Living with Chronic Pain as I have
for more than 37 years, I am someone
who knows how much the
ability to live everyday life can be
taken away by this pain.
Through the years, I have frequently
had to miss parties, family gatherings
and going out with friends
due to bad pain days. With the help
of my doctors, I have found ways
to combine treatment with selfawareness
to make such days fewer.
But more recently, my chronic
pain, which included reduced range
of motion and significant inflammation,
reached both of my ankles.
6 — iPain Living Magazine
As a result, I could not walk far
and, when I did, I walked with extreme
pain and difficulty. I often
couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs
in my home; even getting around a
single story required me to use a
four-pronged cane. To add to this,
treatment options for me were limited
and often fraught with downsides.
Opiates are not a long-term
solution for me—doctors have previously
prescribed them to me, but
my body and autoimmune system
was unable to tolerate them. My
doctors and I sought for treatment
alternatives. Then, while watching
the Netflix documentary about Lady
Gaga, FIVE FOOT TWO, I
learned about a relatively new
treatment option known as platelet
rich plasma (PRP) therapy. I saw
what these treatments were able to
allow her to do, and I was inspired
to learn more.
I learned that PRP therapy involves
injections with a patient’s own
blood into their injured body tissue.
The provider extracts between
10-200 milliliters of the patients
blood. This blood is spun through a
centrifuge in order to isolate the
platelets, which contain healing
proteins. These proteins release
growth factors that stimulate and
increase the number of reparative