!

Revolutionary way to ‘switch off’ pain discovered
Published time: November 29, 2014

A breakthrough means to ease pain for millions of patients has been discovered by US researchers – and it’s right inside our body.

Scientists at St. Louis University, Missouri, blocked a pain pathway in rodents using a receptor called A3, which is located in rats’ brains and spinal cords, and acts against intense feelings of discomfort.

The latest study was published in the medical journal, Brain.

Being able to measure pain levels precisely through a blood test? Imagine if there comes a day that exact amounts of effective pain reliving medication could be prescribed to match your assessed pain levels and monitored so addiction could be prevented.

Researchers Identify Biomarkers for Pain in Blood Samples
The expression of a slew of genes in psychiatric patients closely tracks pain intensity and predicts future emergency room visits, according to a study.
Chia-Yi Hou | Jul 15, 2019

Patients are often asked by their doctors to rate their pain, most commonly on a scale of 1 to 10. “Pain is a subjective experience,” says physician and professor of psychiatry Alexander Niculescu of Indiana University. “There’s no objective blood test out there.”

He and his colleagues are out to change that.

The paper
A.B. Niculescu et al., “Towards precision medicine for pain: Diagnostic biomarkers and repurposed drugs,” Mol Psychiatr, 24:501–22, 2019.

A post I shared on FB years ago popped up in my memories, and it made me think of this thread. It's a different kind of "negative" than physical pain, but it's about embracing the spiritual or mental pain and suffering, and using it to grow. As Ora says, "Maybe the most important of all, we know that Truth is found in paradox." As I've pondered on our societal ills, it's occurred to me that while we strive to eliminate all negativity, pain, inequality, suffering, and injustice, we also work to remove that which makes us stronger, makes us dig deep to find hidden reserves of strength we would never have discovered within ourselves. We accomplishments become all that much sweeter for having overcome greater obstacles.

It's a paradox, and I don't know where the balance is other than finding compassion for others, a willingness to listen, understand, find common ground, and respect for one another's differences without judging, condemning, or treating as any less worthy. That is where Truth and Beauty exist in life.

Gail Swanson
July 5, 2016

I could not have said this better.

"Here it is, dare I say it: The realm of the mainstream spiritual has become shallow and dogmatic.
In an effort to reach divinity, enlightenment, and guru-status, we’ve banished and demonized the “negative” and the struggle of the human experience. We’ve lost touch with the glorious bittersweet medicine that our pain and suffering offers when truly acknowledged by the Self and the tribe, and subsequently integrated with compassion and love."
Cry of the Millennial Witch
By Ora North | March 3, 2016