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Ask Marisa
PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY AND CHRONIC PAIN WARNING!
Our clinic is taking every precaution and we follow strict CDC guidelines to ensure that our patients, clinic and staff are SAFE!
Mesa, AZ — The most common method your doctor will recommend to treat your chronic pain and/or neuropathy is with prescription drugs that may temporarily reduce your symptoms. These drugs have names such as Gabapentin, Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Neurontin, and are primarily antidepressant or anti-seizure drugs. These drugs may cause you to feel uncomfortable and have a variety of harmful side effects. Chronic pain and/or peripheral neuropathy is a result of damage to the nerves often causing weakness, pain, numbness, tingling, and the most debilitating balance problems. This damage is commonly caused by a lack of blood flow to the nerves in the hands and feet which causes the nerves to begin to degenerate due to lack of nutrient flow.
As you can see in Figure 2, as the blood vessels that surround the nerves become diseased they shrivel up which causes the nerves to not get the nutrients to continue to survive. When these nerves begin to “die” they cause you to have balance problems, pain, numbness, tingling, burning, and many additional symptoms. The main problem is that your doctor has told you to just live with the problem or try the drugs which you don’t like taking because they make you feel uncomfortable. There is now a facility right here in Mesa that offers you hope without taking those endless drugs with serious side effects. (See the special neuropathy severity examination at the end of this article) In order to effectively treat your neuropathy three factors must be determined. 1) What is the underlying cause? 2) How much nerve damage has been sustained. NOTE: Once you have sustained 95% nerve loss, there is likely nothing that we can do for you. 3) How much treatment will your condition require? The treatment that is provided at Aspen Medical has three main goals. 1) Increase blood flow 2) Stimulate and increase small fiber nerves 3) Decrease brain-based pain The treatment to increase blood flow, stimulate small nerve fibers and get you back to health is our new $50,000.00 SANEXAS UNIT! In addition, we use a state-of-the-art diagnostics like the TM Flow diagnostic unit to accurately determine the increase in blood flow and a small skin biopsy to accurately determine the increase in small nerve fibers! The Sanexas electric cell signaling system delivers energy to the affected area of your body at varying wavelengths, including both lowfrequency and middle-frequency signals. It also uses amplitude modulated (AM) and frequency modulated (FM) signaling. During a treatment session, the Sanexas system automatically changes to simultaneously deliver AM and FM electric cell signal energy. THE GREAT NEWS IS THAT SANEXAS IS COVERED BY MEDICARE AND MOST INSURANCE! Depending on your coverage, your treatment could be little to no cost to you! The amount of treatment needed to allow the nerves to fully recover varies from person to person and can only be determined after a detailed neurological and vascular evaluation. As long as you have not sustained at least 95% nerve damage there is hope! Aspen Medical will do a chronic pain and neuropathy severity examination to determine the extent of the nerve damage as a public service to you and/or your family and friends. This neuropathy/pain severity examination will consist of a detailed sensory evaluation, extensive peripheral vascular testing, and a detailed analysis of the findings of your neuropathy.
Fig. 2
Aspen Medical will be offering this chronic pain and neuropathy severity examination from now until February 28, 2022. Call 480-
274-3157 to make an appointment to determine if your chronic pain and peripheral neuropathy can be successfully treated. Due to our very busy office schedule, we are limiting this FREE consultation offer to the first 15 callers. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SUFFER ANOTHER MINUTE, CALL Call 480-2743157 … NOW!
We are extremely busy and if your call goes to our voicemail, please leave a message and we will get back to you asap.
480-274-3157
4540 E Baseline Rd., Suite 119 Mesa Az 85206
Ask Marisa New columnist invites readers to tell themselves a better lie
BY MARISA PEER
One of the best parts about being a therapist is hearing people’s stories. Indeed, the stories we tell ourselves play such a huge role in how we feel about our lives, from our relationships and self-esteem to our careers and nances.
But here’s the thing: Most people don’t realize they are telling themselves stories at all. Indeed, in my 30 years as a therapist, I’ve worked with a vast array of di erent people and heard the most extraordinary stories. When those people walk into my o ces in London or Los Angeles, they assume they are telling me the truth: I can’t stop shopping. I can’t stop eating. I can’t hold down a relationship. I am worthless and won’t amount to anything.
My success as a therapist has come from my rm and unwavering belief that we all have the power to choose to tell ourselves better stories, and in the process change our entire lives. I’ve seen it work with everyone from celebrities and top CEOs to people just like you and me. When we change the story we’re telling ourselves, everything else changes, too.
In my newest book, “Tell Yourself a Better Lie: Use the Power of Rapid Transformational Therapy to Edit Your Story and Rewrite Your Life,” I share for the rst time how my method of therapy — shortened to RTT — helps people uncover the story lines that aren’t helping them and replace them with better and much more up-todate ones.
RTT is di erent because it doesn’t take weeks or months of therapy sessions to get to the bottom of an issue. Through 10 diverse case studies in the book, I show how this can be done in as little as one to three sessions using the unique power of therapy that RTT is based on.
Take Carrie, for example, one of the true client stories I share in my book. Since she was a child, Carrie had struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder that had her xate on an elaborate hygiene routine that dominated her life. She was so tired of having every facet of her day ruled by these compulsions, and sad that she was limiting herself from so much by being afraid to let it go.
Using RTT, Carrie and I gured out the purpose her OCD was serving: It made her feel safe. And where did her feeling of this lack of safety come from? From very early in childhood, where she experienced abuse, bullying and inadequate support from her caregivers. So here we were, nearly 50 years later, and Carrie was telling herself the story of a 6-year-old: I need these obsessive habits because they keep me clean, they keep me safe, they protect me.
When we replaced that story with a new, much better one — I’m an adult and I can keep myself safe now, as well as give myself the love and support I should have received as a child — everything changed. She didn’t need the behavior anymore, and so it disappeared. Carrie had never once considered that her OCD had roots in what happened to her as a child.
This is just one example of the literally thousands of stories I’ve heard — and changed — in my long career as a therapist. And I’m so delighted to say that as Lovin’ Life After 50’s new advice columnist, I’ll be able to hear some of your stories and do my best to provide answers that are helpful, compassionate, and can reframe your thinking about a given problem or issue you’re facing in your life.
Sometimes, the bravest step is when you decide to ask for help. When you decide that you no longer want to continue living the way you’ve been living. When you allow yourself to believe — even if just for the length of time it takes to write a letter — that you have the power to change.
I know for a fact that you do, and I can’t wait to hear your stories and help you tell yourself a better lie in this monthly column. Send your questions to media@ marisapeer.com, and keep up with me online at marisapeer.com, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Features New HELP for Travelers
Sky Harbor launches dementia-friendly services
BY JORDAN HOUSTON
The city of Phoenix is making strides in its promise to become a more dementia-friendly environment.
Mayor Kate Gallego recently unveiled a new Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport initiative dedicated to furthering the city’s overarching mission to becoming a recognized Dementia Friendly City.
The initiative requires employee training and other elements aimed at easing travel and other airport-related experiences for those living with dementia. The help extends to patients’ families and travel companions, according to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Customer Service Manager Misty Cisneros-Contreras.
“We are America’s friendliest airport and we’re always looking at opportunities to improve the experience for our customers,” Cisneros-Contreras says.
“We realize we are the biggest airport in Arizona and we know people have choices – we want people to look forward to coming here.”
A major change is the implementation of the Compassion Cacti Lanyard Program, which identi es those needing extra assistance.
“Anybody who has a hidden disability, or self-identi es as having a hidden disability, can apply to get a lanyard,” she says.
“What that lanyard does is, when traveling through Phoenix, it alerts a lot of internal stakeholders and sta to recognize that lanyard and triggers the employee to know that this person may need a little bit of extra attention, or patience, or to be given directions a bit di erently.”
The lanyards, which can be kept and used each time the passenger travels through Sky Harbor, also allows travelers to enter new quiet areas located in the airport’s Compassion Corner in Terminal 4. The Corner, a multi-faceted space for customers and airport employees, encompasses three primary components — the multifaith chapel, the Compassion Corner O ce and the Sensory Room. The Sensory Room, according to Cisneros-Contreras, features minimal distractions to help curtail any potential agitation or confusion that can present itself in a person experiencing dementia while traveling. It serves as a space for the traveler to regroup, she continues.
“If you’re traveling with someone who needs to get away from the hustle and bustle of the airport, they can go into the room,” Cisneros-Contreras says. “We’ve got some seating from an airplane in there so they can feel what it’s like before they get into the airplane. It also has bubble walls, a couch and some dget-type items for smaller children.”
Sky Harbor has made its website more user-friendly for those inquiring about its support services, Cisneros-Contreras says.
The new initiative also calls for updated trainings for city employees about dementia care and support programs that provide resources and aid to people with memory loss.
“We’ve been working with dementia-friendly partners through Banner Health and other nonpro ts to make it more friendly as far as understanding what resources we have available,” Cisneros-Contreras shares.
Last year, Phoenix was among the rst and largest cities to commit to joining Dementia Friendly America (DFA), a national network of communities, organizations and individuals dedicated to ensuring that communities across the country are well-equipped to support people living with dementia and their caregivers.
The DFA, administered by USAging, works to identify and establish Dementia Friendly Communities, according to its website. Such communities uplift people living with dementia to remain in the community while engaging in daily living, the site continues.
“The most rewarding part is seeing the impact that it (the initiative) has on di erent individuals and seeing the sense of relief that people have when they come to nd us and nd that help they’ve been looking for,” Cisneros-Contreras says. “It’s very rewarding to hear their stories.”
Roughly 50 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, the Alzheimer’s Association states.
Dementia is an umbrella term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to impede daily life, the Association continues.
Disorders grouped under the term are caused by abnormal brain changes, triggering a decline in cognitive abilities. Symptoms also a ect a person’s behavior, feelings and capacity to function independently, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
While signs of dementia can vary, examples include problems with shortterm memory, keeping track of a purse or wallet, paying bills, planning and preparing meals, remembering appointments or traveling out of the neighborhood, the Association says.
To apply for a Compassion Cacti Lanyard online, visit http://bit.ly/compassionphx. Sky Harbor does not require medical records for approval.
For more information about Dementia Friendly America, visit dfamerica.org.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is o ering a new lanyard program aimed at easing the travel experiences for those who self-identify as needing additional assistance, as well as their family members and companions. (Photo courtesy of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport)
