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Posted 6/1/2016 9:53 PM (GMT 0)
Hi there! Just wanted to throw out some information on a new book I am reading that seems spot-on to me and I'm curious what others think. I am barely into the book, but it fits with what I have been thinking for some time about chronic pain.

The book is 'Conquer Chronic Pain' by Peter Przekop. He is the Director of the Pain Management Clinic at the Betty Ford Center, where they have a 96% percent success rate with chronic pain patients. Przekop discovered that pain can become chronic not just because of the trauma that caused it, but because the brain becomes programmed to recreate the experience of pain as a coping mechanism. Adversity such as abuse earlier in life that has never been fully dealt with can set the tone for a future life of chronic pain.

That's a very simplified description, but the book is fascinating and includes exercises to help with this sort of chronic pain. I'd like to know what others think along these lines, and particularly thought of fkdlyfe@24 description of her life and the pain she is suffering now.
Posted 6/2/2016 8:39 AM (GMT 0)
I have not heard of the book but will certainly look for it. I have always believed that pain is about how we perceive it. After 30yrs of nursing its the only common sense explanation. You can take two similar patients with exact circumstances and let's say a broken wrist. One displays screaming in pain,crying and physically showing symptoms of pain,increase heart rate,increase b/p,sweating and the other one is calm,laughing and joking about the injury and accident and not showing any physical reaction or changes.

For this reason I believe our reactions to pain are a learned experience from early childhood and life experiences.

Should be interesting reading
Posted 6/2/2016 4:08 PM (GMT 0)
And in your example of the broken wrist, he would go on to say that while both patients receive care for their broken wrist and it heals, one patient goes on with life and has no further problems while the other one continues to suffer pain -- even though the original trauma that caused the pain is no longer present.

Took me years to recognize it, but I think it certainly applies in my case, and I'm glad that I happened upon it just by chance right when I was ready for it.
Posted 6/3/2016 2:43 PM (GMT 0)
My grandson was the victim of child abuse by my daughter's boyfriend (not the babies father). At the age of 6 weeks, the monster broke the baby's femur. While he has no conscious memory of his leg being broken, somewhere in his brain I believe he 'rates' his further pain experiences based on that. For instance, he fell while riding his bike, busted his lip open (how he didn't break teeth on the handlebar is anyones guess) and tore up his knee pretty badly. He didn't even cry. I believe his brain compares everything to that 1st pain experience and everything else pales in comparison.

I actually worry about his pain responses. In some ways, it's a good thing. In other ways, I wonder how he would, say, react to a toothache? Will he let a chronic pain persist without medical attention?

He has been told about what happened to him (he's 15 now) but I'm not sure he understands the implications.
Posted 6/3/2016 3:10 PM (GMT 0)
It's interesting how everyone perceives pain differently based on life experiences. Many of the patients he has helped have suffered from early childhood abuse.

Przekop is a good writer and the book is worth reading if you're at all interested in the subject. He presents his ideas clearly and with compassion for his patients.
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