100 million Americans, that's how many citizens, according to the Institute of Medicine of The National Academies, are living with chronic pain. Chronic pain is a reoccurring pain (either intermittent or continuous) that lasts longer than a few weeks. In many this pain last for months, in some this pain lasts for years. The most common chronic pain sufferers are those with chronic migraines, Fibromyalgia, back pain, head, neck and shoulder pain.
More and more these numbers of chronic pain sufferers grow and now the population has grown past those living with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. As time goes on and specialists deplete the bank account many chronic pain sufferers lose hope of finding a solution.
In my personal life I have had bouts with chronic pain characterized as persistent migraines. When I began going through puberty is when I had the onset of left side pain and migraines that lasted a few hours every couple of weeks. This grew into daily migraines with daily left side pain, I forgot what it was like to not have this agonizing pain. I had gone to numerous specialists at the beginning of my symptoms. I received nerve tests, MRI's, CAT scans, and began a series of prescriptions. As the years went on and more of my life became consumed by this pain I conceited to giving up. I had, had a reaction to one of my medications and caused temporary vision loss and had my fill of taking pharmaceuticals.
Seceding to defeat over this pain actually refreshed my outlook. I wasn't dependent on narcotics, I wasn't moping about the pain, I was acknowledging I had pain and ignoring it. Which isn't the best either (imagine someone just ignoring they have heart attacks), but it worked for my situation.
I lived probably for about one to two years without drug intervention and constant pain, I happened to run into a Massage Therapist working in a research for migraine sufferers with massage treatment. She offered to get me on her table and see what she could figure out.
The first couple sessions I was hesitant as this woman poked and prodded around my head neck and shoulders. She would find points that lit up my areas of pain and I started to draw the connections of the body. We met on a pretty regular basis and I was still a skeptic for many months until one day I left her office feeling different.
I thought "something is very wrong here, what is out of place?" And on the stroll to my car I realized I was completely pain free! I began crying and felt liberated for the first time since I was a child, my body was mine once again! I in turn have found that through massage therapy I am able to give that same gift that was given to me.
I find with my clients, myself, and other people I have talked to, your life really morphs around chronic pain diseases. Hobbies and things you enjoy become less and less interesting because of this nagging feeling in your body. Eventually the idea of even leaving your house causes fear and anxiety of whether or not you will be able to have fun or whether you will be "stuck" out in pain.
Mood changes are also greatly impacted by debilitating pain, the more pain I am in, the more I snap at people. The more my vision is impaired by my migraines the less I want to be outside. The less time I spend outside the more depressed I become, the less I get out of bed, the greater my joint pain....
Chronic pain quickly becomes a vicious cycle. The most beneficial things for you while suffering in chronic pain are things such as: dietary changes, exercise, body work, but when you are in pain it is hard to find motivation to exercise, to make a healthy meal (versus pick something up), or to leave your house and be touched by a stranger leading to more pain.
The pain often becomes so great that those inside of a pain ridden body feel completely out of control and alienated by their own body. When this happens I believe our chronic pain sufferer begins a detachment of feeling like their body is a part of them.I think, and would be interested in researching my theory, that people suffering chronic pain are more likely to injure themselves, self-medicate, have body dysmorphic disease, or develop a serious mental illness.
The reason I have this belief is because of the connection I recognize between the body and the mind. I think that if one is out of balance it will cause irregularities in the other. Just as some chronic pain stems from emotional trauma, it is my belief that some of the physical trauma caused my chronic pain spills into a mental condition.
Recently, I have been inspired by my own pain and the pain I have seen in my clients to work on assembling a Chronic Pain Workshop (to facilitate and aid healing) as well as take home materials to track the progression/regression of people's chronic pain.I believe so little is known about this type of dis-ease and have intrigued the detective within me to delve deeper into causes and influences. I feel as though my involvement is really limited to the space the client will go with me. Often times the therapeutic techniques that I believe to be most beneficial for pain relief are often times the most painful to experience. I find the people that are the most open to these painful techniques are those who have exhausted a number of facets to achieving pain relief, but I believe those who experience the quickest most beneficial result are those who have just begun experiencing this pain, which usually doesn't coincide with the latter.
Every time I help relieve someones chronic pain I go back to that place of what it felt like when I found relief for the first time in years. I may not be able to "cure" anyone or force them to commit to lifestyle changes, but I can be there to support them as they transition through the surprises and stages of chronic pain. It is my hope that I at least give some insight to those whose path I cross, into their mysterious pain.
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