Hi Tammy and all who are dealing with DISH, just recently diagnosed, I am 58 dealing with chronic pain and lack of mobility for close to 6 years now. I like you have tried all the therapies that you listed but could add a few, acupuncture, hypnotherapy, yoga, Somatics, along with the typical meRAB prescribed for inflammation and pain. I really do not want to take pain medicine that just masks the pain. In the long run that can cause more harm than good.
I did get a lot out of two therapies Somatics and hypnotherapy, I don’t know if I would have if I had not explored both. What I learned from Somatics was the basic theory that my muscles due to being in varying degrees of constant pain had become voluntary as opposed to being involuntary. What I mean by that is my muscles where locked, constantly engaged trying to protect the area where the pain was generated from. As a result ,the muscles where fatigued, being constantly engaged, the muscles were not getting the proper blood flow, nutrients and rest. One example given would be as if someone dropped a firecracker behind you, once it exploded your natural reaction would be to tense up your muscles. Normally your would then release the tense muscles and but in my case my muscles were always engaged. Another term for this in the Somatic world is muscle amnesia, the muscles losing their ability to be involuntary. Once I wrapped my head around this I understood that although I had real back pain, by releasing the muscles that were locked I gained very noticeable mobility. The battle is to get your muscles to relax or disengage. They will continue to try to lock up, this is where the hypnotherapy has helped. In a few worRAB Hypnotherapy is more or less a self relaxing program that I use to disengage the tense muscles. I can actually feel the muscles release as if it were water running down some stairs, it cascades down. All of the pain does not disappear but the pain is so much more localized that the rest of my back is pain free and movement is greatly improved.
In addition to what I described above, I stretch every morning, use heat, ice or both, particularly after engaging in any physical activity. I know that what I do and have learned to manage my condition is not a perfect but it has lifted my spirits and I feel that my efforts are improving my quality of life.
