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Music therapy for pain?
I found this forum about a week ago, and it's nice to know that I'm not the only person having to deal with chronic pain from osteoarthritis and neuropathy in my feet.
One thing that helps me deal with the pain, especially when I'm having a really bad night(it's always worse in the evening) is to put my feet up in my chair, and listen to music on my headphones. Loud music, very loud music. The thing is, the type of music that I listen to would make most people think that I'm nuts. So here's my story.
I'm not exactly normal, what ever that is, I listen to heavy metal music, have been for almost 50 years. It's been my chosen lifestyle, and always will be. I have long(ish) hair, I'm heavily tattooed, and have always worn a concert shirt from one of the dozens of bands that I listen to 7 days a week. And I've been told by my co-workers, as well as some of my own family members that I look like a serial killer.
I definitely look the part of a metal head, but I've always been a responsible adult who's been married to my awesome wife for over 42 years. Before I had to retire in July of '15, I always had a job and supported my family. In 35+ years of working full time, I never received a penny of unemployment, I always had at least one job. For the first 12 years of our marriage, I worked multiple jobs 6 days a week, with only Sunday as my day off.
Even though I listen to this genre of music, and have been to countless concerts and shows, I've never consumed alcohol, smoked, or did any drugs. I've never needed it. The music is enough for me.
I'm also a non-theistic Satanist/Atheist, I've never believed in any of it, even after going to Catholic school for 9 years. I just wanted to get this out in the open, I'm not a believer, but my wife and kids definitely are.
I'm a decent human being, but I'm different from most others as well.
The genre of metal that I've been listening to for the last 20 or so years is Black/Death metal, and I 'frickn love this music. I listen to bands like WATAIN, BEHEMOTH, INQUISITION, MARDUK, BELPHEGOR, PATRIARKH, AKHLYS, etc. It's very dark, atmospheric, epic, aggressive, and haunting, and for whatever reason, it always put a smile on my face. You either love this music, or you hate it.
So, whenever I'm having a really hard time with pain, my wife knows to get my phone and my headphones when the pain meds aren't doing their job, and I just sit in my chair, close my eyes, and let the music help to drown out the pain. Sometimes it takes over an hour, but it definitely helps me.
I'd go so far as to say that listening to this music has saved my life on at least 2 occasions, when I was very suicidal, and having surgery an average of 3 times a year on my neck, knees, and elbow.
Things aren't so bad now, but the pain and numbness is always there, and always will be, unless medicine can come up with a solution that works for chronic pain sufferers like ourselves.
Does music, whatever kind it is, help you deal with your pain?
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Love music helps when need to get my mind away from the pain. Bad part is my ears do not like head phones so everyone hears it. Music is best way to help. Drug free help.
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1 ReactionI too use headphones every night for my neuropathy. Yes, I listen to the music loud. My music preference is rock, blues, psychedelic and some Jazz. I think you have something here as pain comes from the brain receiving signals. I don't think it's the type of music, it's music. PM me if you want to talk about it off line.
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1 Reactionfrom one glen to another... I too use music to soothe my body pains, it works for me better than most other unconventional techniques. I've never liked headphones, too hot, too heavy, too much pressure, and they shut down my ability to hear what's going on around me. So I tried to improvise. I bought inexpensive stereo phones, very light in weight, and had only a little squeezing pressure on my ears. Then I removed the ear pieces (they were too enclosing over my ears), and found a decent sponge, cut two circles from the sponge for my ears, attached them with glue around the edges to where I removed the original pieces, and voila, it resulted in a very light weight and soft ear phones, without the tight squeeze of an expensive set. And I can hear what's going on around me (phone, doors, etc.) so I'm multi-tasking! Works great, I've had them for at least five years. Cheers, glenj
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1 ReactionAbsolutely! I have hearing aids so I listen that way sometimes but also have wireless speaker I can crank it up in the kitchen while cooking dinner: Favorites: greatest hits of the 60’s , 70’s, 80’s, Beatles, Moody Blues, Pink, Maroon 5, Barbra, Celine, Whitney Houston, Joan Biaz, Chicago, etc etc! Sometimes I start dancing to Elvis!!!
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1 ReactionHave a decent quality sound in every room of the house. Turn it enough to be engulfed in sound. Today is Willy Dixon. Listen on.
Music has been my constant companion especially in times of stress and pain. It is the only thing that resonates through my mind, body, and soul. I could not imagine living without this its healing. Music is the strongest medicine I know. Thank you all for sharing.
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2 ReactionsListening to sounds can help the brain in soothing inflammation if the hertz is the correct one. Binuaral beats have been used for many years.
Just type youtube good vibes binaural beats into your browser. Hope it helps others as it has helped me. I listen almost everday before and during my afternoon nap. On low dose steroids and adrenals not working full blast yet.
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1 ReactionOk-will try!
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1 ReactionI have an excellent pair of headphones(Apple) that were a gift from our son and his girls that I wear whenever I need to listen to my music when my wife is at home. They also gave me a portable speaker(Sony) that I use whenever I'm at home by myself. I'm using it at this moment, and pretty much throughout the entire day.
I use Spotify as my music provider, and I love it. There hasn't been a band who's music isn't available using their service, and I listen to a lot of obscure, lesser known black metal bands that most people haven't heard of.
Every year, usually in the first week of December, Spotify will send you a message where they've accumulated all of the music you've listened to during the previous 11 months. They report how many minutes of music you've listened to, which bands and songs, and even which genre's of music you played the most, which I think is very cool. I look forward to seeing the results every year after using their service for a few years.
In 2024, as of the first week of December, I'd listened to my music for almost 69,000 minutes, 68,850 to be exact. So music is very important to me, it helps me stay sane, and it helps me deal with the chronic never ending pain.
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2 ReactionsMany people criticized outward appearances. It's call discrimination. This is how racism develops. People are not comfortable with others that look different than what they see in their mirror. It's a fear like people who fear certain types of animals like snakes or dogs or other animals. It's societal issue where people who fear the same things tens to ban together. Like people who are of one skin color, like Caucasian, and then dislike others with tan, yellow, or brown or black skin. I feel bad for how your been mistreated by ignorance around you. I see this with people in good health who are around people with disabilities in public places. These good health people do not like to see or bring around these disabilities. They have deep seated fears within themselves they cannot face. Good luck.