Conquering Chronic Pain
by Fran Kreigel • Northport, NY

I titled this article “Conquering Chronic Pain” rather than “Coping with Chronic Pain” for this reason: I want long-time sufferers like me to know that you don’t have to just learn to live with pain. My battle with headaches and pain dated back to the 1980’s and I began to have significant relief after only a few months of disciplined yoga. Over the years, I had been given many diagnoses – Somatoform Disorder, Fibromyalgia, Connective Tissue Disease and so on. The problem with these diagnoses was the same; they described a set of symptoms and that’s all. I felt that my pain was discounted, not treated.

I spent a small fortune on treatment by massage therapists who seemed to be the only people who could stop the muscle spasms that plagued me, but the relief was always short-lived. The two choices I seemed to have for pain relief—massage and medication—were both problematic; in one case I was dependent on a person, in the other on an addictive medication.

I knew from my personal experience that a simple muscle spasm can wreak havoc on the body. Since every muscle is attached to another, a spasm in one area can trigger multiple spasms, causing severe pain as the whole body contracted. What I didn’t know was how to get this chain reaction to stop!

The turning point for me was learning how to bust through a muscle spasm using yoga, meditation, and other techniques that focused on mind-body awareness and connection.

Results were not immediate. It took dedication to good health habits and consistency in implementing my yoga and exercise regimes. I had to work my way back to health from a place of total dysfunction. For a long time I had been unable to sleep, work, socialize, establish or maintain
relationships. The fear of pain and lack of clarity as to its origins led me to curtail many activities so that I became isolated. Planning any kind of activity that required an advance commitment caused tremendous anxiety as I worried constantly about whether or not I would feel well enough to do that activity.

I remembered that yoga had helped me previously to manage a fear of traveling. But I had dropped the practice after my trip. I decided to try it again. I was given a set of exercises to do that were simple and provided me some relief. This in turn, motivated me to do more yoga and the downward spiral of dysfunction was reversed. I received bite-sized chunks of treatment that I could readily learn and incorporate into my life.

I came to view my exercises as tools not chores, tools that allowed me to gain control over my body and my life. Learning how to calm a painful muscle spasm was exhilarating; I felt powerful. My sense of humor returned, my interest in and ability to engage other people was revived, and I was better able to take care of myself.

During the time that I was suffering with pain, I promised myself two things:

One, that if I found an answer I would be compliant with whatever regime was needed to ameliorate the pain. And two, that I would take the time to tell other people about what worked for me. I am still in a learning mode as to how to take care of my body and I probably always will be. I realize that what worked for me may not work for someone else. However, I do want to encourage others to consider different treatment options, rather than to just suffer alone in silence.

My personal odyssey with chronic pain has helped me to grow as a person and as a psychotherapist. What began as a personal challenge has become a professional mission. I understand what my clients are facing and feeling and can communicate a more helpful and hopeful message because I have faced the challenges they are up against. I understand how much stress the pain itself causes and how difficult it becomes to function. Part of my role as a therapist is to help the client manage feelings of frustration, helplessness and hopelessness while we try to find a treatment protocol that is manageable and effective.

If desired, I work with the client’s family, to help them understand the client’s needs better and to learn how to be supportive, not judgmental. Many family members don’t know what to think about the persistent pain and may withdraw, criticize, or discount the amount of pain the person is in. As a result, the client may become more isolated and depressed, creating a downward spiral, rather than an upward one.

I have come to believe that with rare exception, chronic pain can be ameliorated, often through fairly simple, straightforward interventions. Pain is, after all, an adaptive symptom, a signal that the body’s needs are not being met.

Fran Kriegel is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) with a private practice specializing in Conquering Chronic Pain and Parenting Children with Special Needs. She is the mother of two, one child with Type I Diabetes. She leads a Support Group for Parents of Newly Diagnosed Children with Type I for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). She can be reached at 631-670-7441 or 631-561-5439.