they are trained in "pain management?" My DH is a mental health therapist, and since I am halfway out of my wits with recurring pain due to an old spinal injury, and he said he didn't know. He treats people with stuff like affective disorders, which is apparently a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

Your experiences?

I dont know i go to separate people for separate issues. Like i see a pain specialist that just deals with pain or a mental health specialist that just deals in mental health. I have never really seen someone that specializes in both.

The thing that seems to help the most right now is acupuncture and maybe a new med i am taking called cymbalta for nerve pain. I may still have to get surgery for a bulging disc though. Counseling has helped me in the meantime to help not think of pain.

Accupressure works great and the wonderful thing is you can do it yourself, right when the pain begins.

Get a book called "Accupressure's potent points" writeen by Micahel somebody-or-other.

It works like a recipe book. You look up where it hurts, the book tells you what to do. All you need is your fingers.

This book cured my carpal tunnel syndrome when I was in CR school

For right now, let me tell you about the universal pain point, which will help you with pain anywhere in the body.

It is the web of flesh between the thumb and the forefinger. Pinch that web with the thumb and fore finger of the other hand. Aim the pinch away from the thumb, towards the base of the forefinger. Then do the opposite for the other hand. See if you can maintain each pinch for about a minute.

When it came to topical pain ointments, I tried EVERYTHING and found that good old-fashioned aspercreme was the best.

A hot bath with LOTS of epsom salts can work wonders. A little lavendar scent added to the salts helps things along.

Lois

I am using aspercreme for the first time and i think it helps. I never tried accupressure though, i think my acupuncturist put needles in that place between the thumb and forefinger today so maybe its the same effect?

Get that book "accupressure's potent points."

Your acupuncturist may be great but he costs money and you have to wait for an appointment.

Accupressure is something you can do yourself, and it will only cost you the price of the book. I have done it for many ailments, and at the very least, it takes the edge off my pain. At best, it makes the pain go away. I think focussing on the things you have to do -- rubbing this area, putting pressure on that area, also helps.

alternating heat and cold to an area also helps.

This is stuff that is great to try because it is free, (once you have bought the book) and there are no side effects.

You will be amazed at how much pain relief there is in your fingertips.

I have not tried it yet.

I have opiate painkillers, and I am EXTREMELY careful about writing down how much I take and when I take it, and then I refer back to the log before touching the stuff again. I don't want to wind up as a statistic.

I guess what I'm trying to find out is what, specifically, does a specially-trained mental health therapist DO about pain issues? Teach you how to dissociate from your body, like with meditation? I truly have no idea.

I remember reading a disability case file years ago where a pain sufferer was sent to a "pain rehab facility," and their approach was, every time a patient complained of pain and asked for meds, to verbally abuse him and make him sorry he opened his mouth. That sounded more like one of the outer rings of hell to me, rather than pain relief.

Please let me know how the Cymbalta works for you, OK?

Alright i will let you know i think it has helped die things down a bit for sure, i have only been on it for a week and a half now. I am still taking a low dose of tramadol and lyrica and i am depakote as well which i learned helps with nerve pain. Opiates dont really help my kind of pain so i dont even bother. I have been trying acetyl l carnitine that somebody on here suggested but i am not sure if its doing anything but drying me out so i backed off. But if you are positive that its nerve pain you are dealing with i would see a nuerologist and they could put you on cymbalta it works better than opiates so far that i can tell.

catnip Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I remember reading a disability case file years
> ago where a pain sufferer was sent to a "pain
> rehab facility," and their approach was, every
> time a patient complained of pain and asked for
> meds, to verbally abuse him and make him sorry he
> opened his mouth. That sounded more like one of
> the outer rings of hell to me, rather than pain
> relief.

I didn't know my mother ran a pain relief clinic! I really am out of touch.

its more like an operating system than an app

I wouldn't seek pain management care from anyone who was not a doctor of medicine or osteopathy. I'm not sure why anyone would.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2017 08:04PM by scmd.

Non athletes experience? Can core muscle weakness contribute to muscle trauma or ligaments that are tender or "pulled"? How does some different rx impact musculature , for instance long acting beta argonist inhalers for breathing needed with side effects. What other needed categories of rx might cause muscle discomfort?

Further how did you recommend folks to maintain or attain mobility during recovery or chronic circumstances, so they might experience balance strengthen needed muscles to stand keep moving . Is there a program or something you might recommend, a type of professional process?

Because the insurance companies and doctors demand it. Pain Management is it's own specialty, and those who are not candidates for surgery are sent there. Two surgeons told me there was nothing they could do, and that they don't do "pain management."

You don't find this out until you're in severe pain, and no surgery can fix it.

Pain Management treats people like drug-seekers, and I imagine there is good cause for that, but they totally ignore history. It didn't matter that I have never abused drugs, never been arrested, been employed all of my life, -current job fifteen years, or anything else. First, they try the different types of shots. If that doesn't work long-term (insurance will only cover so many shots per year), then they send you to a psych for an evaluation, and those are screening factories. The nut who evaluated me -

Used meds given IV in a hospital (perforated colon and dime-sized kidney stone stuck in ureter) to say I had a "history" of using narcotics.

Stated that the one-per-evening carry-over narcs the PM doc gave me were being used as "somatic aids." I had answered his question if they help like this - "They relieve the pain enough that I am able to sleep through the night, which has been very helpful."

Even though my body bears the scars, called the history of abuse, "alleged abuse."

See, if I'm not a drug-seeker or one who has that potential, he gets no more insurance money. The PM psychs have a huge conflict of interests.

I would rather be thrown into a vat of boiling oil than go back to Pain Management. I hope they all go out of business.

It is a nightmare and they do treat everybody like drug seeking addicts. Thats why i push for surgeries because i would rather try something rather than go to a pain management place.

A pain management specialist helped a colleague after surgeons saved them from parakysiswith a broken neck, complete mobility and employed despite vertebrae reconstruction and rods after injuries... monthly spinal blocks.
The whole walking and driving is a miracle 50 years ago they would have been immobilized paralyzed , she's able to have a job and be a coach, and a mom.

Collateral damage well yeah the pain management specialist raised by a mom in constant pain as unsolvable congenital defect caused ever increasing pain. They saw desperation persistence love anyway, so I'd trust that drs point of view. Some things are unreversible but ongoing care is. Here song: stand by me /Ben King

Do the research on mental health therapy. Call their association and make inquiries. Google it. Go to the library and borrow books on the topic. Become an expert on your own body. Get a massage. Too much stress is a trigger. Exercise helps a lot so go to a physical therapist and gym. All meds have side effects so you are addressing one issue and maybe creating another. Mindfulness training may help.

I would not go to a mental health therapist for pain, even if there were trained in pain management. Being trained in something is a far cry from practicing pain management or doing it as a specialty.

I would go to a specialist skilled (not just trained) in the type of pain I was having

Or a trained MD in a specialty who has had medical experience perhaps a physical therapist can understand recovering or maintaining.
The risk seeing a professional doing hypnotherapy if they have never practiced surgery or general practice medicine for decades firsthand, is that physical collateral damages of your prior injury or repairs or even medications required given organ removal or tissue injury environment constraints may be incomprehensible...that's why the medical dr generalist or surgeon is a professional. If you could find a concierge type dr to analyze or a hypnotherapist medical dr to analyze you exact back musculature spine stance stamina balance joints motion routine and then establish the process for you.

You don't want someone who doesn't expert knowledge of physiology
Or injury surgeries doing any form of physical hypnotherapy they might inadvertently cause injuries exacerbate weakness because they are not an MD. Knowing what I know now I'd only consider hypnotherapy for post physical injury repair or chronic physical condition by a medical expert in physiology musculature endocrine or endocrinologist consultant knowledgeable about how muscle stress balance repair surgery atletic rehab could be accomplished promoting as much motion and mobility as possible safely .... not just pain ending hypnosis alone which could in inexpert hands create or exacerbate physical injury.

For instance a non athlete can barely comprehend an athletes aggressive training or injuries but care, a socialite networker may barely understand sign language but care, you need someone to have both the background and knowledge who cares about applying it to specifically to life enhance facilitate fullest life possible promoting you with apt times

I would go to the expert medical Dr. first, before the physical therapist. If physical therapy is the appropriate treatment, I would let him give me a prescription for the appropriate therapies. I would then ask for a recommendation as to a good physical therapists.

I do not believe that physical therapists are trained in making diagnosis