About Us

The pandemic sucked for a lot of different reasons. A lot of people struggled with lockdowns, not being able to see family, losing loved ones, and losing jobs. It was a really rough time.

During that time, I was going through a completely different struggle that started during lockdowns. I developed a severe pain that radiated throughout my lower back, hips, and legs. Walking became incredibly painful. In May 2020, I graduated from college with a degree in nursing. I passed my exams, received my license, and I was ready to start my career. I was ready to do my part during the pandemic. But I couldn’t because I was in so much pain and I had no idea why.

The pain was getting worse with each day. I saw several doctors while living in Southern California. They had no idea what was wrong with me. They tried having me take some medications that didn’t work at all. I became convinced that if I changed my diet the pain would go away. I couldn’t figure out which diet would work and became afraid that there were certain foods that were making the pain worse. I started eating a lot less and then I started experiencing weight loss. I lost over 20 pounds over the course of a few months. I didn’t fit into my clothes anymore.

I kept calling out of work because I was physically incapable of working 12 hour shifts at this point. I tried going to work twice with the pain and I left both shifts crying in pain. I ended up losing my job.

My mental health started crashing. I became incredibly anxious and fearful. I then developed a severe depression that made me feel as if my brain was working in slow motion. I completely lost interest in all the things that used to bring me joy. I stopped leaving my house. I stopped reaching out to friends. I would spend hours locked in my room, sitting on my floor, staring off into nothing. I eventually started experiencing suicidal thoughts. I didn’t want to live a life of constant pain. I didn’t want to live a life feeling like a burden to those around me. I started making a plan and it terrified me how easy it would be to take my own life.

During this time, I moved back home with my parents in Northern California. From there, I saw more doctors and we tried more treatment options. They put me on more medications, I went to physical therapy, they started doing nerve stimulation treatments, I received acupuncture, massage therapy, and cupping. I started meditating every day for several hours. I dove into art therapy and started painting every day. I was seeing a therapist for my mental health. I went to yoga classes every day. My parents drove me to Tahoe because we thought exposing me to nature could be healing. All of these things helped a little, but at the end of the day, I was still in constant pain.

Throughout my whole chronic pain experience, I was dealing with insomnia every night. I finally brought it up with a doctor and they placed me on a medication called Trazodone. For the first time in seven months, I slept through the night and woke up the next morning almost pain free. I still had a lot of pain during the day, but I was so happy to finally experience some relief from pain.

I started doing graded exposure therapy each day. I slowly exposed myself to walking a little more each day. I started exposing myself to exercises that had originally caused me pain. It was a lot of baby steps, but I got to the point where walking was no longer a trigger for pain. This took months.

Several months later I discovered a therapy called Pain Reprocessing Therapy. I had never heard of this therapy before. None of my doctors had mentioned it. I decided to start working with a therapist who specialized in pain reprocessing therapy and my pain decreased drastically. I discovered an app called Curable which is based on pain reprocessing therapy. I started experiencing days that were mostly pain free.

Today I work full time as an ER nurse. I can eat all the food I want without fear of pain. I can now travel without the fear of going through a flare up. I rock climb, I hike, I kayak, and I do what I want. I still see a pain therapist and I still use the Curable app. My pain is not completely gone, but some days it is barely noticeable. I still have anxiety, but the depression and suicidal thoughts are gone. Healing takes time and there are more options out there. There are so many things that I still haven’t tried. I have so much hope for the future.

Hang onto Hope!!

Check me out on Instagram @chronic.pain.hope

Extra Note: If I had known way more about chronic pain and how to heal from it, my pain would not have lasted as long as it did. I wish there had been someone or something to guide me in the right direction. That’s what I hope this website will do for people who want to prevent chronic pain, heal from it, or make sure it never comes back.