PORTLAND, Ore. — Some people may deal with chronic pain for years, and sometimes, their doctor may not be able to pinpoint an exact reason why.
New research has shown that stress is able to cause real pain and problems, but there are effective treatments.
Dr. David Clarke is president of the Psychophysiologic Disorders Association, a national nonprofit seeking to end the chronic pain epidemic, as well as the opioid crisis.
"What I'm concerned with as a physician is people that have no biomedical explanation for their symptoms, there's no organ disease, there's no structural damage, and yet they have pain or illness. What I'm looking for as the source of that is stress that's in their life," Clarke said.
He said while some of this could be current stress, it could also reach as far back as childhood.
"Even if it's from the past, the impact on a person in the present day can be brought down. And it turns out when we do that, pain or illness, even that's been there for years, even that's severe, even that's put you in the hospital, can be alleviated," he said.
He also made a point to make clear that the physical pain people feel from chronic stress is valid.
"They can last for years or even decades, so they're not in your head, they are actually brain generated, occurring in the body, even when there's nothing physically wrong," Clarke said.
He said he wants people to avoid being prescribed and using opioids to treat their pain, which doesn't go after the real cause, and can in turn cause other problems.
According to Clarke, stress-based illnesses can cause a range of problems that can show up anywhere in the body.
"Migraines, dizziness, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, long COVID in many cases, chronic fatigue," he said.
He said these problems, which are sometimes caused by stress, affect 50 million people in the United States.
The key, according to Clarke, is finding the roots of the problem, and targeting it from there.
"Our approach is to identify the real cause of this, because stress can actually cause real symptoms in people, but it can be complicated, and we need to spend time identifying what the sources of stress are," Clarke said.
When the doctor cannot find a reason for the issue, and treatment is not working, it just might be due to chronic stress, Clarke said.
He said people can take a quick self assessment quiz to help themselves begin to understand what they might be going through, and then find the appropriate ways to treat it.