Detecting Pain in Infants and Non-Responsive Patients

Detecting Pain in Infants and Non-Responsive Patients

Imagine Being in Pain and Not Being Able to Ask for Help!

Detecting pain in infants can be difficult. Usually facial expression and body language can be very helpful in many situations. There are, however, scientific methods that can also be used successfully today. 

Difficulty assessing pain is also encountered with non-responsive patients, e.g. Coma, Alzheimer's, Autistic, etc. 

Anyone who cannot communicate is vulnerable to being in pain and not being able to ask for help. 

The Children and Infants Postoperative Pain Scale (ChIPPS) is one tool used for subjective assessment. It involves only observing facial expressions, listening to crying or sounds, and body language. 

Another subjective tool is the FLACC scale. Using these tools, a pain score is given from 0 to 10 using these observations. Typically, pain management is considered with a score of 4 or more. 

Medical monitoring could also be used to signal pain in infants and non-communicative patients. Heart rate and skin conductance are known measures of distress in general, one of which reasons might be pain. Oxygen Saturation and fMRI can also be used to assess pain. 

Common sense is necessary when using medical monitoring to assess pain, since these same measures are triggered by fear, excitement, handling, etc. 

Maybe someday there will be a Medical Monitor with an Emotional Stress and/or Pain Indicator. This monitor could have a color indicator to alert medical staff that something is not right with the patient. Green could mean patient is relaxed. Yellow could mean patient is becoming agitated for some reason. Red could mean patient is in severe distress or pain. Of course, a "red condition" should be alleviated as soon as possible. 

Another interesting possibility is using facial recognition software to identify people in pain. MIT, as well as others, are working on such a concept. Perhaps, medical monitoring, such as above, could be combined with facial recognition software to give a more complete portable pain analysis tool. 

Takeaways:

• Pain is difficult to assess in patients who cannot say they are in pain and where the pain is located.
• Visual and Audible observations are frequently used due to availability and previous practice.
• Medical Monitoring can also be used to indicated Emotional Stress and/or Pain, whether someone communicates it or not.
• Facial recognition software and fMRI are technologies also being researched for pain detection.

For more information:

• Pain in Babies also FLACC Scale
• Neonatal Monitoring Technologies by Wei Chen et al., IGI Global Snippet, 2012 - See "Pain Assessment in Neonates"
• Skin conductance measurements as pain assessment in newborn infants born at 22-27 weeks gestational age at different postnatal age.
• Autonomic responses to heat pain: Heart rate, skin conductance, and their relation to verbal ratings and stimulus intensity
• Heart rate, oxygen saturation, and skin conductance: A comparison study of acute pain in Brazilian newborns
• The Perfusion Index as Measured by a Pulse Oximeter Indicates Pain Stimuli in Anesthetized Volunteers
• Face recognition software could detect pain in patients
• Assessing pain in infants - New software could help medical staff know when newborn patients are in pain
• Medical Monitor with an Emotional Stress and/or Pain Indicator - an Idea Ahead of Its Time

Disclaimer - Article is for information only is not medical advice.

10 Action Steps You Can Do to Increase Your Healing Potential

Make Yourself Ready for Spontaneous Healing!

10 Action Steps You Can Do to Increase Your Healing Potential

When you think about it, all healing is Spontaneous Healing. When you "get better", you are really going into "Spontaneous Remission". When the doctor operates on you, you are sent home to heal. When you have a cold, you "get better" after about 7 days if you take no medicine, and a week if you do take medicine. 

Do you want to give your body the best chance to heal? - If so, there are certain things you can do to help yourself heal, even if you have been diagnosed as terminal. 

Doctors and researchers have studied those who recover, even from a very serious illness. They have also studied those who have died when they should have lived. In addition, they have studied those who cannot seem to "get better" and call those people "chronic".

This article summarizes the findings of various doctors and researchers from around the world.  - Much of what you will read below falls into the relatively new medical science, called Psychoneuroimmunology. 

What you will read below, your doctor probably knows about but might not prescribe. Doctors typically treat symptoms with medicine, treatments, and surgery. Has this worked for you so far?

 

Are you willing to try something new? If so, below are some common traits of those who do heal and stay healthy. Those who do not exhibit these traits might have chronic conditions, develop a terminal illness, or die of "unknown causes" or "natural death" (at an early age). 

Of course, you can continue traditional treatment by healthcare professionals, if you want. Consider below as "extra credit" for a "better grade", just like in school. 

Okay, here is what you can do to help yourself heal and stay healthy:

• Develop a Healthy Support System, e.g. Group Support, Nurturing Social Relationships, Positive Interpersonal Relationships, Supportive family contact.

• Activate Your Inner Healing System. Some examples might be Hypnotherapy, Healing Suggestions or Self-Affirmations, Mental Imagery of yourself as healthy.

• Become more aware of how your thinking and acting affect your health. If it hurts, please consider not doing it. This might include activities, work, relationships, etc. Whatever you are doing, how much is it costing you in emotional stress and health-related costs?

• Relax by Meditation, Deep Breathing, Self-Hypnosis or other means. Stay relaxed as your life might very well depend on your emotional stress level. Rid yourself of stressful thoughts, people, conditions, etc.

• Fix Your Inner Self and Your Body might heal all by itself. Some techniques might be Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis, Behavioral Therapy, Group Therapy, and Humor. Consider changing your Lifestyle, Beliefs or Attitudes, and Behavior if it is causing you too much emotional stress.

• Take better care of your body by proper diet, exercise, and rest.

• Think and act spiritual. This is hard to define. It may or may not include religion. It usually involves a deity of some sort. Ask for a miracle. Maintain good spiritual contact with a loving healing spirit of your choice.

• Expect good things, including healing, to happen. Expect a miracle. Be sure to do what you can though. Healing works best if you work for it. Be open to whatever works, even if others view it as the Placebo Effect. If it works for you, isn't it good? Leave others to think how they want. You want to get better by whatever means works.

• Stick up for yourself! Act like you mean it and maybe your illness will just get scared and retreat. Tell others what you need to maintain your optimum healing environment. Be nice to yourself for a change. Take responsibility for your condition. Develop a "fighting spirit". Know that you are in control. You are the "boss" of your doctors and your healthcare team. They can only advise. Your diagnosis and treatment plan should make sense to you. It is your decision though. You are in charge of your own health.

• Find something to live for. Find a reason to get better. It works best if your "new life" has a good purpose, maybe helping others. If you do not believe me, ask any doctor what is the prognosis of a person who has no reason to live and every reason to die.

What do you have to lose if even you tried even some of the above? The choice is up to you. 

Start today with some tiny, little changes and see how it goes. If you feel better, do more of the above. If you feel worse, do less of the above or try something different. Have fun too. 

Takeaways:

• You can do certain things to optimize your own healing potential.
• Healing works best if you work for it.

For more information:

• Spontaneous Remission
• Spontaneous remission: an annotated bibliography by Brendan O'Regan, et al., Institute of Noetic Sciences, 1993
• Spontaneous Healing by Andrew Weil, M.D., Random House Digital, Inc., 2011
• Anatomy Of An Illness As Perceived By The Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration by Norman Cousins, W. W. Norton Limited, 2005
• Are You "Sick and Tired" of Being "Sick and Tired"?
• Psychoneuroimmunology
• Placebo Effect

Disclaimer - Article is for information only and is not medical advice.

Coming Soon, Free Standardized Healing Modules, with Little or No Side-effects

Coming Soon, Free Standardized Healing Modules, with Little or No Side-effects

Every Person in the World Could Have Access to This Healing Tool

Health care is so expensive these days with little or no relief in sight. Are we overlooking something that is free or low cost with little or no side effects? I think so. Hypnotherapy is a proven healing technique but has been pushed to the side by the medical industry, probably due to low profit margin. 

Most, if not all, people can be hypnotized at least to some extent. Even if they are not hypnotized, the hypnotic process will probably relax them. A relaxed person is more receptive to healing, than a "stressed out" individual. 

Medical authorities around the world have recognized the effectiveness of hypnotherapy. Even the American Medical Association recognizes hypnotherapy as a possible treatment.

Many people learn to use self-hypnosis. In fact, all hypnosis is considered self-hypnosis.

Now that we know hypnosis is effective or at least helpful, let us see how we can go about using it more. 

When hypnosis was first used in a healing manner, we did not have the technology of today. Today we can build on the work of others to make standardized hypnotherapy modules for many health maladies. 

Here are some ways in which hypnotherapy could be provided to the public in a low-cost or free manner:

• Use a Computer for Self-Hypnosis, perhaps under the direction of a healthcare professional. Using a computer to hypnotize is not a new concept. Just ask anyone who works in front of a computer. MIT proposed this concept in the article "Could a Computer Hypnotize You? - Transforming hypnosis from an art to a science". Another example is U.S. Patent 6,565,504 "Method and apparatus to create and induce a self-created hypnosis".

• Make Standardized Healing Modules for most health maladies. Many of the medical conditions that we treat with drugs are actually very responsive to hypnosis. Some examples are Obesity, Allergies, Warts, Addictions, Birthing, etc. Some examples of how standardized hypnosis healing modules were used are "The Robot Psychiatrist" and "The Virtual Healing Machine".

• Use existing hardware and software to develop a complete healing module. One example of a tool to make a complete hypnosis session ready for playback is "Virtual Hypnotist". From their website is the following: "Virtual Hypnotist is a free, open source, interactive hypnosis program, and is a rewrite of Hypnotizer 2000. It includes features such as voice recognition, speech synthesis, subliminal messages, completely customizable scripts (featuring a unique scripting language), videos, audio, and lots more. Its purpose is to simulate a real hypnosis session as much as possible." I am sure there are other software packages or tools to create a complete hypnotherapy session, though.

• Use the proven hypnosis scripts of professional hypnotherapists. Scripts are the spoken words used by a hypnotherapist in inducing a healing trance. Sometimes these spoken words are recorded for patient's home use. Some proven scripts are in the books below. Please be aware that these scripts might be copyright protected.

To achieve such a task, perhaps governments could create Healing Modules and make them available to the public. Grants could be offered to learning institutions to create these modules and upload them to the Internet. These free or low-cost modules for home use could be offered in free-clinics, pharmacies, etc. 

Of course, the use of these modules would be voluntary by individuals. These modules might be particularly attractive to those who do not have access to traditional healthcare. As such, this might be considered as Alternative Therapy. 

These Healing Modules could be used with Traditional Medicine, under the care of a Healthcare Professional. - In such a case, these modules would be considered Complementary Therapy. For example, healing modules could be used in conjunction with pain medication for Chronic Pain management. Using both healing modules and medicine could very well result in lower medicine dosage. 

Takeaways:

• Hypnosis is a recognized healing method, though little used, in this modern world.
• Technology could bring healing to many people via Hypnosis Healing Modules.
• These Healing Modules could be free of cost and have minimum side effects.
• Government agencies could take the lead in developing Hypnosis Healing Modules. Reducing health care costs is a concern worldwide. Hypnosis Healing Modules could prove to be a cost-effective method to achieve this.

For more information:

• Self-Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
• Could a Computer Hypnotize You? - Transforming hypnosis from an art to a science, by Emily Singer, MIT Technology Review, September 28, 2007
• Method and apparatus to create and induce a self-created hypnosis by Richard A. Blumenthal, U.S. Patent 6565504
• The Robot Psychiatrist by Joseph Luke Palotta, Revelation House Pub, 1981
• The Virtual Healing Machine
• Virtual Hypnotist and User's Manual
• Hypnotherapy Scripts: A Neo-Ericksonian Approach to Persuasive Healing by Ronald A. Havens et al., Psychology Press, 2002
• Creating Trance and Hypnosis Scripts by Gemma Bailey, John Hunt Publishing, 2009
• Healing Scripts: Using Hypnosis to Treat Trauma and Stress, Marlene E. Hunter, Crown House Pub., 2007
• Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors by D. Corydon Hammond, W. W. Norton & Company, 1990

Disclaimer - Article is for information only is not medical advice. Seek professional advice, as needed.

Did You Know that Your Emotional “Hot Buttons” Could Be Causing Your Bad Health?

Did You Know that Your Emotional “Hot Buttons” Could Be Causing Your Bad Health?

Determine Your “Stress Profile” with Phototherapy and Biofeedback

Paging through old photos can sure bring back memories. Some of the memories are pleasant and some not so. Some memories are downright traumatic. Yet, memories shape our lives today. These memories created our belief systems and sustain that belief system to this day. 

It might very well happen that our memories are causing us health problems today. 

Doesn't it make sense then to understand and make peace with our memories? 

Photo therapy has been around for many years. Essentially, it involves looking at photographs or other visual means, in order to evoke an emotional response. The emotional response, especially negative, is very valuable in determining our emotional "hot buttons". 

Everyone has "hot buttons" and these create the negative stress, or distress, that causes us health problems. It is not life events that cause us stress, but rather how we react to these events. Very few of us know our "Stress Profile" or our "Emotional Triggers". 

If we want to heal or even stay healthy, we had better know our "Stress Profile". 

Here is one way to scientifically determine a "Stress Profile", determine "Emotional Triggers", or maybe even develop a treatment plan for PTSD:

1. Find out about Phototherapy. See what others have done in the past.
2. Find out what Phototherapy tools are available or make your own. Sometimes paging through old family albums is helpful. Others have used magazine photos.
3. Use biofeedback or polygraph equipment to identify emotional arousal. The patient's body will react to a troubling photo, even if there is little or no dialogue or facial expression. When a person is emotionally activated, they perspire, especially on the palm of the hands. Biofeedback or polygraph devices use this skin perspiration to track emotional response. Some devices have analysis software to view easily the results.
4. Once a person knows their emotional triggers, they can deal with them. It might involve changing their belief system. Other times it might be helpful to desensitize gradually to troubling events. It might involve getting over resentment from the past. On the other hand, it might involve forgiving someone. Forgiving for health reasons is not for the offender. Forgiving reduces internal stress and promotes patient healing.

Takeaways:

• Negative stress, or distress, creates or prolongs sickness.
• Reducing stress promotes healing.
• Phototherapy with Biofeedback can be used to identify a person's "Stress Profile".
• A person can heal from the past and learn new and better ways.

For more information:

• PhotoTherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums by Judy Weiser, PhotoTherapy Centre, 1999
• Phototherapy in Mental Health by David A. Krauss, et al. al., Charles C Thomas Pub Limited, 1983
• Magazine Photo Collage: A Multicultural Assessment and Treatment Technique by Helen B. Landgarten, Taylor & Francis Group, 1993
• Cardiac response to relevant stimuli as an adjunctive tool for diagnosing post traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans by Blanchard EB, Kolb LC, Gerardi RJ., Behavior Therapy 1986; 17:592- 606.
• Mapping Trauma And Its Wake: Autobiographic Essays by Pioneer Trauma by Charles R. Figley, CRC Press, 2006 - See section around Lawrence C. Kolb, page 103

Some Biofeedback Tools available to the public:

 

· Mindplace Thoughtstream USB Personal Biofeedback

· GSR2 Home Biofeedback Unit

· CalmLink Biofeedback Software

· Wearable 'Q Sensor' Helps Monitor Stress Levels

 

Disclaimer - Article is for information only and is not medical advice.