March 21, 2106: Day One of Pain Camp


Very interesting and stimulating day. It was powerful and humbling to meet the other participants in this program: a  diverse group of people united by a history of pain. Most have grappled with this for a lot longer than I have and many suffer from complicated medical conditions: A young man who travelled from the Persian Gulf to participate in this program who had spinal injury from an auto accident ten years ago and has had terrible pain since then, which responds only to opiates. He spends most of his days in bed. There is a sweetness about him and he really seems to want to find a different way. A 50-something bank executive who "has the bones of an 85-year-old woman". She is currently on medical leave and badly wants to get back to work. A cancer survivor from rural Indiana, who developed nerve pain following chemotherapy after breast cancer six years ago. She wants to be able to be a better mom and wife and leader of the family and maybe to find a job in a shop. Each one has travelled a long way medically (and sometimes physically). Another haunted looking women stated that she hasn't slept for days. 

If nothing else, I will have learned something from this program about how badly people can suffer  and that when you see someone who is in tough shape it is clear that "there but for fortune go you or I", to quote the late, great Phil Ochs. Yes, this is obvious to anyone who has lived more that a few years but I confess that it is difficult to know this emotionally.


The guiding notion of this program is to take advantage of the concept of neuroplasticity to help people deal with pain.  In layman's terms (the only terms that I can use) this means that we can learn practises that "rewire" our brains to mitigate pain or, in other terms, to break the link between sensation, pain and suffering.  Ten years ago all this would have seemed flaky but recently the science, as well as the anecdotal experience of many desperate people, has moved in the direction of practises like this. Early on in my research about this I spoke to a very well-credentialed  pain doctor in Boston who sensed my skepticism  and she told me:"In case you think this stuff is flaky, I am here to tell you that it is science." Some doctors don't get this but others do. I have been motivated to come here, in part by a successful experience with Mindfulness Based Stress Release for pain. So this will be an intensive boot-camp in practises of this nature. I look forward to seeing how it works out. Stay tuned.