Chronic Pain Treatment and You Are The Placebo

In January of 2017, I had enough of the pain I'd been in since July of 2015. My back surgeries made it worse. The epidural injections I had in pain management sent me to rock bottom. Lyrica showed me that there is a basement below rock bottom.

I decided on my own that I was going to get better because my only other option was not one I wanted to take.

My journey has been long and hard. Two steps forward, three steps back. I've done and tried just about everything in my quest to feel better, to have days without pain, to reclaim some of my life that I had lost.

About 20 months into that quest, I started seeing a clinical psychologist and it was the right decision, at the right time, with the right person.

Chronic Pain Treatment and You Are The Placebo

In our second session, she told me to read You are the Placebo by Dr. Joe Dispenza.

This book has changed my life and I haven't even been able to put it into practice yet.

I do not want to go into the book heavily because I honestly want you to read it. What I will tell you is this, the human brain is capable of amazing things. It can hurt you or heal you if you are open to it.
Dr. Dispenza goes over the history of the placebo, why placebos work, and documents several medical studies (not just one) to support his findings. He's appealing to the type of audience that needs to logically work out this concept of healing through your own brain. He also appeals to the spiritual side of an audience that may believe in miracles. I feel that he brings enough information for each camp of science vs spirituality to appeal to both.

Now, I will say that the language of this book can be daunting at times but don't let that discourage you enough where you put the book down and walk away.

When discussing some of the science behind his theories, he talks about quantum mechanics. I was in the groove for it, because I had just read What We Talk About When We Talk About God and that talks about science and quantum mechanics as well. Plus, I was totally into The Universe when it came on The History Channel back in the day. I'm such a nerd.
Stick with the book even if it is high minded!

Around the end of the book, and in conjunction with my psychologist visits, I had a real breakthrough. I actually felt joy. I was happy. Happy is the start of healing and it's such a wonderful start. Check out my 7 Steps for Learning to Live with Joy.

I wouldn't have had my breakthrough without this book and I hadn't even started his meditations. Which, by the way, I will start Thursday because that's when my current Headspace pack wraps up. I can't wait to see how much more I'm going to grow when doing his exercises, and that's exercises for your brain y'all!

If you have chronic pain or illness, this book, if put into practice will absolutely change your life. I feel like it should be required reading for every patient by every pain management doctor in the United States.