My Memoir
now available!!
now available!!
now available!!
Competitive athlete turned scientist discovers the key to healing her chronic pain in this raw and gripping memoir
Available for purchase at:
- The Dolphin Bookshop, Port Washington, NY (paperback)
- Amazon.com (paperback and eBook)
Available to borrow at:
- New York Libraries (paperback and eBook)
Published by Fringe Tree Press April 16, 2020.
STATUS UPDATE:
now available!!
now available!!
November, 2020:
The Invisible Key has been accepted into "Indie New York," a collection of books from local indie authors available to patrons of participating libraries all across New York via the BiblioBoard Library mobile and web platform. Click here to see if your local library carries it or if you would like to request that they do so.
The Invisible Key is also available at the following Long Island Libraries:
Table of Contents
The Invisible Key: Unlocking the Mystery of My Chronic Pain
The Invisible Key: Unlocking the Mystery of My Chronic Pain
Preface
Chapter 1 Amplitude and Anguish
Chapter 2 Breaking Point
Chapter 3 Operation Fix-it
Chapter 4 In Search of Pain Relief
Chapter 5 Mind and Body
Chapter 6 Releasing the Tension
Chapter 7 The Hidden Truth
Chapter 8 Addressing the Aftermath
Chapter 9 Detoured but Undeterred
Chapter 10 Defying Gravity
Afterword
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
About the Author
The Invisible Key: Unlocking the Mystery of My Chronic Pain
The Invisible Key: Unlocking the Mystery of My Chronic Pain
The Invisible Key: Unlocking the Mystery of My Chronic Pain
My memoir encompasses my journey of going from competitive gymnast . . . to nearly suicidal chronic pain sufferer . . . to much healed and hopeful survivor who has been awakened to the immense power of the mind’s influence on the body.
At age forty, my “perfect” life took a detour after I developed chronic neck pain subsequent to a “roll-over accident.” I spent years living with initially undiagnosed and debilitating chronic myofascial pain as I struggled to keep my head up, care for my children, maintain my marriage, and work at my job.
I saw a variety of doctors, underwent neck surgery, tried a multitude of medications, and was treated by an assortment of traditional physical therapists. I’d crescendo into hopefulness, only to collapse into despair as each treatment failed. That is, until I discovered that mindbody approaches to healing could free me from unrelenting pain, I finally began the slow process of healing, and achieved a dramatic reduction in my pain.
I came to a profound appreciation of the body’s ability to heal itself. But my pain lingered. It's difficult to alter neuropathways that have been set through decades of subconscious, automatic reactions. Even so, I never gave up hope.
In the complex world of healing from chronic pain, the book brings to light the commonly unknown condition of “chronic myofascial pain” (also known as "myofascial pain syndrome") and how emotions and trauma can be underlying causes of chronic physical pain. It also reveals how much one can heal even when hope is lost.