Has chronic pain taken over your life?
Are you living with chronic headaches, back, neck, stomach or other pain?
Have you been diagnosed with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/ME)?
Have you been to more doctors than you can count, and they don’t know what’s causing the pain?
Maybe you’ve already had every test known to man, trying to figure out what the issue is?
Perhaps you’ve even been dismissed by some doctors, or told “the pain is all in your head”?
Have you given up on your favorite hobbies because of fear they will cause the pain to recur?
Do you avoid social events because you never know when the pain will crop up again?
Or maybe you struggle to show up for your kids or partner, because the pain gets in the way?
If any of these are true for you, then I am deeply sorry. No one should have to live with chronic pain, and nobody deserves to be dismissed by the medical community, even if they cannot explain where the pain is coming from. You deserve a pain-free, fulfilling life!
Chronic pain has become an epidemic
According to research published by the CDC in March of 2023, an estimated 51 million people - which is more than 20% of American adults - suffer from chronic pain. That’s more than one in every five Americans suffering from some form of chronic pain. So if this includes you, then you are not alone. Many people struggle with some form of pain, or multiple different kinds of pain at once, that have an unknown origin. This is often frustrating, because despite seeking help from medical professionals, nothing seems to help. Maybe you’ve tried a variety of western doctors with different specialties, physical therapists (PT), acupuncture, reiki, massage therapy, medications…and still nothing has worked.
There is hope for healing with chronic pain treatment
What if I told you that many people in chronic pain don’t have to be, and that with the right treatment, you might be able to reduce or even eliminate your symptoms? “Nonsense!” you might say, “I’ve already tried everything and the doctors told me I’m just doomed to be in pain forever”.
Our understanding of chronic pain has evolved over time, and not all doctors are aware of the latest advances, which were not available when they went through medical school. Newer research shows that for many people with chronic pain, their pain might not be generated by a structural or tissue damage issue at all (e.g., a herniated disc, a food sensitivity, a sports injury), but by hyper-sensitized neurons in the brain that are misinterpreting safe signals and instead sending pain signals. This is a type of pain called neuroplastic pain, and NO, it’s not imagined or “just in your head”.
What is Neuroplastic Pain?
Neuroplastic pain is what happens when the brain is keyed up/on edge (perhaps from a history of trauma or a previous injury) and it then misinterprets every signal that comes its way as dangerous - much like a child who just heard a ghost story before bed and worries that every bump in the night is a monster coming to get them. It is essentially a false alarm from the brain. But to be clear, this false alarm is NOT your fault, nor are you “making it up”. This pain is just as real as if you put your hand on a hot stove.
Where does pain come from
All pain comes from the brain, even the kind that happens when you put your hand on a hot stove or break your leg. When you put your hand on a hot stove, the nerve endings in your hand collect data which they send to your brain. Your brain then reads that data like a report and interprets it to decide if there is a problem that needs addressing or not. In the case of the hot stove, your brain says “WOW, that’s way too hot, if we don’t move our hand fast, then we’re going to get burned!”. The brain then sends pain signals down to the hand to let you know something bad is happening and you should move your hand. The medical term for this is called nociceptive pain.
Is neuroplastic pain “real pain”?
Yes. The process that generates the pain signals when you put your hand on a hot stove is exactly the same as the one that causes neuroplastic pain, except that the brain misinterprets safe data in the report as dangerous, and sends a pain signal because it believes you are in danger. This misinterpretation is not your fault, nor is it under your immediate cognitive control (meaning that you can’t just think the pain away in the moment). This is the same type of pain that amputees feel, which is often referred to as phantom limb syndrome, because the brain still thinks the limb is there and in danger. But the good news is that because the pain is coming from the brain, and not a structural or tissue damage issue, then it can also be rewired in the brain to turn down or off the volume and eliminate the pain using a process called Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT).
What is Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) for chronic pain?
Pain Reprocessing Therapy is a type of evidenced-based treatment for chronic pain that helps retrain the brain to interpret signals from the body appropriately, and stop the cycle of chronic pain. It involves multiple components, including education about the origin of pain and how to reverse pain cycles, as well as mindfulness and somatic therapy practices to help calm the nervous system so the brain can stop interpreting everything as dangerous.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy is the most effective form of chronic pain treatment we currently have, according to a study conducted at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2021. In a randomized controlled environment, 98% of the participants receiving PRT improved throughout the 4-week treatment, and 66% were pain-free or nearly pain-free by the end of treatment.
Are you ready to heal your chronic pain?
I have been certified in Pain Reprocessing Therapy and was also a chronic pain sufferer myself for over 3 years. Once I started using PRT in my own life, I was able to completely eliminate my pain. I would love to see if we could do the same for you! If you want to learn more and get a personalized plan, sign up for a free consultation call below to explore your options.