People living with chronic pain sometimes get into an automatic and unconscious way of living that I call the chronic pain trance. For some people this means becoming hopeless and helpless and mistakenly believing that their life is over. Others try to cope with their situation by embarking on a quest to find the right pill, while still others try to find someone to rescue or fix them.

In some ways the chronic pain trance resembles depression, and the relationship between the two is very intimate. Pain is depressing, and depression can cause and even intensify pain. People living with chronic pain have three times the average risk of developing coexisting psychological problems—usually mood or anxiety conditions—and depressed people have three times the average risk of developing chronic pain.

If you are stuck in your own chronic pain trance you can avoid these types of self-destructive coping mechanisms and move out of the problem and into the solution by changing course and going on a trance-breaking adventure.

Adventure? Yes! This can be an exciting adventure. The word adventure has many definitions. The one I like is: An unusual or exciting experience. However, another definition for adventure may also apply if you aren’t careful and prepared; that definition is: An undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been excited about a personal growth or self-help book that I obtain but then after reading it nothing was much different. This changed when I started practicing what I teach my patients to do. Instead of just “reading” a book I encourage my patients to treat it like a text book or instruction manual that they’ll be tested on periodically. Why periodically? Many people including me have learned how to prepare for a test by cramming, but after the test usually forget most of what they were trying to learn.

To get the most out of this journey to breaking your chronic pain trance you’ll want to have guides and other helpers to make your journey as safe and comfortable as possible. These need to be both professional healthcare providers as well as friends and mentors who understand what you are going through and can be there to help you on this journey.

Most importantly I believe is learning as much as you can about your pain condition and what will lead to successful treatment outcomes—Knowledge is Power!  However, a lot of knowledge without footwork is not near as good as a little knowledge that is put into action.  The choice is yours—please choose wisely. 

To learn my views on getting the most out of life while undergoing chronic pain management, please check out my article Living Life to the Fullest as we Face Adversity that you can download for free on our Article page.

If you’d like to receive training for helping people with chronic pain and coexisting disorders, including addiction, I’m very excited to announce we are once again presenting my Addiction-Free Pain Management® Certification Training in Sacramento on February 24-26, 2011 once again in our new office space. To learn more about this and my other upcoming trainings you can check out our Calendar page.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you or a loved one is undergoing chronic pain management, especially if you’re in recovery or believe you may have a medication or other mental health problem and you want to learn more effective chronic pain management tools, please go to our Publications page and check out my books; especially the Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide: Managing Pain and Medication in Recovery. To purchase this book please Click Here.

To read the latest issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, please click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.

Since 1981 I have seen November as Gratitude Month and the week of Thanksgiving as Gratitude Week and Thanksgiving Day as GRATITUDE DAY. So, during this Gratitude Week I once again sat down and made a long list of everything I’m grateful for in my life. This took quite a while as I do have so much to be grateful for.

What I am most grateful for today is my recovery of almost 30 years and my relationship with Ellen, my wife and partner of almost 23 years. I make it a point to tell her everyday how grateful I am for her. Many times she laughingly asks: why am I grateful? Last year when she asked me that I put together my “short list” of 25 reasons I am grateful for her and gave it to her. I say short list because there are not enough words to express how grateful I am that Ellen is in my life.

So again this year I’m wishing you all a Happy Gratitude Day (AKA Thanksgiving Day) and hope you can find many things to be grateful for today. No matter what you are experiencing; work hard to acknowledge what you are grateful for.  An attitude of gratitude can turn a dismal day into the best day of your life if you let it. 

It is impossible to be in gratitude and suffer at the same time — the choice is yours!

If you are living with neuropathic pain like I am you know that the treatment can be frustrating and often ineffective. While acute short-term pain is usually easy to manage and many chronic pain conditions can be treated effectively, neuropathic pain can be a major treatment challenge for both patients and their healthcare providers.

In neuropathic pain the peripheral or central nervous systems are malfunctioning and become the cause of the pain. Neuropathic pain is usually perceived as a steady burning and/or “pins and needles” and/or “electric shock” sensations and/or tickling. The difference is due to the fact that “ordinary” pain stimulates only pain nerves, while a neuropathy often results in the firing of both pain and non-pain (touch, warm, cool) sensory nerves in the same area, producing signals that the spinal cord and brain do not normally expect to receive.

Neuropathic pain is produced by damage to, or pathological changes in the peripheral or central nervous systems. This type of pain is often a result of pain signals getting turned on, but not getting turned off. Unfortunately, neuropathic pain often responds poorly to standard pain treatments and occasionally the pain symptoms may get worse instead of better over time. For some people, this can lead to serious disability and a significantly decreased quality of life.

This is why early recognition and aggressive management of this type of pain is critical for successful treatment outcomes. Oftentimes, multiple treatment modalities need to be provided by a multidisciplinary pain management team.

There is a varied difference of opinions on the “right” type of medication management approaches for treating neuropathic pain conditions. Some healthcare providers think opiates are a good first line treatment approach while many others think they are not appropriate. If you are experiencing this type of pain learn as much as you can and discuss all the treatment options with your healthcare provider.

To learn about resolving hidden problems including self-defeating behaviors while undergoing chronic pain management please check out my article Managing the Inner Saboteur for Effective Chronic Pain Management that you can download for free on our Article page.

You can learn about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people undergoing chronic pain management and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing their chronic pain and coexisting psychological disorders; including depression, addiction and other coexisting psychological disorders effectively; please consider my book Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To purchase this book please Click Here.

To read the latest issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, please click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.