Grinstead, LMFT, ACRPS, CADC-II
For the past seven years as I have been researching and conceptualizing this book, I have also been dealing with my own chronic pain condition. A series of acute pain flare ups kept me in bed many mornings, unable to work or participate in normal activities; it had been over 20 years since I felt this kind of excruciating pain. It would have been easy to start obse
ssing about my pain again and fall helplessly into a black hole of depression. This realization motivated me into action and I began to manage my pain in a much more effective manner. I applied the seven steps covered in this book to myself as I had almost slipped back into a “chronic pain trance. In this book you will discover what these steps are, how they work, and most importantly how to apply them to your own pain condition. In this book, Freedom from Suffering: A Journey of Hope, the predominant focus is on how you can develop effective pain management techniques that can lead you out of suffering by learning and implementing seven strategic steps. Remember that freedom from suffering is your right, but it is also your responsibility! This book is intended for those of you living with chronic pain conditions who want to learn valuable skills to better manage your chronic pain condition, improve your quality of life, achieve your cherished goals and most importantly to stop your suffering. This book can also be helpful for friends and family members of people living with chronic pain or healthcare providers who are working with them on their journey. In this book you will be asked to examine your personal relationship with your pain and your pain management as well as taking an honest look at your medication management plan. This book is also meant to be a valuable tool for people who have friends or loved ones who are coping with a challenging chronic pain condition. The more proactive you are the more you can improve your pain management. I have been using these steps with my patients for years, as well as training other health care professionals how to effectively help people living with chronic pain. Because of my recent pain flare ups I had an opportunity to apply a fresh understanding of these pain management tools which made it even easier to explain them to others and detail them in this book. One important suggestion I have for anyone living with chronic pain is to stop making pain your enemy; it’s time make friends with your pain. This can be a challenging concept, but believe me, it’s crucial that you make peace with your pain and stop fighting it. When you do, you’ll be able to create a life worth living filled with meaning and satisfaction. For me, the term “fullest” has changed significantly over the past three decades. Before my injury over 28 years ago, my definition included opening my own Karate Dojo and teaching other people the art I had learned to love with a great passion. I was in my early 30s and believed anything was possible. After being injured in a construction accident I lost all hope of ever teaching the martial arts again. In fact, I became so depressed I seriously considered ending my life. Today I’m grateful I didn’t give into those feelings of hopelessness and a life of suffering. Instead, I made a decision to live the best life I could with what I had which became possible through an intense grieving process that took almost three years. Today I can honestly say that I’m grateful for that construction accident and my injury. I’ve found that living with a pain condition for almost three decades has created some limitations for me, but the rewards far outweigh them. I have participated in the healing journey of others living with chronic pain, taught health care providers how to work more effectively with their pain patients, have developed and maintained more fulfilling relationships, and wrote this book. But my journey did not happen overnight, and neither will yours; it takes commitment, willingness and hope. That is why the subtitle for this book is A Journey of Hope. The following roadmap of this book is intended to give you an overview of what you can expect as you embark on your personal journey to successful pain management by reading this book. Step One – It’s Time to Wake Up: During the start of the journey you will learn about some of the common factors that may be keeping you in a chronic pain trance (you’ll learn what this means in this Step). You’ll explore the role of depression and denial and then look at how your thoughts, feelings and behaviors are negatively impacted on bad pain days. You’ll be asked to develop a depression management plan then look at other simple ways to get out of that problem and start breaking the chronic pain trance. Step Two – Taking a Fresh Look at Your Relationship with Pain: On this leg of the adventure you are asked to take a new look at pain. You will look at the pain system and the biological, psychological, and social components of a chronic pain condition. You’ll see that chronic pain needs to be addressed at three essential levels. There will be a more detailed look at three of the roadblocks mentioned above—anxiety, trauma, and sleep problems. Step Three – Exploring Pain versus Suffering: This is a very crucial step in your journey to true freedom from suffering. Part of your success will come from learning that you can change your perception of pain and learn to cope with anticipatory pain. You’ll also learn the role of stress management to decrease your levels and perception of pain. You’ll also have an opportunity to identify and rate the severity of pain and learn the difference between the physical and psychological/emotional components of pain after first seeing how Mary and Mark accomplished that part of their journey. Step Four – Exploring Effective Pain Management: At this stage of the journey you will start looking at better ways to get your chronic pain management needs met. In this step you’ll learn about the three core components of an effective pain management plan and be given tips on how to start developing your own personal, proactive, and solid foundation. This is the three part approach you’ll learn more about in this Step: (1) A medication management plan; (2) A cognitive-behavioral treatment plan; and (3) A nonpharmacological pain management plan. Step Five – To Medicate or not to Medicate; That is the Question: In this step you are asked to take an honest and hard look at the medication management component of your pain management plan. You’ll learn about the Addiction-Pain Syndrome™ and why avoiding or treating medication abuse or addiction is so important. You will also be given definitions of tolerance, dependence, pseudoaddiction and addiction and learn how to identify any red flags of medication management problems that could sabotage your journey. Step Six – Overcoming Five Stuck Points to Achieving Full Freedom: In this step you will see examples of five stuck points that could sabotage your journey and see how to transition successfully through those obstacles. These are the five stuck points you’ll explore in this step: (1) Hopeless to Hopeful; (2) Demoralized to Revitalized; (3) Victim to Victorious; (4) Powerless to Empowered; and (5) Surviving to Thriving. Step Seven – The End of the Beginning: Like an oldies song once said “you’ve only just begun.” In the last step you will pull everything you have learned together and develop a plan for the next stage of your journey to stay free from suffering. You will also learn about the following five Balance Points and how to add that information into your ongoing pain management plan: (1) Positive Self-Talk; (2) Appropriate Emotional Expression; (3) Healthy Support Network; (4) Spirituality/Humility; and (5) Effective Pain Management. Pulling it All Together: This final chapter you have an opportunity to rate yourself on how much you have accomplished by completing the seven steps to freedom from suffering. You will be asked to pull everything together that you accomplished by completing the seven steps and see how far you’ve come.
