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← Return to Pain Reprocessing Therapy to help and even eliminate chronic pain
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Pain Reprocessing Therapy to help and even eliminate chronic pain
Chronic Pain | Last Active: Aug 3 8:47am | Replies (23)Comment receiving replies
Thanks for the info, Rachel. I did not know that Mayo Clinic was offered this therapy. It is wonderful to know there is a center to refer people.
I have been able to accomplish this therapy on my own with the help of Dr Sarno’s books, listening to a lot of podcasts. Plus, I am a retired RN and a Functional Medicine Health Coach. So I understand the power of neuro plasticity and reframing neuro pathways. A technique that I developed for myself is that I have named the pain wherever it occurs in my body. I call her “Trixie”. Every so often Trixie gets out of the barn (my brain) and starts stirring up a ruckus causing pain in my body. I don’t treat Trixie with disdain. Instead I acknowledge her by name, because no one likes to be ignored. I coax her back in the barn with some deep breathing. Follow with thoughts of gratitude and affirmation and ‘voila’ the pain is gone. Sounds crazy but it works for me after years of chronic pain.
I have also had headaches for a 30+ years. I don’t say I am a ‘headache sufferer’ because that is such a victim mentality. I name headache pain “Pixie” and with the same technique I have been able to get her to stop stomping around and abort the headache in the aura phase. I will have to medicate if the headache gets too bad, but I have cut my usage of medication more than half. I’m still working on it.
I am glad to see that Mayo Clinic promotes; movement (exercise), nutrition, sleep, stress management, and useful purposement in their therapy. These are the foundational principles of Functional Medicine. Without them the therapy is a little harder, but not impossible.
By the way, my brother named his chronic pain “Mr. Pain”. My husband named his recurrent pain “Volver”. Both have eliminated their long-standing pain.
Replies to "Thanks for the info, Rachel. I did not know that Mayo Clinic was offered this therapy...."
Congratulations for the work you've done on your own with the help of Dr. Sarno's book, podcasts and your desire. You definitely had a leg up given your field of training, but still you had to persevere and apply your knowledge. I'd say buying in and believing in the process of re-training our brain is half the battle. One of Mayo PRC's mottos (and there are many 😉) was, "trust me now, believe me later". It sure takes a lot of work and commitment, but pays off once you include the 4 pillars of - physical, emotional, behavioral and chemical as a comprehensive blueprint and plan for the whole being.
How great that you've been able to cut your meds. I think it's important to acknowledge that goals are to at least reduce and hopefully remove while learning other tools for pain management. Kudos on your continued quest!
My process was slow and steady after graduating PRC. It helped to check in with my family and ask how they saw my progress because often I did not see it. For instance, did I reduce exhibiting pain behaviors by not talking about pain or rubbing painful areas? Having an accountability partner helps, as long as they understand how the process works and are supportive of your goals.
Trixie and Pixie, huh?! I love it! Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing insight on how our brains, aka computer command centers, can be our most powerful tool in symptom management. Do you have any other tidbits that have helped you along your way?
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Great share!
I think that Mayo may be at the start of a great relationship of "Movement Sciences" beyond the therapeutic physical therapy. As an exercise physiologist, I have been watching to see that human movement is taken as the necessary for life perspective. It is evolving.
Funny about those names. My favorite: Gone (literally).