Rediff On The NeT: Dr Khalsa's Simple Secrets For Life Without Chronic Pain


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June 21, 1999

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Dr Khalsa's Simple Secrets For Life Without Chronic Pain

A P Kamath

"People are strong," says Dr Dharma Singh Khalsa, the author of two best-selling books. "When life knocks them down, they struggle back up."

In his new book, The Pain Killer, Dr Khalsa, the founding director of the Acupuncture Stress Medicine and Chronic Pain Program at the University of Arizona Teaching Hospital in Phoenix, challenges millions of chronic pain sufferers across the world (with at least 20 million in America) to fight their devastating maladies.

"Your body can heal the pain it now feels," says the Harvard Medical School-trained physician who embraced the Sikh religion two decades ago. "When you cut your finger, you fully expect your body to heal the injury, don't you? You should not expect less of your body in its fight against pain. Your body's inner healing power is unimaginably strong."

Dr Khalsa, whose previous book, Brain Longevity (also from Warner Books, 1998) showed how to prevent memory loss as one grows older, is now at work on a book that is closest to his heart -- medical meditation.

Without meditation and strong spirituality, he argues, physical and medical therapies are not fully effective. Whether it is arthritis or back pain, migraine or fibromyalgia, cancer pain or carpal tunnel syndrome, the inner healing power of one's body, mind and spirit can bring about a radical change, he argues.

One of the pioneers of holistic medicines at a major university, Dr Khalsa describes the response of modern medicine as a magic pill that temporarily helps with the symptoms but does not cure the problem. Thousands of chronic back pain patients who undergo surgery continue to suffer, he says.

Fifteen years after he developed his groundbreaking approach to treating chronic pain, he had continued perfecting his regime. His book offers a combination of the newest discoveries in modern technological medicine and the healing powers of Ayurveda and other eastern medical and spiritual regimes.

His four-part program includes:

Nutritional Therapy that will boost the nervous system and raise pain-blocking serotonin levels. He also has a list of nutrients to avoid.

Physical therapies that offer choices -- magnetotherapy included -- in lessening and preventing pain.

Wide ranging choices, depending on the condition of the chronic pain, including aspirin, homeopathic and hormone replacement.

Mental and spiritual pain control through meditation and stress reduction.

Improving brain power also helps fight chronic diseases. A program of brain longevity will slow the loss of neurons, which release the substances that carry messages from one cell to another, he notes.

Among the many helpful hints to improve brain power, Dr Khalsa advocates cutting down of fat intake by giving up or reducing the ingestion of meat products. But the Omega-3 fats found in oily fish such as sardines, mackerel, tuna and salmon -- particularly in sardines in their own oil -- are beneficial.

The greater use of vegetables and whole grains -- buckwheat and millet -- has a big impact on improving the condition of the brain. These foods are digested slowly and release a steady flow of glucose that keeps the brain well supplied with the fuel it needs to function at its best.

Nutritional supplements such as Vitamin E and Vitamin B are useful. So is coenzyme Q-10 which fights against brain injury and fights lethargy. And, of course, gingko biloba. More than 400 studies have shown, he asserts, that it improves cerebral circulation and memory

Meditations and prayers, Dr Khalsa emphasizes, will play a major part in alleviating human pain in the new millennium.

He tells the story of David, a patient who came to him last year, having heard from his doctor that he would be dead from his muscular disease in about six weeks.

"They have given me a choice," David told Dr Khalsa. "I can stay on the steroids and die or get off them and die."

Dr Khalsa told David the best choice for saving his life would be for David to start an advanced healing meditation every morning.

"Meditation is a term often used to mean anything that elicits a relaxation response," Dr Khalsa says. "But that is not accurate. Although it produces positive physiological effects, basic relaxation is just that: basic."

A medical meditation involves more: A breathing exercise is often combined with a specific sound current (a mantra) to alter the brain's chemistry.

"Studies have shown that a positive change can occur in cerebral blood flow, mental energy and neurotransmitter release, depending on the medication used," he says. "In addition, when the mantra is chanted, the tongue touches one of the 84 meridian points on the upper palate of the mouth. This stimulates the pituitary and hypothalamus glands to function optimally, which, in turn, optimizes self-healing."

David was able to unlock the incredible power of his mind to heal, Dr Khalsa says. Apart from meditation, he read from scriptures of different religions. "After six weeks he was steroid free," he says. "Now, more than three years later, he is alive and doing well."

Morning meditation, he stresses, helps fight depression and chronic pains, and if practised regularly could save the health industry millions of dollars.

"Moreover there are no side effects to meditation, and the cost is minimal," he adds with a chuckle.

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Dr Khalsa's Prescription For Pain

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