Lara’s Pain Experience

Dr. John Stracks of Cormendi Health first interviewed Lara in December 2021 and then again in September 2023. Both interviews describe her own decades-long experience with chronic pain and her insights about what has been most healing for her.

Key points:

• Chronic pain & symptoms are more nuanced than we like to believe. There is a false binary out there in the way people tend to think about chronic pain / symptoms - that it must either be “structural” (physical or medical) or it is purely neuroplastic (or mindbody or “TMS”), and so it will require either medical intervention or a mindbody approach. This is not only a false dichotomy, but it can keep people from getting the care they need. Many of us have a complex blend of issues that may require multiple treatment modalities for healing - and that’s OK.

• Reclaiming your agency & self trust is key. Take your power back, get quiet, and listen to yourself. Remember that no matter what is happening that you do not have control of, you do still have some control. Agency is about building self-trust, using your voice, and taking the next step that is right for you.

• Healing is a social process. People need people, and hurt people especially need people. We cannot do this alone, and it is the myth of the “rugged individual,” such an American mentality, that we can - or should - do it alone. The physical pain can create social trauma (not being heard or believed amplifies the trauma and the suffering), and so the healing must be social too. Finding people who can validate and encourage you can repair that fundamental alienation in a way that is deeply healing.