Illusory Cures.....

Despite a physically very active childhood , a decent participation in sports and so on when young, it is often true, that as one ages , there is some part of the anatomy , that is the first to react in , say, stressful situations, and it is then said that the person's so-and-so,such-and-such is "susceptible".

For her, it was her back, and her digestion.

For sudden onsets of crises, it was always the stomach. Faced with a sudden unfortunate event, impending anxiety, bad news or  even family health situation,  she always thought calmly and clearly, not getting flustered, while the tension quickly got absorbed in her stomach which went into knots, only to relax into peristalsis, and have her desperately searching  for loos, when the peak of the crises situation had passed.

For stuff that built up over a period of time, it was the back. Overstressing of some part around 34 years back, had resulted into something in the low back tightening itself shut, when physical/mental stress piled up over time. And she went through days of back pain, walking at an angle,slowly straightening, feeling distinctly better when she rested in a particular way, and felt like she was  responsible, possibly, for the major profits of all ointment companies in the market.  It wasn't possible to "take rest" as life had to go on, and the situation would resolve itself over a longish period of time.

Her sleep at night was disturbed occasionally as the dull pain didnt remain so dull when she changed positions.

And then she had that dream.

Her back had been massaged in the dream . No clue as to who did the good deed, but wondrously and possibly acrobatically, it  happened when she was lying on her back !  Whatever was applied was shining. She saw herself (in her own dream) lying down, on her back, eyes shut , enjoying the beginnings, of the results of that massage.

Then things suddenly veered into real time, and there was a growing feeling of diffused heat across the entire back, as if someone had spread  hot ghee-roasted rawa across the back. The heat kind of sneaked upwards near the shoulderblades, lulling her into a nap.  At somepoint, the dream part disappeared, as she actually felt the fomenting heat, the relaxation, and the overpowering sense of sleep.

She doesnt know if she awakened because  the pain stopped after a relaxing sleep, or because it was just a standard  morning awakening.

But the pain had gone. The back rested under a sense of massage. She got up, and was amazed to be able to stand up straight without holding intermittent tilted positions.

It was a new day, and she got on with the business of living in a real world with timetables, food, communications, work and so on.

Sometime, just before lunchtime, the pain returned.  

It was , as if the pain was a child playing truant from school, wanting to chase butterflies;  after a joyous interlude,  the child suddenly heard the school bell,  returned, and was cajoled into  sitting in his place doing his sums by the strict teacher. 

But it makes her wonder.   Can an illusory massage  actually spillover into real life , such that your real pain appears to have gone, for a decent length of time ?  Are dreams real ?  Is there an interface in the brain, a kind of slow, self cleaning cache, between our dream system and real life ? What decides how fast the cache is emptied  ?

Has anyone had a similar experience ?