Hi: I have recieved Reiki and massage , and self hypnosis for quite some time, I also spent a year studying Tai Chi for pain relief.
I must say for me the massage got expensive never enough . It helped over time though.
Tai Chi helped the most for constant pain relief. It is very important to move every day. Some sort of exercise or pain does get worse and worse. I suffer from chronic muscle, and joint pain, probably related to Osteoporosis, and other stuff like coughing and fatigue. So this is daily struggle for me.
I find that when I exercise on a regular basis even if it is just stretching on a mat, it really helps my pain. It is really hard to get going though when your in pain to begin with, I understand. But once you get started things fall into place unless there are unrelated issues. Also Vit levels are important to check out now and again cause of our malabsorption.
Meditation is also really helpful in pain relief. If you can't do it on your own, tapes are available to help you. Some of the tapes available are for target areas of our bodies. I bought a tape for the lungs and general pain from a Web site called Hemisync you can google it and Hemisync products. Then it will lead you to the Web site " Mind Sync" then clikck on Pain Control. I love my tape and do it regularly. You have to be really self disciplined but it beats drugs.
It's great if you can find a local Reiki Master in your area. I found one in my home town and she gave me a break on the fee and said she just wanted to be part of my health care team. There are a lot of caring people that want to help people in pain. Don't be afraid to call around and ask these Holistic people in your area to help. Sometimes if they are not in your area they will give you a contact of someone they know that may live right in your town that they know. Be resourceful.
I stay away from Holistic drugs, like echanacea because they just don't have enough information on how they react with other drugs that CF people are on or they interfere with Diabetes and blood sugars.
Best of Luck. Im willing to brainstorm if you want to PM me.
JenWren<img src="i/expressions/rose.gif" border="0">