Social worker: Opioids not only pain option
Cindy Perlin, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in alternative pain treatments, has been watching tthe devastation of the opioid ep pidemic with rising frustration. Perlin believes she has viable options for treating chronic pain that do not rely on the highly addictive narcotics of opioids, either the legal prescribed version such as Oxycontin or lethal street drugs like heroin laced with fentanyl.
“I blame the opioid epidemic on the unholy alliance between pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry,” Perlin said. “Big Pharma knew they were lying about the addictiveness of opioids. At the same time, insurance companies were cutting back on pain treatments they would cover other than opioids.”
There were 3,224 overdose deaths involving opioids in New York state in 2017 and opioids were responsible for 47,600 overdose deaths nationally that same year, according to the most recent data available from the Cen
ters for Disease Control and Prevention. Opioid deaths have risen sixfold since 1999. Today, on average, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose.
“I get angry because some of those overdose deaths could have been prevented if people knew about these alternative pain treatments,” she said. “Opioids are not the only option.”
Perlin has spent the past several years trying to spread her message of hope and share the promising results of her alternative treatments with patients at her private practice in her Delmar home office. Her tool kit includes certified biofeedback therapy, herbal medicines, lowlevel laser therapy, medical marijuana and CBD oil, meditation, massage, diet and exercise, and other methods.
In 2015, she published a book, “The Truth About Chronic Pain Treatments: The Best and Worst Strategies for Becoming Pain Free” and is a regular contributor to the National Pain Report and the Pain News Network. She blogs frequently on her website, Alternative Pain Treatment Directory.
Perlin, 67, speaks from firsthand knowledge. She is among the estimated 116 million Americans who suffer from chronic pain. Rather, she did, before experimenting with alternative methods she now espouses.
Perlin’s chronic back pain f lared up in 1977, when she was 25 years old and working on a master’s degree in social work at the University at Albany. She had taken up running to get in shape for a planned bicycling trip across Europe with her boyfriend. She stopped running, but the pain persisted. Traditional medicine had no answers.
“I went to several doctors and nothing showed up on the exams, blood work or X-rays,” Perlin recalled. “The pain was severe and relentless, an intense ache in the middle of my back. I could not concentrate on anything. It immobilized me.”
She dropped out of graduate school, broke up with her boyfriend and fell into a depression. “It was a very scary time,” she said.
“You’re just a hysterical woman,” said one physician, who suggested the pain was psychosomatic.
Another physician prescribed strong narcotics. “They did not relieve the pain. I was just a zombie with pain,” she said.
She sought out a chiropractor and an osteopath, with little effect. She found a book that changed everything, “Anatomy of an Illness” by Norman Cousins, a bestseller that advocated patients take charge of their own health and incorporate humor to combat chronic maladies.
“That book helped me shed the fear factor of my pain and taught me to take back control over it,” she said. She also became a dedicated lap swimmer and considers a daily swim part of her therapy.
Perlin researched the mind-body connection and focused on biofeedback therapy, eventually becoming a certified biofeedback practitioner. This non-drug treatment connects a patient to electrical sensors that deliver information about brain waves, body temperature, heart rate and more. A patient learns to control bodily processes normally thought to be involuntary, such as heart rate, muscle tension and blood pressure. Biofeedback has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing pain.
As she learned and developed expertise in new techniques, she tried them on herself first before offering them to patients. She began seeing the benefits immediately.
“I went from a pain level of 10 to many days when I have no pain at all,” she said. “I managed my pain without opioids and without harmful side effects.”
On a recent Saturday afternoon, we sipped green wildberry plum tea and talked about her philosophy of leaning into pain.
Her three cats — Lily, Maggie and Sterman — meandered about her office. Perlin, who never married, is devoted to her cats. “I consider them part of my therapy,” she said.
Perlin demonstrated some of her newest drugfree, non-invasive pain treatment tools, which she tries on her cats and herself before offering them to patients. One example is Oska Pulse, a small device placed on the area of pain. It uses pulsing electromagnetic waves at precise frequencies to relieve the source of the pain.
She also uses low-level laser therapy with a Thor Laser device that claims to reduce pain and inf lammation when its beam is applied in 10-minute treatments two or more times a week.
“I read the research on Oska Pulse and Thor Laser,” Perlin said. “I’m absolutely convinced. They worked for me and also healed my 17-year-old arthritic cat. She is jumping around again.”
Perlin conceded that some in the medical establishment are critical of these alternative treatments and question the research. “I only use methods that have been proven through studies,” Perlin said. “Some doctors will never change. Some of them still question acupuncture, despite overwhelming evidence.”
Perlin is moderately encouraged by slowly shifting attitudes among patients, who are gradually embracing alternative treatments for chronic pain.
Her book ’s dedication underscores her mission: “This book is dedicated to those who suffer needlessly from chronic pain.”