Since I started having liver problems and severe diarrhea several months back, most of my chronic pain has settled into my right abdomen. I still have it in my lower back. However, most of my shouder pain and upper back pains seem to have lessoned. I've heard stories that if you cause a major pain like smashing a fist or something, that your brain will focus on that pain instead of the more chronic stuff. I think I prefer it to be more spread out around my body instead of being focused in abdomen. It hurts like heck almost to the double over point.

Is it possible for your brain to rewire itself temporarily in this way? If so, how long does the rewiring last for? I'm having my abdominal issues checked into with a colonoscopy and liver ultrasound. Am also having other organs investigated like ovaries. If we can't find any other cause for this abdominal pain, am I doomed to living with abdominal pain instead of the tos pain and lower back pain I'm used to????

Any ideas?

Thanks

Hi,

I am going to post a few article abstracts to illustrate your point that your brain for sure can rewire itself in pain situations.......

[Psychosomatics, psychotherapy and neuronal plasticity--how words change our mind]

[Article in German]


Rüegg JC.
Institut für Physiologie und Pathophysiologie der Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Deutschland. Caspar.Rueegg@gmx.de
Certain psychosomatic disorders such as chronic psychosomatic pain, phobias and other anxiety disorders as well as depression are often stress-related but may also be acquired by learning associated with traumatic experience. As learning is based on changes in neuronal networks, the brain will be altered in these diseases. In turn, brain structure and function may also be influenced and even changed by effective psychotherapy as well as by other (behavioural) cognitive interventions--words and thoughts--when leading to cognitive restructuring. Due to their neuronal plasticity our brains are capable of constantly rewiring themselves so that we can--in Andreasen's words--"literally change our mind".


1: Brain. 2008 Aug 30. [Epub ahead of print] Links
Abnormal pain processing in chronic tension-type headache: a high-density EEG brain mapping study.

Buchgreitz L, Egsgaard LL, Jensen R, Arendt-Nielsen L, Bendtsen L.
Danish Headache Center, Department of Neurology, Glostrup Hospital, University of Copenhagen, DK-2600 Glostrup and Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Aalborg University, DK-9220 Aalborg E, Denmark.
Central sensitization caused by prolonged nociceptive input from muscles is considered to play an important role for chronification of tension-type headache. In the present study we used a new high-density EEG brain mapping technique to investigate spatiotemporal aspects of brain activity in response to muscle pain in 19 patients with chronic tension-type headache (CTTH) and 19 healthy, age- and sex-matched controls. Intramuscular electrical stimuli (single and train of five pulses delivered at 2 Hz) were applied to the trapezius muscle and somatosensory evoked potentials were recorded with 128-channel EEG both in- and outside a condition with induced tonic neck/shoulder muscle pain (glutamate injection into the trapezius muscle). Significant reduction in magnitude during and after induced tonic muscle pain was found in controls at the P200 dipole in response to both the first (baseline versus tonic muscle pain: P = 0.001; baseline versus post-tonic muscle pain: P = 0.002) and fifth (baseline versus tonic muscle pain: P = 0.04; baseline versus post-tonic muscle pain: P = 0.04) stimulus in the train. In contrast, there were no differences between the conditions in patients. No consistent difference was found in localization or peak latency of the dipoles. The reduction in magnitude during and after induced tonic muscle pain in controls but not in patients with CTTH may be explained by impaired inhibition of the nociceptive input in these patients. This may be the first evidence that the supraspinal response to muscle pain is abnormal in patients with CTTH.

Curr Opin Support Palliat Care. 2007 Aug;1(2):109-16.Links
Neuroimaging of pain mechanisms.

Tracey I.
Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, Departments of Clinical Neurology and Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, Oxford University, Oxford, UK. irene@fmrib.ox.ac.uk
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Functional neuroimaging has made a huge impact scientifically, not least within the field of pain research. The noninvasive identification of pain mechanisms that underpin chronicity, such as central sensitization and other amplification processes related to the cognitive or emotional state of the patient, is of considerable interest to the clinical pain community and pharmaceutical industry. Relating data to a person's specific pain report or measure of pain relief provide a clearer understanding of the mechanisms driving and maintaining this complex experience. It is timely, therefore, to review the advances in neuroimaging applications to pain. RECENT FINDINGS: New data have emerged to further support the descending modulatory system's critical role in chronic pain. The neural correlates that underpin tonic, ongoing and spontaneous pain in patients are being identified. Additionally, the prefrontal cortex is emerging as a critical brain region for pain processing, especially in patients. Finally, data from structural and molecular imaging studies are highlighting the extent of damage the brain sustains when patients live with their chronicity unrelieved. SUMMARY: Neuroimaging tools have advanced our understanding of central pain mechanisms in normals and patients, forcing us to reconsider issues related to diagnosis and provision of treatment.
hope some of this helps you
love and hugs,
Victoria

interesting but skeptical. would like to hear success stories from actual pain wrecked TOS'er. As my mind wonders about this alternative, I know I don't have a mental health rider and the cost of pursing this venture would be very expensive, to the point of causing me more pain because of extra activity to pay for it, so then the effects mentally would be counterproductive.

See my post on FDA approved Neuro magnetic imaging.
I am so there.
Sports athletes have been using it for years.
If its going to help fibromyalgia I am so there & who nows what else it can help like my pleurisy. I'll let you know. I'm on the list to have it done when the machines are set in place this next month.

Also hyperbaric chamber is the other one I want to use.
If you google the information you will see how it repairs soft tisse & depression. The other proof is cancer to Fibromayalgia.
olecyn

Is it possible for your brain to rewire itself temporarily in this way? If so, how long does the rewiring last for? I'm having my abdominal issues checked into with a colonoscopy and liver ultrasound. Am also having other organs investigated like ovaries. If we can't find any other cause for this abdominal pain, am I doomed to living with abdominal pain instead of the tos pain and lower back pain I'm used to????

Read up on autonomic neuropathy for the digestive problems. I wonder if your meds are causing any liver changes, as mine did. Look at your blood tests and beware of "elevated liver enzymes" and your blood sugar should be under 100. If over, discuss diabetes with your doctors, which can be a culprit for ALL of these additional non- TOS symptoms.

Let us know what you find out, ok?

Any ideas?

Thanks