Dr. Cady's Blog

Diagnosis Hypnosis:

Why Your Pain Diagnosis May Not Help You Get Better

Many people receive a diagnosis in order to determine the appropriate treatment for their pain or many other conditions. But first of all, what is a diagnosis? If you look at the Merriam-Webster dictionary it would be this:

1. The art or act of identifying a disease from its signs and symptoms.
2. Investigation or analysis of the cause or nature of a condition, situation, or problem.

In the world of pain, you are trying to determine the cause/nature/disease based upon signs and symptoms. On rare occasion, a pain diagnosis can be life-threatening with what are commonly called “red flag” symptoms. These may include the inability to control your bowel or bladder or severe abdominal pain. These rare issues may be indicative of the life-threatening or life-altering issues such as severe compression of your spinal cord/nerve roots or bleeding from an aortic aneurysm (largest artery).

But let’s assume...

Have you heard someone say: "I am diabetic", "I have fibromyalgia", "I have complex regional pain syndrome" or "I have a herniated disk"?  It is not uncommon to label ourselves. If we visit a doctor, then we are likely to be assigned a diagnosis. It is usually required as part of the documentation for the provider to receive reimbursement from insurance providers. However, there is also a general tendency to accept the diagnosis as correct, irreversible, or our identity. I have coined the terms, diagnocentric™ and diagnocentricity®, to reference the state of our society with respect to a diagnosis.

Although there are diagnoses that are out of the patient's control, many times a diagnosis is merely a symptom or a constellation of symptoms that reflects an unknown cause or a result of a poor lifestyle. If the diagnosis is accurate, then there is still a reliance on someone else, such as a physician, to FIX the problem. Unfortunately, the diagnosis is NOT always...