I entered this world in June of 1960 as happy as can be, or so I’m told. At age two, after some uncontrollable bleeding episodes, I was diagnosed with hemophilia B. From that point on, a “normal” life for me was a protected life, free from most activities that could cause me to bleed. The…
DetailsTraditional chronic pain management uses a multitude of interventions, including medications. This is a relatively new subspecialty of medicine. Most chronic pain management specialists are trained as anesthesiologists, and usually go through a fellowship training program to learn to deal with chronic pain. Opiate medications are the primary drugs used to treat chronic pain and…
DetailsDoing things that are good for you in an excessive manner is one extreme way to treat your body if you have chronic pain. For example, embarking on a vigorous course of exercise that might result in an injury, losing weight by starving yourself, or engaging in myriad activities that you haven’t done before, such…
DetailsCNN’s Dr. Gupta was interviewed over the weekend on The News Room about the FDA’s controversial approval of the strongest prescription painkiller now available to date, Zohydro. In this interview, Dr. Gupta pointed out that painkillers are the number #1 cause of preventable death in United States which happens to consume eighty percent of the…
DetailsChronic pain as we experience it is the net effect of tissue disturbance, transmission to and from the brain, and extensive processing and modifying of the pain signal. With chronic pain, the signal and its transmission are often distorted. So pain levels increase, despite the fact that the injury has ended and the “need” for…
DetailsBalance is not static but fluid, in a constant state of flux, much like the ebb and flow of the waves of the ocean. As the circumstances of your life change, so will your state of balance. Balance, then, is the journey, not the destination, and you are the navigator. No one else steers your…
DetailsYou will recognize that the more balanced you are in the four points, the better your relationships will be. Achieving this improvement will take effort on your part, and again you will find yourself changing in relationship to others. You know that your health will cause you to attract other healthy people. You choose relationships…
DetailsThe four points of balance are applicable to any situation in life, including chronic pain. In order for you to successfully practice pain recovery, you need to be off medications or working toward getting off of them. The next four chapters will go into detail on each point; for now, we will give a brief…
DetailsPain is a part of life and cannot successfully be avoided. If pain is unavoidable, now you are left with what to do with your pain. First, understand that pain is multidimensional—it’s much more than your body experiencing aching, throbbing, stinging, burning, or whatever other sensations plague you. It is enduring loss (emotional), feeling alone…
Details1. JR had a history of alcohol abuse—twelve to twenty-four beers per day, shots on weekends, blackouts, and a DUI fifteen years ago. He also smoked and snorted one to two grams of cocaine per day for a few years. After his DUI, the court ordered him to attend twelve-step meetings. Much to his surprise,…
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