Have you ever had pain that you couldn’t explain?
As I’m getting (slightly) older, I have more random pain that just seems to appear on its own.
And while I do expect some unexplained aches and pains, many people have pain that isn’t related to the aging process – yet their doctors are unable to locate the source of the pain or to provide treatment that brings adequate relief.
The less diligent doctor will stop at this point and say that the pain is “all in the patient’s head,” while the better doctors will look further for both the causes of the pain and effective treatments.
Howard Schubiner, MD, out of St. John Health/Providence Hospital in Southfield, Michigan, worked with a group of researchers who looked at the use of mind-body therapy in the treatment of fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is estimated to affect up to 5 million American adults and has no known cause, though some experts theorize that is it caused by problems in how the brain processes pain.
There are no physical signs, such as inflammation or tissue damage in the painful area, yet fibromyalgia results in problems like fatigue, irritable bowel and sleep disruptions.
And of course, fibromyalgia can also cause massive amounts of pain.
In the study, researchers randomly assigned 45 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia into two groups.
The first group underwent affective self-awareness having participants learn about the emotion-pain connection and how to employ specific techniques (including mindfulness meditation and expressive writing) to counter the pain.
The control group continued their usual treatments as usual.
At the end of six months, 46% of the treatment group had at least a 30% reduction in their pain readings compared to their initial scores. None of the women in the control group had comparative improvement.
More information on this study can be found in the latest edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
This is the first clinical study to look at the affects of affective self-awareness exercises in the treatment of fibromyalgia.
Are you interested in learning more about the possible causes and treatments for chronic pain? And also learning about the role that neuroplasticity plays in the experience of pain?
Check out our courses on Mind/Body by clicking here.
In the meantime, have you been faced with patients suffering from chronic pain? Please leave a comment and tell us about your experiences.
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I agree with most of the approaches to alleviate the chronic pain in Fibromyalgia and have given all the therapies a try for a long period of time. I have had Fibromyalgia for 12 years. I have excellent doctors, I meditate, I eat healthy foods, I have been in therapy and I was a patient of Dr. Sarno. But there remains the biggest factor as the cause of the intense pain and that is the brain’s response to pain. I still have extensive limitations as to how long I am able to remain in the same position, ( sitting and standing) without experiencing extreme discomfort. The only relief I get from longterm sitting or standing is lying down. There is so much speculation and theories about the disease which poses the biggest problem…no one knows the cause therefore there is no cure, plain and simple.
In researching treatment options for my own fibromyalgia, I learned about a lesser-known therapy called MRT that identifies and treats diet-related inflammation that can be the basis for persistent and widespread pain. Many foods I was eating regularly tested reactive. As long as I avoid now-known triggers, eat a mostly whole foods diet, manage stress and stay active, I can almost forget I even have this condition, which caused two decades of significant disability. An indepth look at cell-mediated response to everday diet can be an enlightening piece of treatment to augment mind-body approaches.
I am currently an adult outpatient therapist in a community mental health agency. We estimate that up to 30% of our clients have some sort of problem with chronic pain and illness. Within this percentage are a large number of those clients with autoimmune disorders, fibromyalgia, endometriosis or fibroid tumors, etc. This absolutely goes together with chronic depression, anxiety, trauma survivor issues, and substance use/abuse.
I don’t think it’s surprising that many of the strategies I already use to help people manage their mental health and emotional dysregulation symptoms, are the same strategies that I have seen nurses use in their treatment groups for chronic pain at Kaiser Permanente.
I’ve had experience of the chronic pain/fibro issue from many sides, and I can say that (a) yes it is real, (b) it is a complex, interrelated problem, and (c) it requires integrated treatment. That means: physical pain management, “stress management”/mental health counseling–especially including healing work and modes of healthful self-expression, and alternative or mind/body therapies.
I developed fibromyalgia in 1997 and was put on anti-depressants which made me feel worse. I decided to try alternative healing and as I live in the San Francisco Bay Area I was referred to a group of Korean Qi Masters. Within 6 months I was much better. I became interested in this healing work and became part of their group. I researched Qi healing and spent 6 months in Korea for my PhD. I am now a Qigong Master and use Qigong in my practice along with Reiki and Hypnotherapy.
Working with many many (women) suffering from what was finally diagnosed as fibromyalgia, I have noticed an anecdotal theme in each one. Not only had each woman experienced some kind of trauma in child or early adulthood, each had tendencies for the need to control (their environment, people, any given situation), each leaned toward perfectionism and a need for certainty. Theses tendencies are also prevalent in migraine suffers. The most successful treatments include a protocol of massage and energy balancing modalities such as Reiki/Polarity etc. coupled with strengthening exercise and unfortunately an anti inflammatory drug. My most successful role as a healer as been providing clarity and support for the process of healing. Sometimes that simply means touch and witnessing, others it means sharing from my experience and wisdom, it can often mean using energy to move blocked energy flow in the client. Usually it means using all three. Those who respond most readily and significantly are those who have become aware of their PTSD and are now willing to address it’s cause. Now we have healing going deep and it is always an honor to be able to facilitate and share in these processes.
I agree with the above comments, and just wanted to add a note about research done by Dr. John E. Sarno, M.D. in his book The Divided Mind, states that Fibromyalgia as well as many other pain related problems are caused by repressed feelings of emotional pain, hurt, sadness and anger, and must be treated through mind-body modalities. But after all shouldn’t all diseases (especially chronic diseases) be treated via min-body modalities? The emotions play a much bigger role in our health than most people will ever know.
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My experience with Fibromyalgia as an intuitive massage therapist has lead me to postulate certain commonalities. The physical disruption throughout the body is the same in each diagnosed case, including in ways that are not in keeping with the diagnosis. These people have situations in their life that for some reason were deemed unforgiveable – usually with one or both parents, but can also be caused by excessive trauma (loss of a child, multiple primary death relationships, etc.). The lack of forgiveness (of God or others) manifests as a need to achieve in some way to compensate. The internal stress causes tightening in muscles that lead to joint issues, physical imbalance, stomach upsets, and pain – lots of it. At the root is the lack of surrender to Spirit and/or the lack of forgiveness. I have seen cases where the people changed when they learned to forgive or release.
There are concurrent physical conditions not specified – stomach muscles are too tight; muscles at the bottom of the feet have a mass in the arch, tears caused by stress on the tendons are common. There is also something I often see even in people who are not diagnosed as having fibromyalgia – which is a pronouncement of the arch of the thumb. When I spot this there is usually a personality that evidences the same thing as diagnosed fibromyalgia.
Key recommendation – learn about forgiveness and acceptance.
Fibromyalgia is a junk diagnosis meaning no one knows what it is. One thought is that it is caused by Lyme Disease. I believe it can be caused by other parasites as well. Most of my pain left when I was treated for Lyme and other parasites. I used frequency treatments, cleanses, and homeopathy to treat these.
All disease should be treated with several modalities. As Gillian Wightman says, Energy Psychology (not used by me specifically), cranialsacral therapy, EFT all work and were used by me in addition to Energy Medicine, Lymph Drainage, Massage, IV-Vitamin C therapy, meditation, diet, and cleanses to holistically heal breast cancer and the long-lived pain from biopsies.
Homeopathy can also have profound effects on mind/body healing aiding in healing psychological trauma. It did and is for me.
I’m an aquatic bodyworker, and though I don’t have specific experience of working with anyone in the water who has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I recently came across a website that gives a great deal of information on this.
One thing I have noticed is that gentle and supported movement while being floated in warm water can be very effective in dealing with pain and emotional trauma (my particular interest).
The advantage of the water is that it enables a sensitive practitioner to really feel the responses (pain and otherwise) of the person being worked with and to adjust the movement in very subtle ways that follow rather than lead.
In that respect, it is great to see two comments from people who actually faced fibromyalgia and can speak to what worked, what didn’t, and how they would like to be helped. Time for health care workers of all kinds to make listening and serving their main focus.
Firbomyalgia is not a condition its what we do, its our cage of pain because we have had to hold so much trauma, we don’t do our feelings. It is caused by stress, what we do to ourselves, the way we think the food we choose.
I was crippled with fibromyaliga and now I am free thanks to energy psychology, cranisacral therapy, EFT working through my trauma history and a good diet. It is also very much related to being able to breathe.
Working with clients with chronic pain using these techniques has brought them great relief. Our bodies hold our story and we protect ourselves with a cage of pain.
Mind body medicine and chronic pain is indeed a perfect pairing. I can now ski, surf, windsurf, run, climb, LIVE, and 15 years ago I was a total mess unable to walk.