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

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.

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.

@johnbishop

Thank you, John.

Usually I can read articles by hitting “reader view” on my ipad. This time the page presented in the very middle “sign in or subscribe” and with no option to close it.. and would only show me the photo in reader view. Clicking “sign in” it did give options to sign in with Google or Facebook and something else. I tried Google and it did not sign in. My ipad is a 2016 model, but still updates. Not sure if ipad or connection.

I'll look at the video later.

A few months back I told my pain management doctor… he is local and not part of Mayo Clinic… that I noticed my brain was telling me to take my pain med by the clock and not the pain. I told him I was going to pay attention to the pain and not my brain. I was able to cut back for a few weeks until another pain started screaming. He says he has a plan in the works for me .. we'll see on 03 Dec. Meanwhile I try to take meds for pain when there is pain and not by the clock.

I can usually keep my brain occupied in the day with other things to keep most of my pain out of my brain.. but the night is another thing.

ZeeGee

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.

@christ Hi, the Curable App is based on turning down the pain signals from your brain. It is wonderful even if only used to coping with severe pain. Good luck using it. My best to you....LoriRenee1

Interesting article on neuroplasticiity forwarded to me by @steeldove.

Chronic pain is surprisingly treatable — when patients focus on the brain: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/10/15/chronic-pain-brain-plasticity/