Amazing website/App in Dealing with Chronic Pain; curablehealth.com

I’m just hoping I remember to try using the brain a little the next time my PMR shows up 🙃

@johnbishop

John
Could you give an overview of the article. I cannot read it unless I subscribe to The Washington Post.

ZeeGee

Hi ZeeGee @fourof5zs - I'm not a subscriber of The Washington Post but it lets me scroll through and read the article even though there is a subscribe button and sign in at the top right of the screen? Here's the last few paragraphs that sums it up.
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While the bulk of research focuses on back pain, there is good reason to believe that many other forms of chronic pain are neuroplastic. (Autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, may make up a separate category; they are similar in that they trigger overactive threat responses, but research hasn’t clearly shown whether psychological interventions can dial them down.) “I’ve seen thousands of people heal from dozens of chronic pain conditions with a mind-body approach,” says Nicole Sachs, a psychotherapist based in Delaware who specializes in eliminating neuroplastic pain. “One person’s back pain is another’s sciatica is another’s IBS is another’s migraines.” Her approach includes mindfulness meditation and expressive writing, which research suggests can reduce pain, perhaps because our brains perceive as threatening the surfacing of difficult emotions (a Freudian defense system updated for the age of brain science), which deep journal-writing invites us to unload.

Our culture and the health-care field have not caught up. Providers should learn about neuroplastic pain, and medical schools, which now spend an average of just nine hours on pain education, should teach about it. Critically, we must stop viewing emotional or psychological bases for pain as stigmatizing. This long-elusive goal might finally be reached through a broader understanding of the research showing that, in an effort to protect us, our autonomic nervous systems — not some character weakness or a wild imagination — are generating the symptoms.

One of the hardest parts of having chronic pain is the sense that your experiences or feelings are not valid. For too long, patients — especially women — have felt dismissed as neurotic when complaining of serious pain, and it would be a tragic misreading if the evidence on neuroplastic pain were misunderstood as an argument that chronic pain is imagined or the fault of the sufferer. The research shows the opposite: Chronic pain is real and debilitating — and since it’s learned by the brain, it’s usually reversible.
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Here's a YouTube TED Talk that does a better job of explaining what it is.
https://youtu.be/B_tjKYvEziI

Hi John, I am I guess what you would call a new be to this chronic pain. About six months I'd severe pain. My problem is when I see a Dr or have seen a Dr. They have given me x rays mRI's looking for joint deterioration and found only moderate for my age of 72. I am a very active out door person and I know what I have is a case of fibromyalgia. Where or who can I ask for to see me for this condition? So far I have been run in circles and I feel they just want money. I also only take plant based or native treatment based medicine. I do not believe in chemical based treatments. I am into meditation and exercise for this and food management helps. Please who can I see for this or I can take suggestions from other's on self helps.

Hi @lvon, There is another discussion you might find helpful - dealing with fibromyalgia pain: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/dealing-with-fibromyalgia-pain/.

You mentioned you are into meditation and natural treatments. Here is an article you might find helpful if you haven't already seen it. --- " Mind-body practice is a great way to reduce the severity of fibromyalgia. It helps improve your mental health, reduce painful symptoms of ..." -- Natural Fibromyalgia Treatment (a Guide To Eliminate Your Pain): https://www.planetnaturopath.com/tests/natural-fibromyalgia-treatment/

Also, @marye2 @507 @sundance6 @rooster42 and others may have some thoughts on your questions on fibromyalgia.

Many people in a headache group I belong to found this app extremely helpful

For anyone who doesn't want or cannot download the app, Rachel Zoffness, a pain doc, has written a recently published book entitled, The Pain Management Workbook. It is excellent. There is a good chunk of her book available to read for free on Amazon. These sections explain all the parts of the brain involved in producing pain.

Chronic pain can be dialed back and even eliminated with techniques that change how the nervous system reacts, which is neuroplasticity.

There are chemicals in all kinds of medicines, even plant based, or they would not work

I disagree there are chemical free treatments .

Thanks I will order it asp

Such as? What are the active ingredients in plant based treatments?