Anyone had a successful experience w/ Mayo Pain Rehabilitation Center?

Hello @nanacarol,

I combined your discussion on the Pain Rehab Clinic with an existing discussion of the same topic:

"Anyone had a successful experience w/ Mayo Pain Rehabilitation Center?"
- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/has-anyone-successful-experience-with-mayo-pain-rehabilitation-center/

Here you can meet members who have asked about the pain rehab clinic and also read through their experiences with the clinic as well. @rwinney has shared their experience with the program a handful of times in this discussion thread. @kmdenton33, @alh123, and @ldb all talked about the program in this thread as well and may have some updates to share as well.

@nanacarol13 Hi there. Yes, I graduated the PRC coming up on 6 years the end of the month. Best thing I ever did for myself because it gave me a blueprint of how to live with the cards I've been dealt.

You are absolutely right it is a huge commitment both time and money and only you know if it's worth it. I guess it's about how desperate are you to help yourself have better quality of life? It's a big commitment one that you really have to buy into and be open-minded about learning new ways of coping, strategizing and understanding that physical fitness is a must. Cognitive behavioral therapy was a huge part of the program and for me was very eye-opening in a good way . The program moderates and although it's not designed specifically to each person, each person's levels are taken into consideration for the overall picture. If you have no meds to get off then you're that much farther ahead of the game! Good for you.

What are your thoughts? Does the program intimidate you based on the structure of it or do you think it's just not enough bang for the buck?

@rwinney When I looked at the program, it seems to be a lot of group lectures. Only one talk dealt with CSS. It could be too general.
The Mayo zoom call just talked about the general program. We were discouraged from asking about our specific challenges.

@nanacarol hi there. Yes, I understand what you're saying about being general. Maybe if thinking of it like a pyramid and CSS is at the top of the pyramid and everything else underneath is how you manage CSS. The four main managing pillars that are taught at PRC are chemical, emotional, behavioral and physical. The daily lectures which I believe are twice a day, are based on those four pillars and the understanding of their importance to managing CSS so yes there's got to be many different lectures within 3 weeks to cover all bases. That's what I loved about the program was that they just didn't tell you what to do they explained why you're doing it and then how to do it. It can be off putting at first to know everyone is discouraged from talking about specific challenges. That was a difficult learning curve for me until I understood why that was. What I also liked was that each participant was able to meet with the whole team of psychologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, nurse for a review of how they're doing and a private space to ask any questions.

May I ask what mail Zoom call you are referring to? Have you been accepted to the pain rehab center?

@rwinney
Mayo made an appointment for a zoom call. I thought it would be with the nurse to determine if the program was right for me. Instead it was a group zoom giving general information that I already had.