I'm scared and don't know what to do.

VISUALISATION or ATA (AN IMAGE)
A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
FOR MAYO VIEWER PEOPLE

We can physically and mentally help ourselves when ill (or when healthy) through the creation of an image of an improved state we wish to attain. I have had consulting time with five national teams, faced serious illness and been the carer of a terminally wife so have been in the ‘visualisation field’ for some time. My doctorate in team leadership and studies in psychology and my own sport participation all helped crystallise the following.
Athletes and practitioners in all fields of endeavour use various terms for the ‘mental pictures’ we create and academics and coaches debate terms and meanings. So, let’s sidestep that debate and settle for ata, a Māori word from New Zealand that we shall hold as our word for the image in our body, of what we wish it to be, the reflected image of our thoughts.
Our clear mental image of our distressed part is the focus of a question. What is the desired state for this part of our body? We now consider that question carefully. Perhaps we even find medical handbooks of assistance or a reputable site online, such as Mayo, to give ourselves an understanding of how that part of our body actually looks when unimpaired.
From this, you know the desired state of health that your body should have and can build towards that state. Knowing the healthy state that should prevail, we then engage in image formations to use with our afflicted body part.
An example follows.
When I had bladder cancer the regular treatment was painful at the outpatients sector of a hospital, literally in a storeroom, with the nurse inserting liquid painfully up into the bladder. It was lunchtime and I had just over ninety minutes there and at home before returning to professorial duties. Cancer and myself were not going to own my body. Self-leadership would ensure that. My mind, heart and body did not want the invader to stay. So, it was cancer eviction time!
I would race home. I had hunted up illustrations of the bladder and could easily visualise the that part of my body I would lie down and set my mind to an image of the inside of the bladder and the liquid in the first sector of my bladder. After ten minutes (and yes, I talked to my body) I would move to its next position and could ‘see’ the medicinal fluid move into the next sector. This took me through the four imagined sectors of my bladder and I would get to my study at work just as afternoon lectures began.
The successive treatments and, particularly, the compelling ata I formed of each visualisation every time I had this special time, after each liquid insertion, meant, as I knew it would, no more bladder cancer.
The same attitude and ata later in life meant another potentially malignant cancer disappeared. The visualisation of the image changing so that it corresponded to my picture of its desired state has worked every time.
Puna had survived breast cancer with an input of her visualisation, although she averred that it was increased shopping indulgences that got her through! When Puna was diagnosed with leukaemia and told of a life expectancy of up to one year we knew that was irrelevant as we would not carry a time schedule on our inevitable journey. We used to joke about what train (of thought) ever runs to time! Lying in bed we would share a desired image, an ata, and then we would both visualise what the desired state was and move through the process of working, visually and with all relevant senses, to form an internal image that reflected our compelling thought.
When asked by a sport-psychology colleague, to demonstrate this process in the lecture room I explained to the class that I would hit my thumb with a hammer and immediately visualise the pain being taken to each finger-tip and jumping off in so-called lemming leaps. There were no courageous student volunteers to imitate my demonstration BUT it worked. The pain fleetingly came but then fulfilled the image I had formed and was gone.
I wish patients were taught the formation of an image in our body that reflects the image we create in our mind. It is simple but may require strong powers to form a mental picture that reflects the mind-held image. Our body part image is strengthened when we set any other sense(s) with it.
The next step, which I have only experienced with Puna, is to use ata with another’s pain. We would apply the reflected image of our mental visualisation through gentle hands or fingers. Puna and I were deadly (perhaps not the best word to use) serious when one of us would say to the other, “Please put your healing hands on me.”
Visualisation, imagery, mind pictures or ata – call this what you will – have the inherent blessing and practicality, I believe, from experience, to help every person lessen their particular pain. I also believe in talking to one’s body but leave that in the ether for now.
Robin615

How inspirational! Thank you for sharing your courage and coping mechanisms. I would add the importance of finding health professionals who are supportive of the patient's role as an active participant in their health care decisions. This past week, I had the unfortunate experience of encountering two health care professionals who were dictatorial and not responsive to my concerns or wishes. They were quickly removed from my health care team. My religion is a great source of comfort and perseverance. Best wishes for your continued strength and positivity!

I have this pain constantly and have had cortisone shots. I’m thinking of burning the nerve it’s so excruciating. I am going back to physical therapy and the main point is DON’T sit for more than an hour. Get up , stretch and do deep breathing through the diaphragm this is part of the Schroth therapy for scoliosis which I have. I have had 2 failed back surgeries so remember never sit for more than an hour. I am sitting on an ice pack right now and always do.

@pacer3702: I tend to agree that your pain is most likely a form of Sciatica. I started to have chronic Sciatica about 16 years ago. Got severe enough to try epidural injections, but relief, while lasting months, was temporary. A great physical therapist worked with me to cope with the pain, and gave me a mini-set of exercises to do daily to keep the Sciatic nerve elastic, and the Piriformis muscle from tightening. I would definitely try an experienced PT. I’ve been doing this 10 minute exercise routine EVERY morning for 15 years, and it keeps the sciatic pain mostly under control. Just no long car trips, overseas flights, or Wagner operas, then all bets are off!

Could it be SI joint pain?

See a doctor!! and get imaging done. X-rays, MRIs, whatever is needed for a doctor to SEE what's going on. It's a mistake to guess and guess again at what's causing your pain without knowing what's happening. I had pain in my buttocks a couple of years ago, which got worse. I found a stretch which helped, but only temporarily. Turns out I had degenerative disc disease (not always a problem on its own) and arthritis causing protrusions growing on vertebrae. The combination, in my lower back (lumbar) area caused the canal for my spinal cord to shrink and nerves to become compressed. The pressure on nerves to my legs and feet was costing me strength. The orthopedic surgeon who explained why I had to have surgery told me, if I didn't I would end up in a wheelchair.