Experiencing pain? Sanjay Gupta explains why 'It Doesn't Have to Hurt'

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta vividly remembers nan time he impaled himself connected a wrought robust fence. He had conscionable turned 12, and he was moving done nan vicinity erstwhile he spontaneously decided to vault complete a obstruction that he usually ran around. Except he didn't rather make it.

"One of nan spikes caught maine connected my broadside and went successful nan backmost area of my broadside and retired nan front," Gupta says. "It was nan skin, thankfully, arsenic opposed to going into nan thorax aliases into nan abdomen, which would person been overmuch worse, but it was benignant of a classical in-out benignant of injury."

Gupta says he was impaled for respective minutes earlier his mother arrived to thief hoist him disconnected nan fence. Looking backmost now, he remembers emotion a unusual consciousness of euphoria erstwhile it happened, which he attributes to his body's earthy symptom alleviation system.

"For immoderate people, it reacts really vigorously — for illustration really, really churns retired a bunch of endorphins," he says. "And truthful you could person this really benignant of ironic business wherever you've sewage a unspeakable wounded and you're almost laughing. It's a very protective benignant of consequence from nan body. And not everyone responds nan aforesaid way."

In his caller book, It Doesn't Have to Hurt: Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life, Gupta, a trained neurosurgeon, writes astir symptom — what causes it, and nan various medications that tin beryllium utilized to dainty it. He besides reflects connected ways to train nan mind to minimize definite kinds of pain, utilizing distraction and meditation.

"With pain, group are usually hyper-focused connected a peculiar sensation. Being capable to return them retired of that hyper-focus tin beryllium really helpful," he says. "The thought [is] that you could return someone's symptom people from really unspeakable symptom to a zero retired of 10 ... for nan 30 minutes that they are meditating. ... I deliberation nan encephalon tin beryllium trained that way."

Interview highlights

It Doesn't Have to Hurt, by Sanjay Gupta Simon & Schuster hide caption

toggle caption

Simon & Schuster

On mistakes nan encephalon makes successful processing pain

One of nan champion examples of really nan encephalon tin make a correction is phantom limb symptom ... It was amputated, and yet it still hurts. I deliberation that's 1 of those benignant of insights astir nan encephalon that I deliberation led to a batch of learning astir what precisely nan brain's domiciled was pinch pain. If nan brain's nan decider of pain, tin it create symptom arsenic well? And nan reply is yes.

Referred symptom is different benignant of mistake. So immoderate group whitethorn beryllium having what should beryllium thorax symptom from a bosom attack, but alternatively of having thorax pain, they whitethorn person jaw pain. They whitethorn person conscionable near limb pain. ... And past there's sorts of things wherever immoderate nan logic whitethorn be, nan encephalon continues to play nan loop of symptom complete and complete again. I conjecture that's not truthful overmuch a correction arsenic it is possibly immoderate benignant of glitch, wherever nan symptom loop doesn't extremity and it conscionable gets recycled complete and complete again, and that's chronic pain. So those are immoderate of nan ways that nan encephalon tin benignant of either correction aliases misinterpret nan signals and nan pain.

On really pleasance tin rewire brain

What I deliberation is really absorbing is that we person this strategy wrong our body, nan endogenous opioid system. … This is for illustration our soul morphine system, endorphin system. We tin activate this strategy successful each sorts of different ways. And by activating, I mean precisely what it sounds like. You conscionable fundamentally merchandise a batch of these endorphins, these fundamentally personalized morphine molecules each passim your body. And 1 of nan ways that they person shown tin really facilitate that is to not conscionable believe gratitude, but to actively believe gratitude. Meaning, really savor something. I'm not conscionable grateful for this crystal pick cone. I'm truthful enjoying this ice-cream cone. I'm conscionable not grateful for being capable to look astatine this sunset. I americium gazing astatine each different colour successful nan entity and conscionable taking it each in. It's a very progressive shape of gratitude. And it seems to beryllium very associated pinch fundamentally activating nan endogenous opioid system, which is really fascinating to me.

On opioid narcotics compared to nan body's earthy opioid system

So galore techniques and medications that we usage successful existent life return their inspiration from our quality body, and that's 1 of them. … With your ain opioid system, it is very, very sensitive. So it tin move connected and it tin move disconnected really, really well. So alternatively of having nan lingering benignant of broadside effects of opioids and sedation and each these different things, nan opioids that you make yourself tin conscionable beryllium washed distant very, very quickly. …

I ever opportunity if nan endogenous opioid strategy didn't exist, women would astir apt ne'er person much than 1 child. It tin beryllium a achy experience, but those [natural] opioids thief pinch nan pain. They thief pinch nan mood, and … [they] tin really inhibit your memory.

On really inflammation serves a purpose

I deliberation for nan astir part, inflammation has benignant of gotten a bad rap. ... I deliberation erstwhile you look astatine a sprained ankle, for example, and it looks swollen and red, nan thought that I want to get free of that. That's associated pinch my symptom makes intuitive sense. I deliberation nan thought that that inflammation serves a existent purpose, that not only is it benignant of helping protect nan tract of injury, but besides sending each these various molecules to nan tract of wounded to thief pinch nan healing. ...

The point astir symptom is that everyone's period is going to beryllium a small spot different. … I deliberation for a batch of people, they deliberation they request to return anti-inflammatories. Oh, this is bad, I gotta dainty that, that inflammation's not good, that's hurting my body. But if I flip nan book connected you and I say, "It's not bad for your body, that is precisely really your assemblage is expected to work. This is your assemblage doing its job."

On a caller FDA approved non-opioid symptom medication

The medicine is called Suzetrigine. … It is simply a fascinating communicative of really it came about. There were these families of circus performers successful Karachi, Pakistan. That sewage nan attraction of researchers, whatever, 25, 30 years ago. And they saw that these circus performers were capable to do each these singular things, for illustration they could put crisp things done their appendages and they could locomotion connected basking coals and do each that benignant of stuff. But what they recovered was that erstwhile they were doing this, they could consciousness nan coals connected their feet and they could consciousness that they were hot, they conscionable didn't person pain. … And that was beautiful striking because it gave these researchers a hint arsenic to which sodium transmission blocker whitethorn beryllium important erstwhile it came to conscionable targeting symptom and not sensation overall. They studied this family. They recovered that they had a cistron successful common. ... And fundamentally for 25 years, these researchers tried to replicate what that cistron was doing successful nan body. ... Now, 1 of nan large challenges of creating a medicine for illustration that is you didn't want to return distant symptom forever. Pain has utility. It tin support you safe. It tin thatch you lessons. So they wanted to create a half-life for nan drug. So they fundamentally now person an oral formulation.

On Cannabis for pain

I walked into it reasoning that if I really examined each this literature, location was going to beryllium a beautiful compelling lawsuit made for utilizing cannabis for each sorts of different pains … and I walked distant not arsenic impressed, to beryllium rather honest, arsenic I thought I would be. And this is conscionable nan information talking. I will opportunity it's difficult to cod this information erstwhile you're dealing pinch a constituent that has been a level 1 constituent successful nan United States for a agelong time. It's conscionable really difficult to get bully studies.  …

But having said that, nan champion disposable information look to propose that for astir a 3rd of nan people, it could beryllium beautiful effective, and possibly successful immoderate cases arsenic effective arsenic nan champion different options for that neuropathic pain. … For astir two-thirds of people, it really did not look to beryllium that effective. And this is nan case, I think, for astir a 3rd of people, they get important benefit. And we don't rather cognize who those 3rd of nan group are. We don't cognize what makes them different than nan different two-thirds that they're getting that benignant of relief.  

Monique Nazareth and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this question and reply for broadcast. Bridget Bentz and Molly Seavy-Nesper adapted it for nan web.