health up
Our mission is to enhance and enlighten the well-being of others... welcome to 'health up' - our podcast channel. We provide relevant, real world health guidance that you can apply in your daily life.
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Chronic Pain Management using The Neural Alignment Method
If you experience chronic pain, PTSD, or anxiety then this is a must listen! Dawn Cady, Australia's No.1 Pain Freedom Coach, discusses how she successfully managed her chronic pain using various mind techniques. Now she helps others become pain free through her Neural Alignment Method.
Dawn Cady's bio...
Dawn Cady is a former chronic pain sufferer who healed herself and learned to walk again. This drove her to learn everything she could about treating all forms of pain, trialing multiple modalities on herself on her healing journey, and discovering the most effective treatments for pain in the process.
She developed the multi award winning “The Neural Alignment Method®”, which brings together the world’s best healing techniques for chronic physical and emotional pain to help by showing chronic pain sufferers how their body heals through connecting and communicating with their mind and body, so they can get back to living their lives. Dawn’s consuming passion helps others in pain enjoy their lives again.
She had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Phil on the subject of chronic pain and has written several articles about it — Dawn is currently writing her own book. She also had her story featured in a book.
How to connect with Dawn and helpful resource links:
* Free Meditation Mini-Course
* Facebook Community "Heal Yourself"
For the Community members, we provide exclusive 5-day challenges, the best tools and techniques in the world for stress, anxiety and pain relief
Social Media:
*Instagram Alleviate Pain
*Facebook Dawn Cady
*Facebook Alleviate Pain
*LinkedIn Dawn Cady
*YouTube Alleviate Pain
About the Podcast & Host
me&my Health Up seeks to enhance and enlighten the wellbeing of others. Host Anthony Hartcher is the founder and CEO of me&my wellness which provides holistic health solutions using food is medicine, combined with a holistic, balanced, lifestyle approach. Anthony holds three bachelor degrees in Complementary Medicine; Nutrition and Dietetic Medicine; and Chemical Engineering.
Podcast Disclaimer
Any information, advice, opinions or statements within it do not constitute medical, health care or other professional advice, and are provided for general information purposes only. All care is taken in the preparation of the information in this Podcast. [Connected Wellness Pty Ltd] operating under the brand of “me&my health up”..click here for more
Welcome to another amazing episode of health up with your host Anthony Hartcher. Health up seeks to enhance and enlighten the well being of others. And today, we are blessed to have with us a pain coach Dawn Cady I'll fix that up Dawn Cady. Dawn specialises in pain management and pain resolution. And today she'll be imparting with us the wisdom on chronic pain. So welcome Dawn, how are you?
Dawn Cady:I'm good man. How are you?.
Anthony Hartcher:Fantastic. So great to have you on.
Dawn Cady:Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. It's nice,
Anthony Hartcher:a lot of pleasure. It really came for the viewers to understand that you're walking the path of people that may be listening. I've seen stats out there that you know, 50% of people are suffering from chronic pain. And you were one of these. And you found an answer. And so I'm really keen to share with the viewers your story as to how you arrived to what you're doing today.
Unknown:Yeah, sure. Um, so when I share my story, people are either shocked or like, wow, really. So I suffered pain from when I was about one. When I tracked back my history and spoke to my grandparents and my dad, I started impairment I was one his Nose Throat anyway into bowel kidney back to bowel again, like just this whole host of different illnesses, diseases, and chronic pain. And the thing is, with chronic pain, we think that it has to stay in the same place. And that's the interesting thing. It doesn't it can move around. So the headaches might migrate into migraines or the migraines might then shift into neck pain, then it might move into back pain, hip pain, right pain, it moves around as chronic pain, especially when there's not actually a physical reason as to why it's there. If the physical aspect of it sort of go to a physio, and they don't understand why that person's in so much pain. And I started to research it when I was 22. So what happened to me when I was 22 is I was rushed into hospital, I was really, really sick. And I've been through the medical world in regards to issues with my bowel. And they discharged me and I was out and outpatient for like two and a half years on me. And they did. They did nothing. They just turned around the usual it's in your head. Now saying that to at the time, I think it was like 19 and a half. You take that literally, I'm making that up. I'm insane. Am I seeing these symptoms? Am I making these symptoms up. And then when I was 22, I got rushed into hospital I collapsed at work and I was in a really bad way. And then they didn't know what was wrong with me. I'd been to Mexico I then was quarantine for typhoid. And then it became crystal clear that I actually had an autoimmune disease or bowel disease, which was that bad that I only had one litre of blood left in my body and my organs were going into failure. And that's where my real health journey started and started to understand about how the body was going because with that campaign, I got IBS and I was in chronic pain with my stomach. Because they said that ulcerative colitis doesn't really give you much pain. But when you're being pumped full of drugs, and you can't go to the toilet, and you bowel sensitive, then IBS kicks in because your bowel is fine in and it just becomes exhausted, then you get a lazy bowel when you get constipation. So that's really when my pain journey. Were really understood that you know what, if I'm going to get out of this, I think I need to start understanding what the hell is going on here. So I was 22 and that's died. I was pretty much discharged from hospital after about seven weeks of being in hospital. And I was discharged on 32 tablets a day. But I couldn't walk I've lost the use of my legs because I've wasted away. So I was on these tablets in one day. I'm like, Okay, I have to go to the doctors every week to go get my kidney and my liver tested to keep my bowel that I can live without. This doesn't make sense. This This does not sit right. So I spoke to the doctor and I questioned him and I said why would I take all these tablets when they're actually causing issues with the liver and kidney because I'm having to come in and get blood test to make sure and in the long term they ended up damaging my kidney been on all of these tablets and that's It's a long term thing that I went through. But then what happened? Me being stubborn, I started to research, and I put it under remission. And it's been in remission for like, 17 years now as the bowel disease. And it's because I was like, You know what, there's a better way. And when you open up your mind to say there's a better way, an answer will always come. And mine was aloe vera at the time, I started healing myself through changing my diet, stopping the fast foods, not eating anything like that stick into the natural foods, not the manmade stuff, not the jarred stuff, none of that none of the quick convenience. All I did was I just went, Okay, if it's not alive, I'm not eating it.
Dawn Cady:So if it's not fish, or it's not chicken or beef that I know where it's come from, I'm not eating anymore. I didn't do anything massive. It was just that weren't getting the convenience foods like you do when you're 22. You're at McDonald's and KFC, okay, I've seen all of those things. I just stopped them dead. And I was like, Okay, I thought, right, I need to take myself off these tablets. I'm full of symptoms from just the medication. And then I switch to aloe vera tablets. But this here, my mind was the most amazing thing. I would speak to my bowel every day. And I would say what's going on? What do you need for me to do? How are you coping? What do I need to do to heal and I will talk to him about that's how I'll put it into remission. I just did the small little changes to my health. But I communicate with my bowel and asked it, what does it want. Now, we get better, we get well, and we go back into the old ways. So I've not actually learned to fully reprogram my mind to take that long term. So went back down the old patterns of drinking alcohol because I'd stopped drinking alcohol, wanting to get the time back that I'd lost from this disease. So I went into that rebellious mode, and then what happened, and then went into kidney failure. So it was on the journey again. And then I healed myself from I was diagnosed with renal tubular acidosis when I was 11 weeks pregnant. So I've gone into kidney failure again when I was pregnant. So then went through that process. And then when I was five and a half months pregnant, I slipped in ended up disabled. So it was a really rough journey. So when I talk about chronic pain, I've lived and breathed it and I know how long it can take you regards to mental health, they've become one. And this is the thing with pain. When we talk about chronic pain, first thing we think of is physical pain. But chronic pains, emotional pain, as well as your depression, it's your anxiety, PTSD, that's chronic pain is just chronic emotional pain, and chronic physical pain. But that the same thing, just different ends of the spectrum. Once you've been in chronic pain for a long time or disease, you end up with the chronic mental side of it, the emotional issues. You for example, with me with a disability, I have depression for isolation, I have two nervous breakdowns. And this is a thing that I'm out there educating is they're not different, we think that they are our mind and body are not two separate things. They work together constantly. And when one is out of whack, the other one is so closely linked. So that's my journey in regards to pain.
Anthony Hartcher:Yeah, thanks for sharing that journey certainly been through a lot. And there's a lot of key points that I took away. In particular, I guess, starting one was around medication, and you know, you're taking all the medication and it was producing all these side effects. And you're thinking there's got to be a better way and I loved how you then never gave up and looking for that better way, and hence where you are today. So I'm just really keen to explore in more depth, that path you took away, you know, letting go of the drug. So you know, most people are taking painkillers in in relation to their chronic pain and they generally having to increase the dose over time to get the same, I guess benefits from the drug. And that's not sustainable if you think about you know, and as you said eventually lead to other organ problems such as your liver and kidneys that need to excrete the broken down metabolites of the drug. So, really keen to get more understanding that approach you talk and you know you did mention it in terms of you know, talking to your bowel and getting connected and being really I guess intuitive in a sense of really, you know, getting inside of you and understanding what's going on and listening and then taking action. So yeah, please tell us more.
Dawn Cady:Yeah. So in regards to, I'll go into the painkillers, because that's very relevant for people who are listening who are on the opioids, or they're popping the, you know, the Nurofen. And the paracetamol is there just as harmful, because you take in a lot more of them. When you take in the opioids, you only need one or two. But when it comes to the Nurofen, you might be taking eight a day. And all the clients who come to see me, it's taking a concoction of all sorts of things. And if you're listening to this right now, and you feel that you're taking far too many painkillers, I want for you to know that I was addicted, I was actually addicted to opioids, I had an addiction. And this is why I'm so passionate about doing this, because I saw myself as someone who had been through health challenge after health challenge after health challenge, I was educated, I knew what I was doing. And they still got hold of me. And this is why I do this, because you just don't know, you have no idea, the grip and the hold that they have, because it's not just chemically that you become addicted to them. When you're in chronic pain, you completely rewire your brain and your nervous system to only see and perceive and feel and be in pain. You don't rewire your brain, you will end up constantly be in the cycle of it. So you might end up with the physical pain and you work on the physical pain. And that goes, it then comes back as an autoimmune disease. And this is what I realised when I unpacked and unfolded the whole of my health journey was yes, I healed that. Yes, I healed that. But it keeps coming back does the pencil does something not right? And yes, I can communicate with my body. But what is it? What is it that I'm doing on a daily basis, that's compounding, for me to end up back in these cycles again. And when I really slowed it down, I realised that I had wired my brain from a very young age to be in stress. I lived in fear. And I didn't even know or was aware, because I've been in stress for so long. I didn't know any different. So it's just putting out fires, even though I was reversing diseases. And I know that many of you will find that hard to access information that you can actually reverse the disease, but it kept coming back in a different way. And that's because the root cause which was my mind was living in fear and stress. And you know what that does to the body. When you're living in that state of mind. The nervous system is producing and sending chemical reactions all over the body, and then your liver has to process that so does your kidneys, then your adrenals become fatigued. It's just this knock on effect that affects us. So it's about rewiring your brain is what I found is the solution. That's how I operate solution to
Anthony Hartcher:You started with the wiring processes, as opposed to or you may not have been able to remove that root cause you know, that was driving the fear. And that's right or flight response. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dawn Cady:Go into it. And you know what it sounds like a big thing. rewiring your brain cells like this big massive, huge oh my god, what you mean, you're going to grow my head? What are you going to do? hypnotising is not like that is listening to your language and your language gives away major clues as to what's going on for you. He's slowing down listening to your language. And pulling out the major cause is going back in time and finding where did that fear come from in the first place, your body will give you the information. You don't need to go hunt and dig for it. If your body's ready to release and move forward, the information comes effortlessly. But we've been so heavily programmed on any that it's not. We can't comprehend that that has to be we think that we have to go on this long journey of self discovery. We have to go through all of this it has to be hard work has to be challenging, is impossible. Because the medical world is the only way. I'm not disrespecting the medical world. They are absolutely incredible and amazing when it comes to acute but you cannot treat chronic issues with acute management. It won't cut it it won't get anybody anywhere is putting out fires and then it creates more fires.
Anthony Hartcher:Sorry, in terms of this, we rock wiring the brain, you know there's a few techniques that come to mind. One of them is Neuro Linguistic Programming. Is that a technique? You're Why'd in that process?
Dawn Cady:I'll be honest with you. NLP is a bridge is something to access in the beginning, there's a lot better tools out there, I've probably studied 150 tools and techniques out there. So I create the neural alignment method which brings in the best in the world of why I've tried NLP, there's a couple of techniques that I use from NLP. But I'll be honest with you, it's it's not the best out there. There's far better out there, especially EFT Emotional Freedom Technique so much better personally than NLP.
Anthony Hartcher:And how does that neuro alignment technique work? You know, in comparison to NLP or emotional freedom technique? How is it working? Where do you focus? And what do you actually do with the client.
Dawn Cady:So with the neuro alignment method is actually not only empowering people to know how to use the different tools and techniques, on a deep level, not a surface level, it's finding the perfect ones for them. So from 150, different tools and techniques, we find the absolute best ones, for the clients. That's the difference. It's not in a box and going this is the techniques, these are the tools and these work for everybody. Because you and I both know everybody's uniquely different. And you can't put somebody to use EFT or use NLP techniques in NLP may be absolutely amazing for one client for another it might not work certain part of EFT might be amazing. So we bring all the tools and techniques and we're trialling the testing, and I try and test with the client. And usually intuitively I know which ones work. So we get there really quickly, usually three techniques for each person. Those are the three techniques that they'll use for the rest of the life, which will have a massive impact. So they're not only the rewiring the brain and the nervous system, but if anything stressful comes up, they can self manage, they don't need to go into therapy for years, they don't need to go see practitioners, they're able to self manage and regulate. And that's what I pride myself on.
Anthony Hartcher:And just for the viewers sake so that they you know, we're talking you a few terminology here. You're alone with the programming we we have discussed in a previous episode. And it was just the last episode actually on how to help manage binge eating. So we spoke to an expert on NLP around that. Just in terms of the Emotional Freedom Technique, what is that technique? And how does that work?
Dawn Cady:Okay, Emotional Freedom Technique, putting it out there looks weird, very strange, unusual technique, you tap on your face on pressure points on your face. This is a sequence that you use. And what he knows is, is incredible, so simple. But amazing. When you tap on these points, I'll give an example of I'll share with you exactly how it works. And then I'll give you an example of how you could use it. So it's so strange when I when I share it with people the like, do I have to do it? I'm like, Yes, you do. Pasta, I'm big on that. So how it works is there's a part of the brain called the amygdala. Have you spoken about the amygdala before in any of the shows?
Anthony Hartcher:No. So please, please, share. Yeah,
Dawn Cady:so part of the amygdala. So basically, the amygdala, his job is to go, Okay, this is a stress response. Something's happening here. Is there a file of this happening before? How do we respond and react to it, then it sends a signal for the chemical reaction to take place. So if it's a stressful situation, then that's the alarm system to the body to go we're in a stressful situation, it triggers the fight or flight response. Now, what happens is when you use EFT, it's a debts. That part of the body so your so the thing with, what goes on is you have a car accident, and you tell your neighbour, you're at the hospital, you tell him the doctors, you tell him the nurses you're following your partner or your friend comes to see telling you kids and then you're back at working and telling everybody at work every time you're saying that story and tell him the story your body thinks is back in that car accident again. So you re traumatising yourself, you're ramping up your nervous system. Again, you're drenched in cortisol, your immune systems. What 20% function when you're in the fight or flight response. You're constantly training your mind and your body to live in stress, just because of that car accident. The body loves to find your emotion and the easiest way to survive and live. So if you're constantly doing that for two or three months, you've completely rewired your whole body to be in stress. What EFT does is it calms down the amygdala. and it goes, this is not happening. There's no need to signal to the body. Any response. So it's a dance. It's like a form of hypnosis. But it's self hypnosis, because you're doing the tapping yourself. But you don't go into Nody land or anything like that you consciously awaring yourself, you know what's going on. But what it does is it says to the nervous system, it says, you're okay. So when you put both of those into that state, and the truth of what's happening for you, then comes out in your words. So say, for example, you are driving along, and some lunatic road rage, we find it all the time as people on the roads, were more motionless, spilling and projectile vomiting on everybody, by cutting people up banging, flashing lights. And that happens to you, and you shake it up, and you're like, Oh, my God, that guy nearly run me off the road, or that woman nearly run me off the road, what I'd invite you to do is pull over. Because if you don't, and you're in that state, you're in that state all day, you're not going to digest your food properly, your immune system is not going to do its job, he probably not going to sleep very well at night, then you're going to tell everybody about how bad it was? How what that person did. And it starts with an incident like that. And if you can't let it go, you're living and breathing it. So you pull off a new go, I can't believe that person caught me up. Who the hell do they think they are? And you vent the frustration? What did you want to say to that person? I wanted him to. And it might be some obscene language insert in in there. And you just completely vent out exactly what you want to say to that person. Exactly what you want to say to them exactly how you feel about the situation, that how much they've put you out of the deck, because now you've got to pull over, they've ruined your day, whatever is going on for you allow it to express itself and leave. Then what happens is, your body goes, Oh, it's dealt with, it's resolved. But what do we do? We go to work, we tell everybody about the guy, the woman that caught you up and nearly run off the road. And then we get home and then we tell everybody at home. And then the next day we speak to our friend and we're telling them a week later, we're telling our friend, because we haven't fully expressed the emotion. So we feel the need to share to be heard or understood. So we get caught up in the story in the stories what traumatises The body.
Anthony Hartcher:Okay, so that would also apply well to PTSD, right? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. So anyone that's been in a really traumatic situation, and as you said, they've lived it. They've never survived this, however, they're now going to share that experience with everyone, and they'll relive it and relive it and relive it. And that's wiring the brain to get stuck on that particular stress response to the incident. And they could then I think what you said earlier was that, that wiring become so strong that they permanently in that fight or flight mode, even though they might not be sharing that, that event so often, but they've shared it so often before that, you become really strong wiring in their brain. And so you're essentially applying this emotional freedom technique, which I think I've also heard is, like they refer to as the tapping technique, but would I be right in playing that?
Dawn Cady:That's right. Yeah. So as far as CFT, they're all interlinked to just different forms of it. Yep.
Anthony Hartcher:Okay, okay. Yeah. So, and then that's, you know, by you, basically, as the practitioner showing on the client, where they should be tapping and what words they need, or they come up with the words and
Dawn Cady:everyone, everyone's different, some people are able to express themselves, but a lot of my clients who come to me have not ever had the permission to express themselves. So they find it difficult to be able to learn which because like, It's okay them telling the story to everybody else. But when it comes to them being with themselves, they really struggle to access that. And one of the, I like to call it a genius, we all have geniuses that were incredible up. I know exactly what needs to be said in order to shift things for people. It's like I'm almost able to go into their body and feel the experience and know exactly what the languages around it to help people through that.
Anthony Hartcher:Wow, that takes years and years of experience doing it right in order to get to that level. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So without any spoken words or anything, you can really feel that person's energy, and you're connecting with that energy and really feeling within yourself what they're feeling. And that's hence you're able to talk their language as to how they're feeling.
Dawn Cady:It's exactly right. I was paying, yeah, I can actually feel people's physical pain as well.
Anthony Hartcher:So this would also be, you know, apply well to like domestic violence, you know, so someone that's been under long periods of domestic violence, I'm thinking now that suppression, and in a lot of depression is a result of a lot of emotional suppression, you know, and that doesn't have to be domestic violence, but it could be other. Just not sharing and communicating as to how that person is feeling or not thinking there's a right forum to share it or you know, like, you know, for boys, boys, don't cry, don't express your emotions, you show your vulnerability and weakness. So I can see how this pops up time and time again, and it's what your, you know, your work with your clients is more than just working with pain management, you could actually cover up a lot of areas in association with mental health. And certainly, with the pain work, you're, you know, you're connecting the mental with the physical side. And yeah, yeah,
Dawn Cady:that's exactly right. And it's, it's sad that this information is not taught in schools, we're not given a manual of how to raise a child, our parents have done the best that they can. But you know, what, if they've got their own emotional issues, they've had their own abuse stories to have dealt with, then that gets projected onto the children. And it's just this cycle, even the teachers are causing a lot of contribution to children's anxiety as well. Anxiety is rife in the world, because no one in the past has been known how to change this, it's not taught in school, that anxiety is not normal, it's not normal to feel stressed all the time. It's not normal for a child who's 10 years of age to have diabetes is not normal. And we're starting to think that it is. And we've let it go. And we've gone on, but that's just how it is. But it shouldn't be that way. And this is why I should note about sharing that the mind and body is so deeply connected, that you can give someone the best day in the world. But if they don't have self worth, that they was told when they were younger, that they weren't worth anything in whatever language that was for them. The chances of them being able to rehabilitate themselves, and stick to the meal plans and stick to the supplements is very minimal. I know this because that was one of them. Yeah.
Anthony Hartcher:Totally, absolutely. You know, you're, you're just not there and ready to take on new information. If you haven't dealt with past trauma, or past, you know, experiences or things that are really going to sabotage you to take in new information and apply new knowledge, you really need to be getting on top of what you haven't managed to in the past. So yeah, and I agree with you, we certainly need to be teaching more life skills to the children today. So that they're, they have the tools to deal with situations like we're in at the moment with COVID-19, you know, there's anxieties through the roof, and mental health through the roof as a result of lack of coping mechanisms within society. And generally, obviously, you know, you and I have learnt the techniques, but beyond that, you know, the the general population that's been through the school system that don't have, you know, how techniques or have a loan out technique. So, it's so great to have someone like you out there actively teaching people on how to apply these techniques and help them progress and become the best versions of themselves. Insurance. So how do I, how can people contact you, Dawn? What's the best way to get in touch with you and because there'll be a lot of people out there with everything we mentioned, you know, starting with pain management, chronic pain, PTSD, in know, depression, anxiety, all these things that you know, your technique your new alignment technique can help with, so how can they get in touch with you?
Dawn Cady:So there's two ways. The first way is you can come and join the Facebook community. It's called Heal Youself. I give lots of free information, tools and techniques and different meditations. I'm a great believer in meditations. However, there's a process. So if you've done meditation before, and you're like, oh, but I've worked I can't stay still I'm in so much pain. I can't stay still. The meditations that I teach a completely different to anything that you've experienced out there. The second way is I actually have a three minute meditation, which you can go onto my website. We'll do drop the link in but it's Alleviate Pain Free Gift For You. And basically what that is, it's a mini course, is a meditation to help rewire systems in your body. It takes three minutes, twice a day. And within about 10 days, you will see massive changes and benefits to your mental health and your physical health just by doing this meditation, so they can download a free mini course it's got a diary in there, and it's got a video about all the science of how it works.
Anthony Hartcher:And is that on your website?
Dawn Cady:That's on my website? Yep. So that's www.alleviatepain.com.au.
Anthony Hartcher:Fantastic. And the Facebook group is Heal Yourself. So if they just go into a search function and type in Heal Yourself, they'll be able to join your facebook group page.
Dawn Cady:That's right. Yep, I'll send the link to you, as well so they can access
Anthony Hartcher:it. I'll include included in the comments. Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic. It's been awesome chatting, Dawn, and really grateful and insightful. And thanks so much for sharing your journey and the way in which you work with clients and how you can help them I think the work you do is fantastic. I really love it. And the fact that you've studied so many different techniques and you just basically print bringing together the best techniques for that individual. So I think the you know, as you said, what I practices are very personalised and tailored because everyone's unique and different and I love how you apply. That was the field of work you do. So thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it.
Dawn Cady:Thank you for having me.
Anthony Hartcher:Pleasure Dawn and take care
