GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — For years, Martha Sikes took pain pills to manage her chronic pain from fibromyalgia.
“The fibromyalgia pain, or chronic pain, is pure misery,” Sikes said.
Since undergoing a 10-week treatment plan at Mary Free Bed in October, at the Pain Rehabilitation Program, she's been managing her pain pill-free.
“I said, 'Well, I’ll try anything.' I want to live for as long as I can, and I know that cutting out the opioids was the first step,” Sikes said.
Martha's story isn't an uncommon one, according to Dr. Philip Baty with Mary Free Bed.
"I see someone every day like that," Baty said.
Martha says physical and occupational therapy changed her life, along with a pain psychologist and medical provider. The four-person team works together to treat patients with chronic pain.
“I learned in this program to commit. You have to commit. You have to make that commitment to do what needs to be done, to follow what they teach you, and continue to do it when you go home,” Martha said.
Martha exercises daily now, which she says is something she never thought was possible because it was so painful.
"The turning point for me was I was doing a session with the clinical psychologist," Martha explained.
The clinical psychologist hooked Martha up to a biofeedback machine.
"It showed, because I was hurting that day; it showed waves," Martha said.
Next, Martha did deep breathing and meditation.
"The waves that were going everywhere went to a straight line. And I didn't feel any pain," Martha said.
When imagining a cool cloth, Martha says the waves went up again.
"To me, cold makes my pain worse. The cold makes my muscles tighten up, makes my bones ache. When he said that about the cold cloth, it triggered my brain to respond to pain. That was the turning point for me. I knew right then and there that it was my brain, and the way I thought for all these years, [my brain was] keeping me where I was at," Martha said.
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