Mindfulness has been found beneficial in working with pain.
I took a class through a university in mindfulness. Follow up classes were available for specifically working with pain.
In time, you can change your brain.
Sax, they say the breathing things are about getting the CO2 out better, rebalancing. I sometimes do the Andrew Weill one: in through the nose to a six count, whooish out, open mouth, eight count. Not too many at a time, but there’s a reason stressed people are told to “breathe.” (Or in childbirth, eg.)
R, my mother had chronic pain, some of these things may not work for you. But they may. And they’re mostly non-invasive.
conmama, I absolutely agree with you, and that is exactly what I said. An effective pain management problem can do wonders to improve one’s quality of life. If the practitioner says they will cure you, look elsewhere. The one you are using sounds like a keeper.
Lookingforward, yes, I know that, maybe even better than average joe, because I work in the field that creates tools for doctors. That is a topic for another discussion.
BB, it’s just that I fall between the two camps. Part of my own experience is with MD training.
@lookingforward . That’s cool.
The technique i described is more about slowing your breathing, calming your mind, getting in a rhythm. Kinda Zen like. It really does work very well. If Romani can get there it MIGHT help push the pain away for a bit.
Besides its free, easy and can’t hurt you.
Oh of course there is no doubt that diet affects health. It’s the “detox diets” that “cure” you that make me roll my eyes.
I have changed my diet significantly since getting sick and I know it has helped. My diet still isn’t great but it’s much, much better than before 
This is verbatim from my insurance:
I will try these things
http://www.apa.org/research/action/hypnosis.aspx
http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/hypnosis-meditation-and-relaxation-for-pain-treatment#1
Hypnosis is not on your list of " not covered". That’s a good thing.
Sadly standard Medicare B doesn’t cover these “non traditional” treatments either, nor dies our insurance unless we have a rider, not currently available as part of our insurance.
Um…maybe I shouldn’t post this but…
My health insurance doesn’t cover acupuncture. However, the insurance company nevertheless has a list of acupuncturists who give a “preferred rate” to those having the insurance. I ended up seeing one who was American and not a physician but had an office in a suite of doctors and most of her patients–including yours truly–were referred to the acupuncturist by them.
I don’t know for a fact, but the evidence suggested, that some of these doctors had figured out a way to get the visits coded as some sort of physical therapy which is covered by insurance. I can’t actually prove that but based on comments in the shared waiting area it seems that happened. For all I know, the acupuncturist had some sort of physical therapy license that made this defensible. The lesson I think is not to look for an acupuncturist on your own. Ask your doctor. Some seem to have worked out arrangements with acupuncturists.
I went for a frozen shoulder. It helped some. It didn’t increase the range of motion but it dialled down the pain level for the shoulder. I had gotten to the point that I was so tense that if someone brushed my arm or tapped me on the back to get my attention, I was in excruciating pain. Ironically, it helped more with my low level almost chronic back pain, which I gave up trying to get help for years before.
If I could have afforded to continue it indefinitely I would have. Best part was that it relaxed me so much I slept----and due to the frozen shoulder, I was having trouble sleeping. (That’s rare for me.)
I’m not usually into alternative medicine, but I don’t think the practice would have existed for so long in China if there wasn’t something to it. I tried it out of sheer desperation and little hope it would work. It definitely helped.
BTW, my understanding is that the female reproductive system is the area in which there is the strongest evidence it works. It is routinely prescribed --or at least it was when I was seeing the acupuncturist–for women who are having trouble getting pregnant. It’s the last stop before trying in vitreo for many women. I think the female gynecologists in the practice were all convinced it can help some people. Maybe it’s psychosomatic, but I think a lot of it is dialing down the tension in your body.
I’m sorry you’re dealing with so much chronic pain. My D has two conditions that cause chronic pain. She has been reluctant to try acupuncture, so if you do try it, I would love to hear your experience.
One thing that has really helped her is seeing a pain psychologist. This is an actual specialty, and the person she saw helped her learn to cope with chronic pain in her every day life. This can be very helpful if you find yourself developing anxiety because you’re afraid doing things is going to cause more pain.
The other thing I’d suggest you look into is an inpatient program like one that is offered at CCHMC or CHIP. They deal with the severe sensitivity to pain and try to break the cycle that kids are in. (https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/service/f/functional-independence is just one example). My daughter’s rheumatologist wanted her to do an outpatient program similar to one of these, but we just never could figure out how to work it in during the school year.
And I would recommend trying out a TENS unit. You may think it doesn’t do anything, but the idea is that it’s disrupting the electrical signals that are telling your brain you’re in pain. Keep trying it and over time you might notice a difference. It’s given some relief to my D when she gets strange pains that aren’t from something she’s done physically.
@jonri thank you for that. I’m really hoping we can find some way for insurance to cover it.
I did find this: http://www.uofmhealth.org/our-locations/chelseahc-acupuncture
Maybe if it’s done by an MD, it’ll be covered?
@SuburbMom I’m so sorry your D is going through chronic pain, too. I will say that for my back/hip pain, my chiropractor has helped immensely (and I was very skeptical). Unfortunately the relief only lasts for a day or two (sometimes more) but it’s relief nonetheless!
I have never heard of a pain psychologist or any kind of program like that in patient one. I am in my mid-20s so I’d have to find an adult program (I assume?) but I’d be super interested in something like that. Thank you so much!
Thank you for the advice on the TENS unit. I hadn’t looked up how to use it. I don’t think my FIL uses it anymore so I wonder if he’d let me borrow/have it…
I am in the extremely fortunate position of being a student so I have to be “at work” only 2-3 days/week and not really at all in the summer. I would be able to easily schedule some type of inpatient program.
The tens units I bought at a medical conference (and have seen at a Costco roadshow and online) are about $100 or $200 I believe. I’ve seen less expensive ones online and suspect quality varies widely.
@HImom are you referring to the TENS device?
Yes, they have portable devices and had a roadshow at Costco where they were selling it and a siatsu portable massager. The units I bought were at a medical conference but the same as the ones at the Costco roadshow. D and H both used it initially and then not so much. They found it relaxing. It has a timer so it doesn’t go too long if you fall asleep with it.
@HImom thanks for that 
I found this pain program at Johns Hopkins: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty_areas/pain/patient_information/inpatient.html
It’s a bit far but it looks super interesting…
Honestly, I’m willing to go wherever as long as I can afford it and it’ll help. I’m at that point.
It may be worth contacting JHU and seeing if they are aware of any pain programs nearer you as well. Some programs are good at referring you to nearer options. I have had positive experiences contacting them about Orthostatic Intolerance, as Dr Peter Rowe there is much more experienced than anyone in our state.
The brand of the Portabke TENS unit is www.hidow.com. It is a class 2 medical device and reimbursed by some insurers. We didn’t seek medical reimbursement. If you want it, you need an Rx and to submit the receipt.
The Dry needling was covered by my insurance for my frozen shoulder. I think because the PT has a license and it’s considered “western medicine”. Maybe there is a way to find a PA that does both and codes it a certain way for you?
@MichiganGeorgia I think that’s a route that I’ll definitely explore.
I hate this game of “coding” that we have to do with insurance 
Yes, H had massages performed by his PT 100% covered between Medicare B and our insurer. If it wasn’t a PT or properly coded he’d have 0% covered!
I was going to suggest the same thing as many posters already mentioned: referrals from an MD to a licensed physical therapist who also happens to perform not so traditional procedures, so the therapy might be covered.
Since we are discussing all sorts of non-pharmaceutical pain management options, I am going to suggest asking your doc what they think about Feldenkrais. It is a form of alternative PT that I have looked into a while ago (but ruled out for certain reasons - it would not have helped me). It is about teaching the body to avoid movements that trigger pain and replacing them with other movements that don’t cause discomfort.