Thoughts on the book/theory: ''Unlearn Your Pain'' by Howard Schubiner

[kcc73]

Hi - So a friend sent me this youtube video by Howard Schubiner (from USA) about undoing your pain. He is a compassionate man & there were a lot of comments with the video vouching for him and sharing their success stories . BUT it goes back to the theory pain is all in the head . I've had symptoms for several years but new diagnosed this year. I don't know if I should ignore this - or maybe accept if 'we' changed our mindset then we could lessen or be free of pain!! I'm having a v bad day today especially with fatigue.

Just interested on peoples thoughts.

Best wishes K x

 

[sunkacola]

@kcc73 ........I have also had some thoughts lately about the "pain all in the head" concept. It's a pretty interesting line of thinking and exploration, isn't it?

The thing is that "all in your head" has, for hundreds if not thousands of years been used as a phrase to put people down. If you tell someone it's all in their head you are usually saying that what they are experiencing is not Real, and that they are, essentially, imagining things, or are crazy. This has traditionally been used especially on women and on children, to tell them that their experience is invalid.

It's been used a lot with regard to fibromyalgia because doctors have thought if there was nothing they could pinpoint as the physical source of the pain, then there wasn't any "Real" pain, and the person was either making it up or was mentally ill in some way that caused them to feel pain when there wasn't any, just on the same level as someone who says they see an elephant when there isn't one.

The really interesting thing to me these days, though, is that more and more research into the brain and the body and pain and fibromyalgia is pointing in the direction of fibromyalgia pain being "brain pain" rather than "body pain". This doesn't, of course (as we all know) mean that the pain is not Real or that we are not feeling it....no one needs to tell us that! It is only asking where the pain actually originates. And some researchers are saying that it actually may originate in the brain.

Which is why the usual pain relief drugs do not work. They are designed to interrupt the signal sent from, say, an injured leg, to the brain's pain receptors so that the brain can send out a pain signal saying that the leg is injured. But if the pain signals are actually originating in the brain, then those pain meds won't work.

Now.....unfortunately, even if we accept the theory that the pain in fibromyalgia originates in the brain as being fact (which it has not been proven to be, as yet), that doesn't mean we become magically pain free! The brain will still keep doing what it is doing and we will still be in pain. If we could simply make the pain stop by telling ourselves not to feel pain, or that the pain is "not real" or some other thought trick.....wouldn't that be great? But if that were the case we'd not even have fibromyalgia at all!

What this might do, though, if it is somehow established that fibromyalgia pain originates in the brain, is make the development of medications that actually work for people with fibro more likely, because (presumably) they would be targeting the places in the brain that send out the pain signals.

I am very interested to see how this plays out in research and drug development.
And also interested to read the thoughts of others on this topic.

 

[SBee]

Well put @sunkacola I find it hard to explain my thoughts on this. For myself, I do believe that of course our pains are 100% real, but that the brain can misinterpret the pain and "exaggerates" or confuses us making the pain to feel worse than it should.

The big difficulty is to try to put over that yes, the brain is causing us to feel pain, but never to try to imply that damaging phrase that "its all in our heads" i.e we are almost "making it up".

And I am aware I have not made my thoughts clear, but I come back often to a previous thread, where, to paraphrase, you said " we dont ask to be understood, but just to be believed". We ourselves may not see a full medical explanation of fibromyalgia, but we deserve to be respected and believed.

 

[sunkacola]

Just want to say, @SBee ...I think you do just fine making your thoughts clear. I have never had a problem understanding you as far as I know.

One thing that makes me feel as if the "brain pain" theory holds water is that normally I have always had a very high pain threshold, and in many ways I know that I still do. But on some days, all I have to do is ever so slightly bump something with some part of my body, and the pain I feel is amazingly intense. Yet, afterwards, there is no bruise, so I can know for certain that the pain was entirely out of proportion to the actual injury....in fact, there was no injury at all.
This phenomenon would be explained by the pain originating in, or at the very least being...as you say...exaggerated by, the brain.

 

[SBee]

Thanks so much, my mind know s what it feels but I cant always put that into words!

And so often for me @sunkacola its not only pain for me. I have high levels of sensitivity to light, noise, smells, and new is tastes, and 'skin sensations '. So much so that I never go anywhere without earplugs to dull (how I hear it) the confusion of noises in a busy area, and point blank cannot wear many forms of materials against my skin. So

Its more than irritation, if its really bad, I cannot even abide water touching parts of my body, let alone materials. This plainly is not how most brains interpret pain or sensations!

 

[sunkacola]

@SBee I also have light and noise sensitivity. I love living where it is almost always sunny, but wear shades every single time I step outdoors.

I went into a store one time that had massive bright lights everywhere, and large screens on which advertisements for various products the store was selling were blaring from each one of them, each having a different video playing. I made it about 15 feet in the door before I turned around and fled. I don't know if I would have been able to stay in there if my life had depended on it; it all felt like a physical assault on me. The store was full of people who didn't seem to be affected by it.

I live out away from town in a place that is quiet, and dark at night, with quiet neighbors. If that ever changed, and this place became noisy or stopped being dark at night, I would no longer be ab le to live here, it's that serious for me. People don't get this. They think it's something that we can control and are just not bothering to control....that we could talk ourselves into or out of this way of feeling,. Sadly, that's just not how it is.

 

[SBee]

And I dont often 'admit' to these sensory overloads @sunkacola . Noise wise, it tends to be when there are multiples of noise - such as traffic, with too many people speaking at once, occasions like that. supermarkets are my worse places to be. Am needing to do home deliveries to avoid that additional stress.

Like you, I am fortunate to live in a very quiet area, for us, in a small Lane that is a no through road, so traffic is very limited, as it is in the nearest village to us. Towns etc I find busy and stressful, so I limit the times I need to go. Again, its finding techniques that help us - and avoidance is I think one of those that can, if possible, be useful.

 

[johnsalmon]

the theory pain is all in the head

actually that is correct - if you hurt your finger then the brain sends a message that your finger hurts - does the hurt originate in the finger or the brain it actually originates in the nerve cells that are between the finger and the brain- loose a leg in combat and you will still feel the pain from the missing leg. The nociceptors that sense damage are no longer there but the pain is still there this is why Tens machines etc work they stop the pain signal from the brain so if you set the machine correctly then you have no pain but you still have the underlying cause of the pain thus pain originates in the brain after receiving a signal for a part of the body that has damage.

However this does not fit the fibromyalgia as there is no actual damage to the point that you feel pain so fibro pain is more like the missing leg situation

 

[JamieMarc]

Good morning!

I have not read this book so I am not qualified to comment on it. However, I will say one thing. My pain management specialist has told me that in fibromyalgia the brain processes pain signals differently.

That's it. Concepts like this are complex and therefore difficult for me to say much about without rambling. But as I learn I may be able to talk more about this speaking from facts.

 

[SBee]

oh thats nicely put @JamieMarc ! So much simpler ( yet effective) from my own attempts at explaining this and tangling up my words..This is exactly how I see things.

 

[kcc73]

Thanks for sharing all that.
Yes - I agree there is quite a bit - a lot of fear - associated with brain/mh conditions. I hope I am not talking out of term to say that a large number of us have experienced being gaslit by medical professionals. I have mentioned before I have a mh history too (secondary to huge stress and trauma in adult life) and since having a diagnosis of fibromyalgia a few weeks ago, I have been able to share this more openly in 3 weeks then I have my mh problems in 5 years. So stigma is strong.
Interesting the podcast 'fibromyalgia' by Tami Stackelhouse , in latest episode she (a life long sufferer and now fibro coach in USA) says research into CBT is that it does not lessen pain - but help you cope with the pain. CBT just one mh therapy but this would contraindicate . Oh it's so complicated! K x

 

[kcc73]

@sunkacola absolutely - to be believed. I am more believed with fibro than I was when I had a mental breakdown due to huge stress & trauma that came to a head.

 

[kcc73]

@SBee - re your sensitivities, do they cause pain? For those that don't, have your read up on 'sensory processing disorder'? - my daughter has it since a child-now 20. Her worse is touch & how things especially clothes feel and coming out of showers are very hard as she hates that drying process. Her subtype is 'tactile defensiveness' . x

 

[JamieMarc]

@kcc73

Kudos to you for talking about your mental health. As @sunkacola once said, we only feed the stigma when we don't talk about mental health, disability, etc. Being HIV positive, disabled and a lifelong history of mental health issues, I learned, particularly within the last 10 years, that disclosure and discussion are healthy for me and better for fighting back against societal prejudices.

One of my favorite sayings that I use often is I am only as sick as my secrets. That originated in alcoholics anonymous, yet another thing (addiction) that is frequently the target of stigma.

 

[SBee]

Thank you @kcc73 first I too appreciate your speaking openly about your MH. Its something I am able to do so myself. I hope by 'normalizing' MH, which affects so many of us in varying ways, then it can slowly stop the (unwarranted in my view) stigma associated with this.
Full credit to you for your ability to begin speaking of this i the last 3 weeks.
I am on anti depressants, and had 2 previous cbt\talking therapy courses, I am just beginning a very valuable opportunity in speaking with a charity involved in the MH side of chronic autoimmune conditions. These are proving to be the most beneficial therapy types for me.

Secondly thank you for your info on the sensitivities I feel. No, they are not giving pain as such, just an almost unbearable dislike of bright artificial lights, chaotic noise and yes, the skin sensitivity. I get that about the towels! Its so reassuring when you realise such a quirk can be felt by others. Clothes, nothing 'harsh' or scratchy, directly against my skin. All labels must be cut out of clothing too.

I have done some light research into this, and sensory processing disorder is something I have come up and read. My original rheumatologist ( seen for arthritis) diagnosed me also, with central sensitization syndrome. This does seem to 'fit' a lot of my more odd but distressing symptoms. ( And fibromyalgia is often within the CSS 'label' too)

i can only agree with you in that it really is complicated. Sometimes I find it easier to try to treat each symptom separately, despite my preference of getting a more concrete formal diagnosis.