• There are many different physical and mental symptoms that are possible when you are in sustained flight or fight physiology.
• At my lowest point, I was experiencing 17 of them. No one could tell me what was happening despite seeing many physicians. I suffered for over 15 years.
• The mental pain was the worst part of my ordeal.
• One reason this process has been effective for so many people was that I learned many important details from my own harsh experience.
• My symptoms resolved and I am grateful I can pass along the healing principles.

I was driving across a bridge late one night, when my heart began to suddenly pound at a furious pace. I couldn’t breathe. I was sweaty, light-headed, and I thought I was dying from a heart attack. I was only 37 years old. This was the first of many panic attacks I would have over the next two years. In one minute, I went from being a fearless spine surgeon to experiencing relentless, progressive anxiety. I wouldn’t emerge from this slow spiral into hell for 13 years. What happened and why so suddenly?

The beginning

My first migraine happened on the 4^th of July. I was five and excited because the local fireworks were being set off in the town commons, directly across the street from our house. But as the sun set, my head began to throb and by 10 o’clock I felt like I was being hit with a sledgehammer. The fireworks less than 100 yards away weren’t helpful.

This was the first of 17 symptoms of a stressed nervous system I developed over the next 50 years. My suffering included tinnitus, burning feet, prolonged tendonitis, insomnia, anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), major depression, migratory skin rashes, crushing chest pain, sweats, PTSD, back and neck pain, heart palpitations, light-headedness, and tension headaches. At my lowest point, I was experiencing all of them simultaneously.

The “perfect” family

My father was a family doctor in a small, New England town. He was highly respected and appreciated. My mother was active in many local activities. I was the oldest of four children, with two brothers and a sister. People would often comment on our  “beautiful family.” We were – from the outside.

Inside our house, my mother was in an intense rage most of the time. She was physically and verbally abusive to me and my three younger siblings. My father wasn’t around much, and he didn’t comprehend the full extent of the situation.Since this was all, we knew, we thought this was what life was supposed to be like.

Interestingly, one of the few things that would cut her anger short was one of my migraines. She would instantly become a loving and nurturing mother, placing cold compresses on my forehead, and keeping everyone quiet.

My new identity

When I entered high school, I felt a deep shift. I was increasingly aware that my family life was not ideal, and I decided that I had had enough. I “shut the door” on my past

Although I still lived at home, I mentally separated from the chaos. I embarked on a quest to create a new identity. I became an excellent student, trumpet player, hard worker, leader, and athlete. During my junior year in college, I took 18 to 21 hours of credit every quarter, worked construction 10-20 hours a week, played sports, had an active social life, ran for student body president, and pulled off a 4.0 GPA. I was having the time of my life. I wasn’t sleeping much.

I continued to graduate from medical school with honors and was accepted in a competitive orthopedic residency in Hawaii. With a great wife, a home in Hawaii, and a promising career, I thought I had it made. I was unaware that I was keeping busy to outrun my past and I had also become a master at suppressing unpleasant emotions.

I completed two years of internal medicine residency before I entered surgical training in Hawaii. Most orthopedic residents undergo a couple of years of general surgery residency before specializing and are comfortable in the operating room. I had never made a skin incision or even knew how to tie a knot. However, handling stress was such a core part my existence, I did not feel it. I was wrapped up in my identity of being “cool under pressure.”

I noticed that my feet burned while I was jogging, which I thought was due to the warm, Hawaiian pavement. My migraines were more frequent, and I had a reoccurrence of warts over both of my hands. One afternoon, while in a weekly orthopedic conference, I noticed some vivid, intrusive thoughts entering my mind. I didn’t think too much about it, but I felt a bit unsettled. Still, I was on top of the world, enjoying my family, learning, and living in a paradise.

Stress

The wheels started to come off when during my post-residency spine fellowship at one of the top programs in the world. It was not as physically demanding as the rest of my residency, but the expectations were extremely high. My migraines were occurring every other week, my ears started to ring, while my feet continued to burn. I pushed through it all.

My “iron man identity” continued to evolve. It seemed that I could handle an unlimited amount of stress. It was my badge of honor. The obstacles I encountered in private practice dwarfed any prior challenges in my training. I recall sitting at my desk one night after working yet another 14-hour day. A patient had developed a serious postoperative wound infection. Another one had gotten into a fight with a security guard. I discovered I wasn’t getting a paycheck that month because of the high office overhead. My mindset was, “ Bring it on.”

A few weeks later, I crashed with the panic attack.

It was only the beginning

Little did I know how severe these symptoms would become and how many more would occur. Skin rashes popped up and disappeared all over my body, my scalp itched, my nightmares became more intense, I had deep aching pains in my upper back, and intermittent crushing chest pain.

There were other terrible aspects of my ordeal. I am a social person and since I didn’t feel great, I quit spending as much time with my friends. The loneliness was crushing. No marriage could have survived all these untreated symptoms because I was often not in a great mood. I worked at hiding it from almost everyone.

As my family disintegrated, I descended into a full-blown obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). I had the internal version, which is experiencing vivid intrusive thoughts, that I would then try to counter with “good” thoughts. I was in an endless, unwinnable battle and my thoughts progressed to disturbing impulses. Along with my many other symptoms, I was in bad shape. I then made the mistake of reviewing some articles on OCD and discovered that the prognosis was (and still is) poor. The best outcome would be to somehow manage or diminish the symptoms with medications or behavioral therapy. I became totally despondent. There was no escape and I sunk into a major suicidal depression. Still, no one could explain to me what was going on or how to solve it

Penetrating the facade

I now understand that major life changes, especially around family dynamics, create more stress and symptoms. The stresses can be positive or negative. The problem with major family events is that they penetrate the façade, and I had been working on mine for decades. A major shift in my symptoms occurred with the birth of my son. My divorce was disastrous. The burning in my feet increased to the point where they felt like they were in a toaster oven. The ringing in my ears was intolerable, I couldn’t sleep, all my other symptoms worsened, and the unrelenting anxiety was the worst part of my ordeal.

I pursued many self-help books, took medications, saw other physicians, underwent multiple diagnostic tests, and aggressively pursued psychotherapy and counseling. I was both open to anything and desperate.

I would’ve thought that meeting my current wife would have been the answer to my suffering. We had an instant connection and I fell in love – except it felt like I was falling off a cliff. I lost more control. When I mustered up the courage to tell her that I was in love with her, she thought I was going to tell her that I had terminal cancer. My suffering dramatically worsened, and I was beginning to seriously give up. No avenue of treatment was working. I had no hope.Slowly, things changed. I escaped the grip of chronic pain in 2003 and continued to gain a deeper understanding of the problem, as well as the principles behind the solutions.

Recap

One reason that the concepts presented in Back in Control  have been helpful for so many people is that they evolved from my prolonged suffering. Almost everything I tried failed, and when I experienced the faintest glimpse of a way out, I kept building on it, step-by-step. Not only I am I doing well, but I am thriving. It is my  privilege to share these strategies with you and be a witness to your healing journey.

Chronic pain has multiple manifestations. Each person has a different experience and must find their own way out. But contrary to common perception, chronic pain is a solvable problem. I am one of the success stories.

The post My Descent Into The Abyss first appeared on Back in Control.

The post My Descent Into The Abyss appeared first on Back in Control.

After my fourth L3-L4 surgery the neurosurgeon sat me down and said “…you are not going to get better but rather worse as you grow older. You have a life sentence of pain.” I’ve had 6 spinal surgeries and 20 additional surgeries. I know chronic pain intimately. After 25 years of debilitating chronic back pain with daily migraines my anxiety level was extreme. My C-reactive test was exceptionally high. I could barely endure another day of pain. It seemed hopeless. I gave up and attempted suicide 3 years ago.

Letting go of anger

Since that time I discovered that Dr. Hanscom’s program works. I faced my anger and resentment and rid myself of all of my negative thoughts towards others and towards my losses brought on by the pain. I forgave everyone who had ever hurt or slighted me. I consciously resolved to face new anger  issues as they came up. I’m now quick to forgive and forget. I carried a lot of anger from my childhood and through my painful journey as an adult. I finally discovered that holding on to anger is toxic to my health. I discovered that I could not get better until I rid myself of anger and resentment.

Getting centered

This program works for me if I will just follow the steps in the book. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve read Back in Control. I have found that daily meditation is my best avenue for continued healing and peace of mind. Meditation helps me stay centered, stay in the moment and greatly reduces my stress level. I’m a living example of why you must never give up hope. If I can cleanse myself and open new pathways to a life without chronic pain you can too.

The post Life Sentence first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Life Sentence appeared first on Back in Control.

All of us are limited in our ability to do exactly what we would like. Many things limit us including:

• Basic human needs
  • Eating, sleeping, drinking, breathing, etc.
• Money
• Time
• Physical attributes
  • Appearance
  • Intelligence
  • Artistic and athletic talent
• Opportunity

It is how you relate to your limitations, which determines whether you put yourself into the victim role. You need to break loose from this role.

Rising above it

There seem to be some people who can stay out of that role even under extreme circumstances. At least it appears that way to me on the surface. One example I think about at least once a week is the story of Nelson Mandela. It is incomprehensible to me that he could be unjustly imprisoned for twenty-seven years and not only forgive his captors, but go on to be a gracious statesman. He placed many of his former captors into positions of power.

Another dramatic example is that of Viktor Frankl. He was an Austrian Jewish psychiatrist who survived the World War II concentration camps. He lost most of his immediate family. There was a time where he was slated to undergo human medical experimentation. Instead of going into the victim role, he asked himself the question, “What is life asking of me right now?” He found meaning in suffering in the midst of the worst of circumstances. He went on to be a prolific writer and professor after the war. He was able to thrive by letting go.

Adrenaline

Not only does remaining angry destroy the quality of your life, it alters yours body’s chemistry so you are constantly full of adrenaline. Animal studies have shown that the conduction of nerves almost doubles under stress, so you actually feel the pain more. (1) Then more pain – more stress. It’s a deadly cycle. The essence of the whole DOC project is calming down the nervous system and optimizing the body’s chemistry. The neurophysiology of chronic pain

I was raised in a chaotic abusive household and my migraines began when I was five-years old. I had crippling headaches every two to three weeks throughout my entire life. What I did not realize that my body was always full of stress hormones and I thought that was the norm. What else did I know? It was perplexing to me that my headaches often were on the weekend when I was more relaxed. What I now know is that adrenaline decreases the blood supply to the brain and when I relaxed the blood vessels would expand. I could feel the pounding of this increased blood flow and it was brutal. I have not had a severe migraine in many years.

In the context of the DOC project, it’s my patients’ willingness to admit and confront their victim role that allows them to move forward—or not. I can do a lot of excellent work with them in dealing with anxiety, but when it really comes down to letting go of being a victim, they often become completely stuck. It is at this point that I have to let go. There is not much else that can be done until this hurdle is dealt with. I always leave the door open for them to re-engage, and many of them do. Truly acknowledging and letting your anger go is the “Continental Divide” of care. It not only affects your perception of pain but also the quality of your entire life.

1. Chen, X et al. “Stress enhances muscle nociceptor activity in the rat.” Neuroscience (2011); 185: 166 – 173.

For more, see:

• Anger affecting Nerve Pain
• Out of the Abyss with Forgiveness

The post Anger and the Continental Divide first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Anger and the Continental Divide appeared first on Back in Control.