Therapists

There are therapists that specialize in chronic illness. Mayo recommended trauma therapy since fibro is caused by trauma. I did EMDR to reprocess medical and emotional trauma. Made a huge difference in my pain. I’m able to manage it with Pilates and tai chi since I dealt with the mental triggers. Granted, more triggers just popped up because of work so I’m starting the emdr process again. Good news is it’s always there to fall back on.

@duvaldena I have Fibromyalgia and have had NO trauma. Point of clarification: It can be caused by other things, such as Mental health issues and how a person copes with them, Hormonal changes, Environmental Factors (cold climates, sudden changes in weather),to name a few.

If you go onto your state's Psychological Asscociation's Web Site and do a provider search, you will enter in the information you would like , in your case Trauma and chronic illness, and any other "requirements" a list will generate for Psychologists near you but also ones that do telehealth. You can actually select a couple of different Psychologists and see them for a consultation. This helps you and the therapist determine whether or not 1) you feel comfortable 2) whether or not the therapist feels they can help you. This is a common practice, and it's perfectly okay if one or both of you feels it's not a fit. You will know right away when you find the right one, because you will feel comfortable and safe to open up to the person during the consultation.

The other thing to keep in mind is a lot of Psychologists do not participate in health insurance. This is because most of them get paid "peanuts" compared to what they charge. You and the Psychologist can work out a sliding scale (you may see that in their profile) . Basically it means you and the Psychologist work out how much you can afford each session and how much they will accept. Again, this is very common.

I asked my Rheumatologist if Fibro can be caused by Trauma and he said yes.

Signed: The daughter of 2 Psychologists and helping people find treatment is the only good thing that comes out of having shrinks for parents LOL

Mayo’s PRC program was very helpful, and also the Univ MN’s MBSR program. I am not on any Rx meds and have managed with acupuncture and osteo based physical therapy. The first two years after diagnosis I did those therapies quite frequently, at least biweekly and sometimes weekly. It truly saved my functionality having that intense treatment schedule plus the two formal programs.