About Chronic Pain / CRPS

When does my pain become chronic?

Chronic pain is generally defined as ongoing or recurrent pain that lasts longer than twelve weeks or beyond the time it takes tissues to normally heal. Although chronic pain has many causes, the top three causes are lower back pain, severe headaches, and neck pain.

How are chronic pain conditions treated?

Chronic pain conditions are traditionally treated with a multimodal approach that includes some combination of medication, physical therapy, and interventional techniques such as nerve blocks and spinal cord stimulation.

The providers at Palo Alto Mind Body augment these treatments by offering IV Ketamine infusion therapy, proven to reduce and often eliminate chronic pain. In addition, their functional medicine providers offer food sensitivity analysis.

Studies show that autoimmune conditions, fibromyalgia, idiopathic pain or numbness, and chronic fatigue syndrome can often improve or fully resolve with dietary change. They provide genetic and vitamin testing to address any underlying vitamin deficiencies that could be contributing to your pain.

Psychotherapy can often help patients learn to manage pain, relieve stress, and learn ways to structure their lives to minimize their pain.

Will ketamine infusion relieve my chronic pain?

Ketamine is used in high doses to provide anesthesia during surgery. When it’s given in low doses through an intravenous infusion, it effectively relieves pain and balances neurotransmitters associated with mental health disorders.

Why is it hard to treat my pain?

The truth is that most pain relievers aren’t very effective against chronic pain syndromes. The relief they provide is temporary at best, which doesn’t help when your pain is chronic.

Chronic pain also leads to a condition called central sensitization, which worsens the pain cycle. Biochemical changes occur in your central nervous system when your nerves constantly carry pain messages to your brain. As a result, you become overly sensitive and experience pain from non-painful stimuli, like the touch of soft clothing.

What type of pain is caused by mental health disorders?

Mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, and PTSD cause physical pain and may also intensify pain from other physical causes.

This connection between mental health and pain is not “all in your head.” Psychiatric disorders and pain conditions share some of the same nervous system pathways.

The shared overlap is so significant that primary care physicians often prescribe tricyclic antidepressants to relieve neuropathic pain, and with recent treatment advancements, mind-body expert Dr. Ghorieshi utilizes evidence-based psychotherapies and advanced treatments such as IV Ketamine infusions to relieve chronic pain disorders, even complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), formerly known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD).