A Good Start

Yesterday afternoon was my first session of biofeedback. We worked on doing thermal control in an effort to help me increase my blood flow at the onset of a migraine. I love the idea of biofeedback as it is the practice of the the mind/body connection. I believe our minds are extremely powerful and, as a control freak, the idea of being able to control my body in a positive fashion with my mind is very appealing.

That being said, as I sat in this office and learned that I was about to be taught how to increase my surface temperature, my first thought was - this is going to take a while. She took a baseline temperature and then walked me through a short relaxation exercise. Then she took me through three different "warming" mind exercises. After all this she hooked me back up and she had me use one of the warming methods to warm my hands.

This is when the fun began. I watched as my temperature went up and up and up and up. I reached about 91 degrees and it was still rising when our time ran out. Watching this progress take hold so quickly was such a thrill. I'm still not great at the relaxation stuff and can only focus my attention for short periods of time so there is still so much work to be done. I've only just begun.

The thing is, now I not only believe that it can be done, I believe I can do it. The only question is can I reduce my migraines with these techniques.

Have you ever tried biofeedback? Does it help you with your migraines, Fibromyalgia or other chronic pains?