Regina’s Story
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Regina had been waking up in the middle of night with lower back pain like sciatica. These sleep interruptions became a nightly occurrence. To help manage the pain, Regina would take an over-the-counter medication along with a snack to help settle her stomach. The way she was managing her back pain was having a compounding, ill effect with the disrupted sleep and extra calories. After a couple of months of this unwelcome nightly routine, Regina saw a post on the Sky Lakes Wellness Center’s Facebook page about a Group Medical Visit for Pain Management. Regina was already familiar with the Wellness Center having gone through their Lifestyle Change Program and National Diabetes Prevention Program.
In fact, Regina had lost and kept off 70lbs from what she had learned through the Lifestyle Change Program, so the OTC medication and nightly snack combo created an extra layer of discontent for Regina. She knew that this method of managing her pain wasn’t working for her and was ready to try something different.
Regina signed up for the Sky Lake Wellness Center’s Group Medical Visit for Pain Management. The Group Medical Visit is structured where a small group goes through a series of three to four classes on a topic with Sky Lakes providers. Throughout the series, the providers cover medication education, mindfulness techniques like medication, and healthy eating to help manage pain.
Another benefit to the group setting, according to Regina, was that you got to hear what other people’s experiences were and learned tips from them. The Group Medical Visit structure allows for more time and camaraderie than a typical 1:1 with a provider, which can allow attendees to dive deeper into the whole patient approach.
This whole patient approach opened the door for Regina to learn about exercise, meditation and anti-inflammatory food techniques that have worked wonders for her. Through mindfulness techniques, she learned ways to shift her focus away from the pain because the more she dwelt on pain, the more she felt it. She follows a guided meditation on YouTube in the afternoon, which helps her sleep better at night. She has changed her diet to include more anti-inflammatory staples. She also received a referral for physical therapy. The exercises she has learned have been extremely helpful in reducing her pain.
Regina is not only no longer waking up to back pain at night, but she also doesn’t experience pain during the day. Being able to manage her pain via diet, meditation and restoring her healthy sleep patterns has allowed her to cut out the OTC pain medication.
If you experience pain and would like to learn more about the Sky Lakes Wellness Center’s Group Medical Visits for Pain Management, don’t hesitate to call us at 541-274-2770. We are here to provide guidance on how to help manage your pain.
