The linked JAMA study does not show the opioid reduction was 75%.
In fact, to quote, “ The findings suggest that MBTs are associated with moderate improvements in pain and small reductions in opioid dose and may be associated with therapeutic benefits for opioid-related problems, such as opioid craving and misuse. Future studies should carefully quantify opioid dosing variables to determine the association of mind-body therapies with opioid-related outcomes.”
I will dig into this more this evening - chronic pain management is my area - but on first glance, this is a bullshit clickbait headline.
Meditation Reduced The Opioid Dose She Needs To Ease Chronic Pain By 75%.
It's the story of how one user was able to supplement a smaller dose of opioids with other therapies and reduce her need for opioids. The title as is makes an extraordinary claim never made by the article and as such is a lie. It would be great if we didn't mislead our readers to get them to click a link.
People that are surprised by this should consider investing more in their meditation practices. Meditation has a way of making your emotional and physical state data the mind considers instead of a force that drives the mind.
This is a cool way to think about it. Basically, thoughts and feelings are revealed to just be more data points in our experience, instead of the sum of our entire experience.
Was laying in a park this weekend on a below freezing night with a friend who's been doing TM. I meditate pretty regularly, but never tried a mantra. Anyways, I feeling very cold and ready to go inside, but after a few minutes of meditation, I felt warm again. Meditation definitely increases my tolerance of uncomfortable conditions.
I wish I had the link of this BBC video journalist from years ago who wanted to bust the myth of the Himalayan swamis in India who meditate for days without eating food in freezing temperatures. He came back a convert when he witnessed with his own eyes how they do it with so much ease while not wearing much cloth on their bodies.
Every single session when I sit to meditate I have to take off enough clothes to be cold because if I don't I will burn up. No one has ever been able to tell me why that is or if I was alone: it's nice to know there's someone else out there for who experiences a similar affect.
The other night I had my first real case of heartburn due to a poor choice of meal. Unfortunately I had no medication on hand so I just tossed and turned on the bed. I was trying my best to alleviate the pain so I could sleep. I tried to focus away from the pain and for moments it felt like the pain dulled down. I was pondering if this is something that those skilled at mediating can do by reducing the pain just by the mind.
I've done exactly the opposite and have had some success and some failures.
I've had headaches where I focus 100% on the pain and try to objectively think about the sensation - where it is and exactly how it feels. I've found that often the pain fades away because I can't really pin it down.
On the other hand, if I do the same things with a mildly upset stomach, I can pretty much always make myself barf.
The highest form of meditation can even make you conscious of your internal hormones and can give you fine-tuned control on how you secrete various hormones.
An ad to prop up big pharma by suggesting that people cut their opioid use by 75%?
Lets assume that this is an ad to prop up big pharma. Something between 1 of the 2 following extremes happens.
1. Every opioid user takes up meditation, and is able to reduce their opioid use by 75%. This would generally be considered a very good thing, even though it would cost big pharma 75% of their opioid profits.
2. The woman in the article is the only person in the world with this reported success, nothing changes.
Are you suggesting that forces at play are hoping that the second happens, yet all the lawsuits and criminal investigations against opioid manufacturers and distributors will go away, in part due to articles like this, despite the lack of change in numbers?
Meditation will never gain mass acceptance or practice no matter how many more of these articles we see.
People seem to forget there is a huge percentage of the population that will never meditate or can't meditate due to extenuating circumstances.
While this article is interesting it's not helpful for this subsection of the population.
For them it is far more beneficial to seek alternative therapies like rTMS, tDCS, tACS, and DBS tech, of which meditation is probably a self propelled variant.
It is well known that these technologies have analgesic effects and modulate brain state with desirable outcomes, just like meditation.
They have the added benefit of also being directly applicable to nerve branch areas/PNS in the body itself and not just the brain. So they go beyond meditation and what is possible with meditation.
>People seem to forget there is a huge percentage of the population that will never meditate or can't meditate due to extenuating circumstances.
This is just a restatement of what you said in your first line, but again it's just an assertion: "they won't do it" - well okay, why won't they? Is it because they feel they don't have enough time? Then we must give them more time. Is it because they have little regard for their mental health? Then tell them the dangers of letting mental health go unchecked. Is it because they are averse to it because they see it as a satanic ritual? Then we must educate them.
Meditation and chronic pain have a bad history due to some unhelpful dogma that pervades the meditation community. Many teachers insist on seated meditation in a position that requires flexibility and only works for people without circulatory issues (heart problems, diabetes) or back problems.
For instance in Seattle, I believe the Rinzai school may be the only one that volunteers multiple affordances rather than forcing the student to ask for them, or rejecting them out of hand. It's not just bullshit, it's cruelty.
I didn't make it anywhere with meditation until I encountered https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhan_zhuang and figured out it's standing meditation. (If the arms up hurts, put them on your thighs). You can also just practice laying in bed, which is also good for insomnia.
[+] [-] arkades|6 years ago|reply
In fact, to quote, “ The findings suggest that MBTs are associated with moderate improvements in pain and small reductions in opioid dose and may be associated with therapeutic benefits for opioid-related problems, such as opioid craving and misuse. Future studies should carefully quantify opioid dosing variables to determine the association of mind-body therapies with opioid-related outcomes.”
I will dig into this more this evening - chronic pain management is my area - but on first glance, this is a bullshit clickbait headline.
[+] [-] michaelmrose|6 years ago|reply
Meditation Reduced The Opioid Dose She Needs To Ease Chronic Pain By 75%.
It's the story of how one user was able to supplement a smaller dose of opioids with other therapies and reduce her need for opioids. The title as is makes an extraordinary claim never made by the article and as such is a lie. It would be great if we didn't mislead our readers to get them to click a link.
[+] [-] hhs|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tim58|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] agumonkey|6 years ago|reply
I like meditation as a life saving mechanism to cope with emotional failures in hard times though.
[+] [-] nefitty|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shanemlk|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oski|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] perseusprime11|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emptysongglass|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pkaye|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] criddell|6 years ago|reply
I've done exactly the opposite and have had some success and some failures.
I've had headaches where I focus 100% on the pain and try to objectively think about the sensation - where it is and exactly how it feels. I've found that often the pain fades away because I can't really pin it down.
On the other hand, if I do the same things with a mildly upset stomach, I can pretty much always make myself barf.
[+] [-] perseusprime11|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iamgopal|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hinkley|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alwaysanagenda|6 years ago|reply
"The answer to the opioid epidemic is just some meditation and reducing your dosage. Everything is OK, guys. Really."
Effectively, a native ad to prop up big pharma.
[+] [-] dang|6 years ago|reply
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
[+] [-] MFogleman|6 years ago|reply
Lets assume that this is an ad to prop up big pharma. Something between 1 of the 2 following extremes happens.
1. Every opioid user takes up meditation, and is able to reduce their opioid use by 75%. This would generally be considered a very good thing, even though it would cost big pharma 75% of their opioid profits.
2. The woman in the article is the only person in the world with this reported success, nothing changes.
Are you suggesting that forces at play are hoping that the second happens, yet all the lawsuits and criminal investigations against opioid manufacturers and distributors will go away, in part due to articles like this, despite the lack of change in numbers?
[+] [-] fjabre|6 years ago|reply
People seem to forget there is a huge percentage of the population that will never meditate or can't meditate due to extenuating circumstances.
While this article is interesting it's not helpful for this subsection of the population.
For them it is far more beneficial to seek alternative therapies like rTMS, tDCS, tACS, and DBS tech, of which meditation is probably a self propelled variant.
It is well known that these technologies have analgesic effects and modulate brain state with desirable outcomes, just like meditation.
They have the added benefit of also being directly applicable to nerve branch areas/PNS in the body itself and not just the brain. So they go beyond meditation and what is possible with meditation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulat...
[+] [-] claudiawerner|6 years ago|reply
This is just a restatement of what you said in your first line, but again it's just an assertion: "they won't do it" - well okay, why won't they? Is it because they feel they don't have enough time? Then we must give them more time. Is it because they have little regard for their mental health? Then tell them the dangers of letting mental health go unchecked. Is it because they are averse to it because they see it as a satanic ritual? Then we must educate them.
[+] [-] hinkley|6 years ago|reply
For instance in Seattle, I believe the Rinzai school may be the only one that volunteers multiple affordances rather than forcing the student to ask for them, or rejecting them out of hand. It's not just bullshit, it's cruelty.
I didn't make it anywhere with meditation until I encountered https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhan_zhuang and figured out it's standing meditation. (If the arms up hurts, put them on your thighs). You can also just practice laying in bed, which is also good for insomnia.