The Pain Free Programme
What is the Pain Free Programme?
The Pain Free Programme is helping sufferers of chronic pain and other persistent symptoms to not just manage their symptoms but attain actual relief from them, enabling them to regain their lives. The Pain Free Programme has 4 core aspects that it aims to resolve:
Educational
Understanding the origins of neural pathways pain is an integral part of the Programme and has shown to contribute towards the healing process. In the absence of tissue damage or organ disease, research shows how the brain can create a whole array of mind body symptoms as a result of stress, repressed negative emotions and trauma putting pressure on the Nervous System. Learning about the true cause of these symptoms and the fact that this process can be reversed leading to recovery dispels fear which has been shown to constitute one of the main factors fuelling the pain cycle.
Behavioural
Our life experiences determine our views, attitudes and behaviour. Negative behaviour and distorted thinking patterns create resistance within us and lead to self-induced stress, along with certain personality traits. The Pain Free Programme will help you acknowledge these and break the negative patterns that have become ingrained and are contributing to your mind body symptoms. With the re-conditioning of these nerve pathways comes the alleviation of the pain/symptoms and an understanding of self-induced stress and thus how to avoid it.
Emotional
Emotional healing enables you to acknowledge experiences and circumstances that hinder you moving forward in life and provide blockages to healing. The programme provides tools and strategies to help you diffuse the power that past negative experiences may still be holding over you and to work on and manage emotions that are activating the danger signal. Some of the tools include: emotional awareness, somatic tracking, emotional freedom technique, the healing breath, mindfulness meditation and other self-soothing techniques.
Lifestyle
Mind body symptoms that manifest and persist in response to emotional turmoil and life stresses are reversible but can re-emerge or a new symptom can manifest if we do not change the way we live that created the stress in the first place. The Programme will help you cultivate life skills and healthier, self-empowering habits, enabling you to face adversity and daily stressors with resilience. There are numerous strategies and life skills imparted in the Programme that contribute towards one’s recovery and you are free to implement those that resonate with you. Previous experience has shown that those that adopt a persistent and patient approach have not only experienced healing, but the ability to effectively manage small health issues and pain in the future so as to prevent them from becoming full-blown and restrictive.
What Are People Saying?
“I highly highly recommend to anyone for stress management or any chronic pain and would happily speak to anyone considering this. I now have my life back and I'm able to be a mum again.”
— Stephanie Wearden
“Thank you, Shaheen. 100% recommend this lovely lady for any type of holistic treatment, from reflexology to SIRPA counselling.”
— Hayley Louise
“I followed the Pain Free Programme for 3 months and my therapist Shaheen was absolutely amazing. What can I say! I cannot believe where my journey started and it has ended with me thankfully pain free.”
— Shazia Mamoon
“Shaheen has been an amazing help and I highly recommend her Pain Free Programme for sufferers of what many call TMS/Mindbody Syndrome/PPD - essentially stress illness.”
— Owen Brinley
Why is conventional medicine failing to cure chronic pain?
Patients are looking for a quick fix - the pill culture
Whilst pain medications provide temporary relief from chronic pain, it fails to offer a reliable, long term solution. Side effects and a reduction in the quality of life from long term use are further concerns.
Limited consultation time with GPs
Due to a lack of money, time and resources, GPs are only able to provide 10-15 minute appointments. This make it impossible to conduct a detailed assessment that takes account of both the biological and psychological factors contributing to the patients’ chronic pain.
Education is required at medical school level
It requires a complete over-haul at medical school level to educate and train prospective doctors as to the science behind the manifestation of neural pathways leading to chronic pain and other stress-induced conditions.
Is this Programme for me?
The following questions will help you determine how likely your chronic pain/persistent symptoms constitute mind body symptoms. The more ‘yes’ answers you have, the more likely it is that they are which qualifies you for my Pain Free Programme and strongly indicates a successful resolution is attainable.
Have you suffered from pain on and off for several months or years, which does not follow a specific pattern of behaviour? Does your pain move around the body? Decrease or fully disappear during busy or relaxing periods or manifest/intensify during stressful periods?
Does your pain occur only at certain times of the day, for example, upon waking up or at bedtime?
Does your pain occur during specific movements or activities, for example, when sitting down/getting up, getting in or out of the car, while vacuuming/other household chores, right after, but not during, exercising?
Do you have more than one mind body symptom at the same time?
Have you had X-rays, CT scans and MRIs that have shown nothing other than disc protusions/bulges, disc herniations or other degenerations (that are now understood to represent normal ageing of the spin?
Have you had all the necessary medical check-ups and diagnostic tests and no tissue damage or organ disease has been detected? Or have your symptoms been labelled as ‘medically unexplained condition/symptoms’?
Are your symptoms triggered due to stress connected to an impending event where you will be observed or judged such as an exam, a work presentation, a medical visit, a social gathering, a family visit?
Do your symptoms or pain sometimes come on with no obvious cause?
Do you experience pins and needles, tingling, burning, numbness, cold or heat with your symptoms?
Do you experience relief following alternative therapies such as chiropractic or osteopathic treatment, acupuncture, massage, reflexology, herbal medication etc only to find the symptoms return at a later date?
Do you have any of the following personality traits: perfectionist, highly-driven, overly-responsible, tendency to worry, fear-prone, ambitious, people-pleaser, non-confrontational, have high-expectations, super-organised, self-critical, like to be in control, always wish to appear strong, dependable and reliable, hate conflict?
Are you a caring and nurturing individual who tends to put others needs before your own? Do you find it hard to know where to draw the line?
Did you suffer trauma or other adverse experiences as a child that you would not want a child of your own to suffer?
Were your parents any of the following: very negative or critical, distant, apathetic towards you, showed conditional love, very angry most of the time, had very high expectations of you, abusive, volatile, an alcoholic or drug addict, depressed? Did your parents argue most of the time, separate, divorce or die whilst you were growing up, commit suicide?
Did you feel unsafe or unloved as a child? Were you adopted or did you feel abandoned as a child?
Do you hate your job? Do you feel unappreciated, dissatisfied or not part of a team when at work ?
Do you have financial worries?
Do you feel resentful of your overly-responsible role as a parent or care-giver?
Do you find you tend to give in all your relationships more than you take?
Are you at midlife and feeling at a loss or worried about your looks or ageing and/or a sense of lack of achievement?
Have you been through a major relationship break-up that you still have not come to terms with?
Is there tension in your marriage – do you feel unsupported or alone?
Have you suffered a recent bereavement of a loved one?
Common Stress-Induced Conditions
TENSION OR MIGRAINE HEADACHES
BACK PAIN, NECK PAIN, KNEE PAIN
CHRONIC PELVIC PAIN SYNDROMES
COMPLEX REGIONAL PAIN SYNDROME
MYOFASCIAL PAIN SYNDROME
HYPERSENSITIVITY SYNDROMES
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME (IBS)
FIBROMYALGIA
INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS
TMJ SYNDROME
CHRONIC TENDONITIS
REPETITIVE STRAIN INJURY
INSOMNIA
CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME
FAQs
Does the Pain Free Programme only benefit chronic pain?
NO. There are many studies that now link persistent symptoms with trauma, chronic stress and repressed negative emotions. Such symptoms can be referred to as: Tension Myoneural Syndrome (TMS); stress-induced conditions; psycho-physiological conditions (PPD) and mind-body symptoms, essentially all meaning the same thing. Please click here to see a comprehensive list of these symptoms.
I have been suffering from chronic pain for more than 10 years. Is there hope to still become pain free?
YES. It doesn’t matter how long a person has had chronic pain. If all medical tests have ruled out a serious pathology in the body it is very likely this ongoing pain is due to learned neural pathways which can be reversed allowing the patient to become pain free.
Can you have more than one mind body symptom at the same time, such as back pain and irritable bowel syndrome or, shoulder pain and sinusitis?
YES. It is very common to have multiple symptoms running at the same time. The more the symptoms present or the more the intensity of them the greater the need to attend to one’ s inner emotional turmoil and repressed negative emotions from chronic stress.
How long do I need to spend daily applying the tools and strategies?
You can dedicate as little as 30 minutes a day and still see progress.
My MRI scan has shown I have a bulging disc. Can I still be pain free?
YES! Studies have shown the results on an MRI scan do not havea direct correlation with the presence of chronic pain. Dr Sarno, who pioneered this work, associated these bulges, disc herniations and other degenerative conditions as normal ageing of the spine. Many studies have shown people who have pain but NO abnormality detected on the MRI and others with no pain yet their MRI scan showed the presence of abnormalities.
Why do I see temporary healing after having alternative treatment from my osteopath or chiropractor but then the pain suddenly returns?
The alternative treatment has been shown in many studies to act as a placebo affect. Since the underlying emotional cause is not targeted the pain/symptoms return, usually during periods of stress.
Do I have to delve into my sensitive past in order to heal?
Healing involves diffusing the emotional charge attached to negative experiences that you are still affected by, both in your thinking and behavioural patterns. The Programme offers various tools that enable you to do this as well as increase emotional resilience. You do not have to re-visit any experience that you feel uncomfortable with.
How long does it take to get better?
Every individual has his/her own unique journey. Relief from symptoms will be affected by: Some of my patients have seen encouraging results after 1 week and others after 3 or 4 weeks. The most important thing is that recovery IS possible through a committed but not over-rigid approach as having a sense of urgency will only add further pressure and delay progress.