Tell Me About Your Pain

Every chronic pain sufferer is searching for the key that will finally unlock their recovery. In the final episode of Tell Me About Your Pain, callers from all over the world share the tools that have been most effective in reducing or eliminating their symptoms. Alan and Alon also talk about the various techniques they’ve covered throughout the podcast, and Alan reveals the single concept that was most important in overcoming his own pain.

Alan and Alon talk to Christie Uipi, Director of the Better Mind Center, who recently participated in a groundbreaking study on the treatment of chronic pain. Christie explains how they treated the patients in the study and what the results mean for the future of chronic pain. Christie also talks about her own struggles with chronic symptoms (knee pain, wrist pain, stomach issues) and how she overcame them. Alan, Alon, and Christie discuss the power of 'No' - a word that's difficult for many chronic pain sufferers. And finally, Christie reveals what she thinks is the single most important thing for overcoming pain.

Fear is the fuel that keeps chronic pain alive. But as many pain sufferers know, it's hard to overcome that fear when it feels so powerful and so automatic. In this episode, Alan and Alon explain how to teach your brain to turn off the fear by introducing a new concept: corrective experiences and setbacks. Alan talks to Sue, who suffers from multiple painful symptoms, and Christie, who feels pain whenever she types. These sessions provide real life examples of corrective experiences and setbacks in action. Finally, Alan and Alon explain how you can use corrective experiences to help your brain unlearn the fear and deactivate your pain.

Alan and Alon talk about the role of emotions in chronic pain. They discuss the benefits of tapping into difficult emotions, and provide a simple and effective technique for doing so. Alan talks to Ginger and Chris who are having trouble connecting with their feelings, and he helps them feel their emotions in a safe way. Finally, Alan talks to Mandi and reveals the one emotion that every chronic pain sufferer needs to address.

Many chronic pain sufferers know the heartbreak of working so hard on their recovery, but not seeing any improvement. In this episode, Alan talks to Paula who's endured chronic headaches and dizziness for two years. Paula has tried everything from medication to meditation, but nothing has worked. Alan helps Paula realize that her approach has been the opposite of what she actually needs to heal. Alan and Alon discuss the common pitfall that's kept Paula stuck and explain how pain patients can get past it to finally find relief.

In this episode, Alan and Alon explain how making your brain feel safe deactivates chronic pain. Alan talks to Laura, a pain sufferer who's been in "danger mode" for many years. Due to her past experiences (getting bullied as a child) as well as the way she treats herself (pressure and anxiety), her brain feels very unsafe. Alan guides her through a somatic technique that calms her brain and puts it in "safe mode." Finally, Alan and Alon explain how you can use this technique to make your own brain feel safe, and overcome your pain.

In this episode, Alan talks to Howard Schubiner, MD, one of the pioneers of mind-body medicine. Dr. Schubiner has developed a unique protocol to help patients determine whether their pain is caused by their brains, or by a structural problem in their bodies. Dr. Schubiner shares some of his landmark techniques (such as provocative testing) geared toward diagnosing pain. Then, Alan and Dr. Schubiner talk about how you can use these techniques to help figure out the cause of your own pain.

In this episode, Alan and Alon explain how you can use your left brain and your right brain together, to overcome pain. The left hemisphere of the brain is generally looked at as our logical side. We use our left brain to think rationally and gather evidence. The right brain is considered to be more emotional and intuitive. Alan talks to Amber, who suffers chronic pain in multiple parts of her body. She has a lot of fear around her pain and a lot of doubt that she'll recover. Alan works with Amber on two fronts: First, he uses a left-brain approach to help her see that her pain is coming from her brain and not her body. This calms her fear and her pain fades. Then he uses a right-brain technique to solidify those pain-free neural pathways. In other words, her left brain gets her out of pain and her right brain helps her stay that way. Finally, Alan and Alon give guidance on how you can use these two parts of your brain to overcome your own pain.

Many chronic pain sufferers struggle with negative thoughts like self-criticism, pressure, and fear. Not surprisingly, this type of thinking makes our pain worse. In this episode, Alan and Alon explore where these thought patterns come from and how you can change them. Alan talks to Lindsey, a chronic pain sufferer who constantly beats herself up and puts pressure on herself. Alan gives her the key ingredient to change these thought patterns and reduce her symptoms. Then Alan and Alon provide a set of concrete steps so that you can change your own negative thoughts to help break the pain cycle.

Living with chronic pain means living with chronic worry. But it's actually this fear, frustration, and despair around the pain that keeps your pain signals activated. Even once you know how destructive these thought patterns are, it’s so hard to keep your mind from going there. In this episode, Alan and Alon explain why your brain keeps pulling you to pain, and how you can break this habit. Alan talks to Chris, a chronic pain sufferer with so much fear and frustration around his pain, he can think of little else. Alan teaches him a new technique to calm these thoughts, cutting off the fuel source for his pain. Then Alan and Alon describe how you can use this same technique to overcome your own pain.

Alan and Alon introduce the concept of leaning into positive sensations, a technique that rewires your brain and deactivates pain. Alan talks to Emily, a back pain sufferer with a lot of fear and preoccupation around her symptoms. By embracing this new technique, Emily does something she thought was impossible: she sits without pain. After the call, Alan and Alon demonstrate how to use this technique to heal your own pain at home.

Alan and Alon introduce somatic tracking, the most effective technique they’ve found for overcoming chronic pain. Somatic tracking teaches your brain to reinterpret signals from your body through a lens of safety, thus deactivating the pain. Alan talks to Stephen (chronic back pain), Amber (fibromyalgia), and Felicia (chronic neck pain). Alan guides each of them through somatic tracking exercises, helping them to neutralize their fear and alleviate their symptoms. Then, Alan and Alon break down the different components of somatic tracking, and explain how you can use this technique to eliminate your own pain.

Most chronic pain is caused by pain circuits in the brain that get stuck. But this can be hard to accept when pain feels like it's coming from our bodies. In this episode, Alan and Alon discuss how to determine if your pain is caused by your brain and explain why it's so important to embrace this belief. Alan talks to Greg, a former football player who always assumed his debilitating pain was caused by injuries to his back. By changing his mindset about the source of the pain, Greg completely overcame his symptoms. Alan also helps Denise, who suffers from multiple chronic pain symptoms, determine whether her pain is caused by her brain or by structural problems in her body.

Alan and Alon discuss the science behind the “pain-fear cycle" and speak with real chronic pain sufferers to examine how it plays out in the real world. Amber, who suffers from chronic neck pain, calls in to share her fears and worries about how her pain dominates her life. Meanwhile, Emily struggles to let go of the idea that her pain is purely physical in nature. Alan and Alon guide their guests to let of go these fears to break the cycle of chronic pain.

Chronic pain sufferers share their struggles with navigating Coronavirus anxiety. Kristin grapples with feelings of uncertainty, while Bethany has a difficult time cultivating a sense of safety during the global pandemic of Covid-19. Co-hosts Alan Gordon, LCSW (Founder of the Pain Psychology Center) and Alon Ziv help Kristin and Bethany calm their fears, and discuss how these anxieties connect back to the latest research on pain.