Pain - We Need a Better Theory. Morphic Resonance & Holograms?

Hi ATS,

I’ve written on here in passing at various times regarding the experience I have each day of severe, unrelenting chronic pain, due to the condition known as ‘central pain syndrome’. It now appears that this condition developed in me due to an undiagnosed epilepsy that affected me from my teenage years onwards, until I was prescribed a particular medication at the age of 33 for my pain, which also stopped the nocturnal epileptic seizures I had been experiencing (which I had always thought to be a form of sleep paralysis, which is why it went unreported to doctors for so long). The epilepsy did something to interfere with the neurological processes in my brain which are supposed to regulate the bodily response to painful stimuli. After a minor back injury in 2005, I began to experience disabling, spreading pain of neuropathic (nerves), arthralgia (joints) & fibromyalgia (muscles) types in my lower body, and then in 2015 with no forewarning or preceding injury, the pain leapt suddenly (in the course of a single night) to manifest in full force in my neck, shoulders, arms, hands & fingers. Again, it was all three forms of pain. The worst manifestations vary daily, which means it is impossible to ‘get used to’ the pain, as can sometimes be possible with pain affecting only one part of the body. For me, the worst pain could spring up in my left hip, or my right shoulder & right hand, or my lower back & left leg (and so on) as worse on a daily basis, hence it is impossible to get used to it. I also experience paraesthesia & dysaesthesia (numbness & burning sensations) in the flesh of my limbs, generalised allodynia (a hypersensitivity to stimuli which should not be painful) and hyperalgesia, which is an experience that manifests as sudden shocks of the worst type of neuropathic pain occurring when my body reacts violently to any change of position. I also have nociceptive & myoclonic spasms, which can cause me to ‘kick like a horse’ for apparently no reason at all, for example even when I’m resting in bed.

I was at the dentist the other day & she asked me about my condition, so I explained a little about it. We had a brief interesting conversation, and she brought up the topic of ‘phantom limb pain’ which occurred when her diabetic mother had her lower leg amputated, she felt pain where there was no limb left to technically manifest that pain in that position. I told her my own pet theory that pain is controlled as though the ‘anticipated body form’ were a hologram generated & checked constantly by the brain; the pain experience manifests when some signal from the limb, or even a loss of signal, causes a regulation of pain symptoms that manifest in the brain’s holographic map to let the patient know that something is wrong with the section of the ‘anticipated body form’ which has a damaged or lost signal. Even when a limb is amputated, the brain can generate pain symptoms which are experienced ‘in the zone’ where the pain supposedly originates, even when there is nothing there to directly embody that response. Hence pain is not a physical body symptom, it is a brain regulated signalling artefact directed and encountered referentially within the context of a holographic map of embodied or disembodied morphological space.

This lines up with my own experience of pain too, because the pain is not a response to an injury, it is a signalling error which causes me to perceive pain within an embodied space, even though there is no injury to generate that pain.

I believe this all ties in with the morphic resonance theories of Dr Rupert Sheldrake, who has written excellently on the topic of how the body is formed when the child or infant animal is growing in the womb of the mother/ in an egg. He states that the body is formed according to some pre-existing plan of what a body should look like. Rather than the growth being directed by specific controlling factors, there is an overall holographic map right from the start of what the shape should be, and so this is what generates the body shape as it grows. It is a very dense theory & it’s a long time since I’ve read about it, so I will direct you to read the excellent work ‘A New Science of Life’ instead of waffling on for three pages about how the theory meshes with what I’ve said here. However, once you’ve read that work, I would be very interested in your thoughts on how what I’ve said here relates to that theory. Even if you haven’t read it, but have a peculiar experience or testimony about pain, please do chime in with your thoughts & hypotheses, I’d be interested to hear them.

All the best.


FITO.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Really interesting read, thank you for sharing that.

I like Sheldrake's ideas, he drove them a little too far but there is still something tangible there when you strip all that away.

Similarly, if you haven't see it before, you might find this interesting.

en.wikipedia.org...

This is an interesting post and thank you for sharing personal experiences.
My only experience with “unusual”’pain, was coincidental with earthquake swarms that happened in Reno NV, back in 2007- 2008.
I had debilitating pain under my left scapula or shoulder blade. It was at depth, under the bone, over the rib.
And it was so bad, all the muscles in my left arm would quiver and tense.
I had painkillers and pain therapy. And it eventually went away, at the same time the earthquake swarm stopped.

My physical therapist mentioned that he had an influx of clients at that same time, more than usual.
I figured it was simply due to electrical fields created by stress on the minerals (quartz) due to the seismic activity.


First thing that came to my mind regarding your story is that it makes me think of seizures, but only in you pain centers. Like epilepsy by only in the areas of you brain that sense pain.

Thanks again for the interesting post.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Many years ago 2008-2009 I felt a snap in my lower back as I got to go to work and years of hell followed for me .

Doctors told me it was sciatica and gave me Oxycontin /dihydrocodine and at one stage I was taking 30 × 30 mg a day and was still in constant pain , Then I was prescribed Gabapentine and still nothing but pain but now I was getting pain like I was crucified in my hands ,feet and legs .

In 2017 i had 3 heart attacks in 5 days , when the ambulance medic put the portable scanner on me what he saw was a heart that was blocked on both ventrecals and according to him in his 15 + years he had never seen a heart so blocked up and was shocked I even survived one heart attack but I was running about like a kid again with no pain saying to people I felt better than I had in years .

IMHO I had blood clots all over my body that were pushing on nerves caused by me sweating like a madman , I wake up in bed like I have just come out of a bath and pillows only last weeks with me as do mattresses due to me having a deviated septum which they refuse to fix .

The only way I knew I was having a heart attack was the amount of sweat that was coming from me , I was so used to the pain I would not have noticed otherwise .

So watch your heart buddy and do not take Gabapentine as it can cause dementia if used long term something the crap UK doctors never told me
.

My aunt also had a leg removed and gets those phantom pains and itchy toes which drives her crazy , it is worth reading up on KirlIan photography en.m.wikipedia.org... as it was showing the amputated limbs up in slides and a interesting watch is this m.youtube.com...

Good luck managing the pain , I know the hell it can be

Interesting take on the mechanisms of the brain and it's memory.

I know of some of these concepts through my studies in Psychology by different names.

100th Monkey Effect

The aforementioned link describes the ability of new knowledge and new survival techniques to transfer to other member of the group through an intellectual effect on the brain I'd compare to a bio-organic mechanism much like wifi signals pass digital data through the air.

It would also explain why some people have such a severe sentivity to certain power lines and cell phone towers and broacast points causing headaches and so forth, I am one of these people and out in the middle of nowhere now with barely little connectivity on my phone from the local towers.

I am also a Schizophrenic, and still in the "personal experience and subjective analysis" phase of my Thesis, and Pain Management is aslo a concern for me and my loved ones as well, I am sorry to hear of the severity of your struggles and sympathize greatly on a level I cannot begin to express.

I have horrfying migraines that can last for months and are medication resistent due to my genetics, they don't help my mother either.

The only relief I've gotten is by microdosing small amounts of untainted Skunk Weed, but it's hard to find around here without the right connections, even in the dispensaries and I've tried some of the legal synthetics and they're unpredictable in my case so I would prefer to suffer and bear through the suffering than become yet another Lab Rat for various strains and intensities availably for Medicial Marijuana Patients. Plus I'm kind broke and can't afford the card and cost of Legal Alternative medicines and the Black Market around here is just as sketchy and unpredicatable.



Anyway, in my opinion, rearding the misfiring of the brain and pain signals, I beleive it's possible that the "Holographic Theory" is completely and entirely valid. The brain still remembers the missing limb and the synapses and memory centers, though malfunctioning, are still intact and operational within the various regions of the brain in which such matters are stored as engrams. The brain still "remembers" the intact body and it's sensations, and the resurgence of pain is a latent Memory Effect.

The tricky thing is finding a skilled and comprehensive Neurosurgeon that can help "seal off" these parts of the brain so they no longer can communicate errantly with the more dominant hemispheres which consciously register and interpret these misfiring and signals from parts of the body no longer present.

This is the tricky part, as to the best of my current understanding, while some regions of the brain are common through the majority, it's not always a foolproof science. Not every brain out there falls within the Common Curve, so you might go in for a routine surgery and come out fluent in French but with no memory of your previous life whatsoever, so it's still hit or miss and a last resort for the majority of the Medical Sciences. Such surgeries may heal the afflicted pain, but cause other unpredicatable layovers as a result of a less than skilled surgeon or a slip of the scapel.

I have a good friend from High School who recently had a massive tumor removed from her Frontal Lobe, and while she's doing wonderfully and no signs of cancer has returned, she's reporting seeing auras now and deals with insomnia rather severely. She's also a bit more exhuberent and goofy than before, but it's a good thing so no harm done.

Anyway, back to pain management....I'm not an expert or anything and I certainly don't want to advocate any medicinal options because I'm not licensed for that capacity, but may I ask if you're going through this on your opwn or do you have a team or any sort of relief of any sort that helps you manage the severity of your condition?

Just concerned, really.

I will pray for you regardless and that you find the help you need. I hope that does not cause any offense.
I wish I could do more but I'm still a student.

Hugs.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

If I am understanding correctly, it sounds like your brain needs to "update" its "holographic map" of your body.


That sounds like you need some therapy modality that interfaces directly through your nervous system; if not your brain itself.


Best I can come up with, in terms of a suggestion, would be acupuncture, which might help initiate your brain's "reset" system.


There are also some pulsed magnetic generator therapies available, although they have been more for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and migraines.

Best of luck!