Where Is the Hope for Chronic Pain Patients

I recently read an article written in the Huffington Post by a columnist, father and loved one of a chronic pain patient.  This was one of several columns that he had written on his son and his struggles in dealing with CRPS, but this column was a bit different. 

 

As I read through the column, I was not reading about hope or healing.  Instead, I got the feeling that the writer, the patient’s father, was settling for what was being offered through traditional medicine.  He even made a comment, “We forgo dreams of a quick fix that never comes.”

 

There has to be a change in the outlook and the treatment of chronic pain patients.

 

I read these articles and my heart sinks.  Don’t misunderstand me. I know from personal experience that there is no quick fix, but there are answers out there for chronic pain patients if you know where to look.  There are so many parents, significant others, spouses and patients that are searching for answers, outcomes and help to either stop the pain or get into remission.  Where do they turn? Where do they look or where are the answers?

 

The traditional treatments of medication, regional blocks, sympathetic blocks, stellar blocks, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and spinal cord stimulators are only Band-Aids for the majority of pain patients. Therefore, the patient(s) and/or their families have to be willing to look at other options including complementary medicine.  Unfortunately, most get discouraged with what they are told by their doctors, and specialists and give up rather than pursuing other options.

 

Changing the mindset from traditional medicine to complementary medicine can be a big hurdle to overcome, because we all want to believe what we are told by our physician(s). But when we are not getting results, we have to be willing to be our own best advocate.  If we will not do that, then no one will.

 

Traditional physicians treat your symptoms by prescribing medications, narcotics or opioids; yet this does nothing to arrest the pain or stop the spread of the condition.  Instead, what if we were to look at where the pain is originating from – the brain.  ‘There is no pain until it reaches the brain,’ – Ron Eslinger. 

 

Medically speaking, the human body is made up of four significant vital signs. They are the heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and respiratory rate.  A fifth vital sign was introduced in 2000.  The fifth vital sign is pain.  As with other vital signs, pain impacts a number of functions such as emotions, behavior, long-term memory and olfactory senses (sense of smell).  The Limbic System influences these same functions.  The Limbic System is made up of four areas of the brain that includes the hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus and pituitary.  Understanding how the Limbic System operates is key to understanding and working with chronic pain. 

 

When functioning normally, the Limbic System sets the emotional tone of the mind and influences changes throughout the body by using chemical messages.  It filters external events through internal states and creates an emotional color for each event.

 

However, when the Limbic System is functioning abnormally, numerous health problems can occur.  Physical problems, such as lack of sleep, too much stress, or chronic pain, exacerbate the problems created by an out-of balance Limbic System.  The results are devastating, leading to moodiness, irritability and ultimately to clinical depression or worse.  In some cases, depending on external factors, these imbalances can result in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  This is the true essence of stress turning into distress.

 

The hypothalamus, as part of the Limbic System, is concerned with homeostasis of the body (homeostasis is maintaining the body at a baseline).  The body’s normal set point is to feel comfortable.  Homeostasis is the process of returning something to a predetermined set point.  The body’s normal set point is to feel comfortable.  Forms of complementary medicine, including hypnosis, have the ability to return those with chronic pain back to a set point of comfort or to reactivate that set point.

 

Thus, the bottom line comes down to this. If there was a complementary treatment available to help you put your CRPS/RSD or chronic pain into remission, would you want to know about it?  There is real help out there for chronic pain patients, and I encourage every pain patient and their family to seek out other sources of treatment, including complementary medicine.  I found these answers myself after searching, and I have been in remission, pain free, since November, 2013. 

 

Please don’t fall into the mindset that there is nothing out there that can help, or that you have to “forgo dreams”.  Instead, believe that there are answers, there is help, there is a way to get into remission, and it is possible to realize your dreams.

 

For more information please feel free to contact me or leave a comment on my blog.