When Pain Hurts

Relieving Chronic Pain

Feb 13, 2022

In my journey since 1996 when I was first diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (chronic pain), I have discovered, explored and found numerous sources of chronic pain. I wanted to get to the root cause of my pain in order to relieve my symptoms and I did relieve 98% of them.

Here are some factors that I discovered played a part (for me and others).

Past lives trauma (I know I used to make fun of people who believed in reincarnation and past lives until I experienced my own).

Birth (in Reno, years ago, I redid my birth with a psychotherapist. It was liberating beyond belief).

I was not breastfed and had my tonsils taken out when I was 3 which affected my immune system.

Abuse and trauma (this was one of my first discoveries. Releasing the pain held inside my body including my feelings trapped was crucial).

Grief and sadness as well as resentment and anger (emotional distress) held inside the body.

Diet diet diet diet diet (eating too much sugar and wheat, carbohydrates, and grains leads to yeast/Candida). Not easy for me to overcome even now. And it can be done with persistence.

Sleep deprivation (do you get a good night’s sleep? asks Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum). If not, your body is not getting the rejuvenation healing recovery time it needs. Over time, getting poor sleep or not enough sleep can lower your immune system defenses, making you more susceptible to common illnesses and infections.

Being well-rested can greatly improve mood, overall health and well-being.

The risk of obesity has also been linked to sustained lack of sleep. Not getting enough sleep disrupts the balance of hunger-regulating hormones in your body, ghrelin and leptin. These hormones help your body regulate when to signal that it is hungry or full. When you consistently don’t sleep enough, your levels of ghrelin, the “hungry” hormone, go up, and leptin, the “full” hormone, goes down. This imbalance encourages you to eat more than you need.

Additionally, your body uses your sleep time to rebuild and repair itself. Not getting enough sleep can disrupt this process. For example, during sleep, your heart vessels heal and rebuild, so sustained sleep deficiency may also increase the likelihood of heart problems, and in increased likelihood of developing hypertension.

Poor sleep may also affect your ability to remember things or create new memories, which can cause problems with learning. This inability to concentrate and remember can have serious repercussions on your quality of life. (fibromyalgia fog is a symptom).

Infections. Some illnesses appear to trigger or aggravate fibromyalgia.
Physical or emotional events. Fibromyalgia can sometimes be triggered by a physical event, such as a car accident. Prolonged psychological stress may also trigger the condition.

Symptoms:

Chronic, widespread pain throughout the body or at multiple sites. Pain is often felt in the arms, legs, head, chest, abdomen, back, and buttocks. People often describe it as aching, burning, or throbbing.
Fatigue or an overwhelming feeling of being tired.
Trouble sleeping.

Other symptoms may include:

Muscle and joint stiffness.
Tenderness to touch.
Numbness or tingling in the arms and legs.
Problems with concentrating, thinking clearly, and memory (sometimes called “fibro fog”).
Heightened sensitivity to light, noise, odors, and temperature.
Digestive issues, such as bloating or constipation.

Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain and tenderness throughout the body, as well as fatigue and trouble sleeping. accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain and spinal cord process painful and nonpainful signals.

Symptoms often begin after an event, such as physical trauma, surgery, infection or significant psychological stress. In other cases, symptoms gradually accumulate over time with no single triggering event.

Women are more likely to develop fibromyalgia than are men. Many people who have fibromyalgia also have tension headaches, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety and depression.

The primary symptoms of fibromyalgia include:

Widespread pain. The pain associated with fibromyalgia often is described as a constant dull ache that has lasted for at least three months. To be considered widespread, the pain must occur on both sides of your body and above and below your waist.
Fatigue. People with fibromyalgia often awaken tired, even though they report sleeping for long periods of time. Sleep is often disrupted by pain, and many patients with fibromyalgia have other sleep disorders, such as restless legs syndrome and sleep apnea.
Cognitive difficulties. A symptom commonly referred to as "fibro fog" impairs the ability to focus, pay attention and concentrate on mental tasks.
Princess and the Pea Syndrome
Studies show that people with the disorder have a heightened sensitivity to pain, so they feel pain when others do not. Brain imaging studies and other research have uncovered evidence of altered signaling in neural pathways that transmit and receive pain in people with fibromyalgia. These changes may also contribute to the fatigue, sleep disturbances, and cognitive problems that many people with the disorder experience.

Overview of Resources

I’ve recently discovered a few products that have helped me with pain relief… my heel spur has been bothering me and osteoarthritis / joint knee pain and rarely my lower back and neck pain.

First, I’ve done healing pain meditations to release and let go of the inner pain, emotional pain and grief.

And utilize Bach Flowers Rescue Remedy to relieve shock and trauma on a daily basis.

I am also utilizing:

Comfrey cream aka Traumaplant

Arnica

Curcumin with Boswellia

ASEA: Redox signaling molecules

A few articles that I have written that were published about the subject:

Aching for Love by CS Hecht

Aching For Love is my story that was published in numerous places. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1996 after going through a painful divorce, rear ended in a car accident, three family members passed, lost my job and I was flat on my back in pain. I woke up every morning feeling as though I’d been hit by a Mack truck, had fibromyalgia fog, and trouble sleeping. It took a few years, but through health coaching (and I was led to make numerous changes in my diet, alternative therapies including EMDR and trauma healing), step by step, I was able to relieve 98% of my symptoms.

When Pain Won’t End

by C.S. Hecht, published in the Reno Gazette Journal, October 1999

Garnet Nokuda hurts all over and is sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.

"I finally came to the conclusion that I am not superwoman," Nokuda admits. "I look normal and healthy but I've always prided myself on my intelligence and problem-solving skills and I felt that slipping away. I thought I had early Alzheimer's until I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in April by a rheumatologist. For years I had unexplained symptoms."

Every day activities most people take for granted like wringing out a wash cloth, sleeping or writing a letter can be extremely painful for someone suffering with this Chronic Pain and fatigue-related Syndrome.

"After a car accident, I had problems getting a good night's sleep and increasing pain in my hip. My body seemed to overreact to normal stimuli."

Fibromyalgia or FM is a form of muscular rheumatism and chronic pain and fatigue affecting over 6 million Americans, seven times more middle-aged women than men. Many people do not know they have this condition because it is difficult to diagnose. FM is diagnosed by the presence of widespread pain and tenderness in at least 11 of 18 specific locations throughout the body according to the American College of Rheumatology.

"Sixteen of the 18 tender points hurt. I have fatigue, body-wide pain, irritable bowel syndrome, cognitive difficulties, numerous allergies, multiple chemical sensitivities, insomnia and depression. My husband tells me I am not listening but what he's saying is just not connecting. The information is there, it's just not computing."

Nokuda has helped people overcome barriers to employment for the State of Nevada in Carson City since 1990. She spent years traveling from doctor to doctor trying to find out what was wrong with her. Because her symptoms are not outwardly visible, doctors insinuated that she was lazy, too sensitive and/or "it's all in your head." This lack of comprehension about her pain and illness took its toll.

"It was a relief to get a diagnosis. But I am very lucky. Often people lose their jobs, their marriages, their friends. Stress makes symptoms worse," said Nokuda. "I recently had to give up my second job which meant we lost our house and my husband lost his job. I feel guilty but I had to cut back."

New lifestyle choices and changes have been key to overcoming symptoms. Nokuda has had to scale down her activities.

"I am learning how to cope. Balance is the operative word," said Nokuda."I walk 30 minutes a day. But I have had to give up things I really love such as quilting, painting, and writing. Sometimes I feel betrayed by my body."

Christopher Hussar, a Reno dentist who specialises in craniofacial pain disorders since 1978, says that hidden infections in the jaw often cause chronic pain all over the body.

"The concept of chronic dental infections producing pain elsewhere in the body used to be more widely accepted in American medicine," Hussar explains. "Since 1988, using an approach called neural therapy, I have performed thousands of dental procedures to remove chronically infected or dead bony tissue to relieve unexplained pain."

Your teeth are connected to the rest of your body and each tooth corresponds to a part of the body.

"First I ask patients where do you hurt and do a series of tests to determine the probable cause. Someone with fibromyalgia may have a bacterial infection, lack of circulation, nutritional deficiencies, a build-up of lactic acid and/or a low grade infection," Hussar emphasizes. "I try to blast the infection away with everything I can all at the same time, to help the immune system. I tell patients, don't just learn to live with the pain. You can get better.

"I have been able to reverse headaches, hearing disorders, arthritis pain, rheumatological problems, chronic chest pain, heart conditions, multiple sclerois-like symptoms, sinus, eye problems, and all manner of unexplained pain disorders."

Dr. Teresa Chavez, a Carson City rheumatologist, notes multi-dimensional treatment options for people with fibromyalgia work best.

"It covers all the bases. I try to look at the whole person," Chavez explains. "Often there is a trigger event such as a car accident that causes traumatic injury. This can be a significant trigger.

"I let patients know there is a definite sleep disorder and try to help modify the pain and fatigue with muscle relaxants, anti- inflammatories and good sleep habits. There usually is loss of physical conditioning because they've stopped doing everything."

Chavez discusses treatment options and lifestyle choices that seem to work best for her patients.

"Pain killers create other problems and often interfere with sleep. I concentrate on fatigue management such as pacing yourself, planning ahead for activities, realizing that you can't push yourself like you used to and get away with it, and permitting yourself to be tired. I try to get patients involved in support groups, get literature to family members to help them understand why things are different now. I encourage my patients to remain employed and active as much as possible.

"But they may need to consider a job change or modifying their hours and work station, such as sitting on ergonomically correct chairs. It's really easy to get socially isolated and depressed with this condition. If the person is a valued employee, the employer will usually react positively. But if the employee has called in sick a lot and the employer doesn't have a lot of patience, the job can be lost.

"I stress low-impact activity to improve mental attitude, relieve symptoms of depression and isolation, and it also releases natural painkilling hormones that help with sleep and pain. Walking, swimming, stationary bikes are great. Some do yoga, very light massage, and foot reflexology. They have to start very slow and there might be soreness at first," Chavez concludes.

For sufferers, there is new hope on the horizon. Experts a discovering new information every day about fibromyalgia and the other auto- immune syndromes including chronic fatigue, lupus, Addison's disease, hypothyroidism and osteoporosis.

Healing from PTSD-Trauma

Reincarnation and the Holocaust

I wrote about my experiences in an article called Just Someone Who Cares which is featured below or you can click on the link.

LAUGHTER AND TEARS by CeliaSue Hecht

Visits to Auschwitz and Dachau

Alex Berenson talks about visiting Auschwitz and he does not have the info about the deaths and serious side effects from the jabs (12-45,000+ deaths and 1/2 million+ serious side effects in the USA). He also talks about what is happening in Australia today. First, a couple of other items to clarify…

4 years ago · CeliaSue

Pain Management Resources and Lifestyle Adjustments

Diet: Craving carbohydrate-rich foods occur when serotonin levels are low such as is found in people with fibromyalgia. Normal levels of serotonin are necessary for proper sleep, normal mood, and pain control. Serotonin levels rise within an hour or so of eating foods rich in carbohydrates. But these are a quick fix which can make things worse in the long run. Complex carbohydrates raise serotonin levels. These include breads, pasta, potatoes, or rice. Some experts feel eliminating caffeine, sweets, dairy products and meat from the diet can also relieve symptoms.

Exercise: Swimming, walking 20-30-60 minutes a day, yoga, tai chi, or other low impact exercises are important to keep the body conditioned. Foot reflexology with essential oils can help with pain.

Good Sleep Habits: Create a regular routine going to bed at the same time every evening whenever possible. Valerian is one herb that assists relaxation.

Teeth: The teeth are connected to the entire body and dead infected bone from extracted wisdom teeth and other teeth may be causing infections that cause pain all over the body. See a holistic dentist.

Hormones: Dr. John Lee talked about the importance of balancing the hormones and recommended using a natural progesterone cream. This can lessen the painful cramping (Heartland products are the best I used).

Supplements including Vitamins and Minerals: Food sourced vitamins including B-complex with folic acid, B12 and B-6, C, D3 and E, minerals including calcium, zinc, quercetin and magnesium, 5-HTP, SAM-E, Organic Germanium, Echinacea, Enzymes and drinking 8-12 glasses of water a day to flush the system of accumulated toxins.

T relief cream

Wintergreen Oil

Ben gay

Tiger Balm

Biofreeze

Luminas, pain relieving patches

A proprietary formula including Acetyl-L-Carnitine, Amino Acids, Arnica, Astaxanthin, B-Complex, Berberis Vulgaris, Bioperine, Boluoke, Boswellia, Bromelain, Chamomile, Chinchona, Chondroitin, Clove, Colostrum, CoQ10, Cordyceps, Curcumin, Flower Essences Frankincense, Ginger, Ginseng, Glucosamine, Glutathione, Guggulu, Hops Extract, K2, Lavender, Magnesium, Motherwort, MSM, Olive Leaf, Omega-3, Peony, Proteolytic Enzymes, Polyphenols, Rosemary Extract, Telomerase Activators, Turmeric, Vinpocetine, Vitamin D, White Willow Bark and over 200 more!

Some of these are expensive and controversial. Check with your doctor or health care provider.

Some form of involvement with a support group, therapy, or counseling (past life regression, hypnotherapy, psychotherapy, EMDR), aromatherapy, massage therapy are recommended. Have to deal with shame, crisis and stress. Besides it is now being documented that over 90% of women with fibromyalgia have been abused in some way (sexual, verbal, emotional, mental). Because of the emotional trauma and shock, there has been consequential damage in the brain/chemistry and mechanics. (Read the article The Fibromyalgia Syndrome: It's Not All In Your Head by Thomas W. Shinder, M.D.)