hi Pam,
I had 9 appts for massage therapy over 3 weeks, several yrs ago but at the time, my pain was mostly neuropathic. I was so tight from the pain, they were just trying to loosen me up.

To answer your question, the first week was very painful. The therapist warned me it was going to be more painful at first but then would recede, and it did. He had a word I cannot recall for having been in pain for so long, I was ultra sensitive to any strong touch. He said we had to work on that hyper sensitivity first, then address each area of pain. At the time we were just dealing with damage to my nervous system from Lyme infection, not all the issues you have. My muscles were like rocks from tensing from pain so he was basically working on release type massage and getting as much blood flow to as many areas as possible.

My concern for you is, you have had car accidents and multiple surgeries and whoever works on you has to be very cognizant of not doing MORE harm.
If this is a therapist that you can be honest with and just say, that hurts too much, back off in that area and they understand and work with you, maybe it is worth continuing.

Don't know if this therapist does this but doing abdominal massage can be amazingly beneficial. I had a guy who specialized in it and it is amazingly what massage and additional blood flow does to the area and how loose you feel, not to mention the benefits to your digestive tract.

I hope the pain has lessened Pam.
Take care, D