Moving forward

COEUR d'ALENE — The severe polyneuropathy in Jeff Menter's feet causes a terrible burning that he describes "like walking on hot, broken glass."

"Sometimes it feels like there’s a railroad spike being driven through my feet," Menter said. "About 95 percent of the time they feel like they're soaking in hot grease, like at the fryer at McDonald’s. They burn like that constantly."

This chronic pain is of an unknown origin, but just because it doesn't have a logical explanation doesn't mean it doesn't have a crippling effect on Menter's daily life.

"It doesn’t show up on X-rays, it doesn’t show up on MRIs," he said. "You spend the first few years just trying to be believed and trying to let the doctor know that you're not just there to seek drugs."

Like many chronic pain sufferers, Menter didn't even want the pills. He just wanted to manage the pain that began out of the blue in 2009. Menter said he discussed it with his physician, Dr. Joe Abate of Heritage Health.

"I said, 'I don’t know how to move forward, I need to try to find a way forward,'" Menter said. "And he said, 'Well, what a coincidence.'"

The coincidence came in the form of Heritage Health volunteer counselor Ron Weaver's life-changing chronic pain management program, "A Way Forward," which helped Menter in a number of ways.

"I didn’t notice it until right now how engaged I am. That was my goal, to be more engaged with the world instead of just being my pain,” he said. "One of the biggest benefits that I got out of it is you’re listening to these people talk and they’re saying the same thing you’re saying."

Menter and several other chronic pain sufferers gathered in a small office in Hayden on Friday to talk about their experiences with A Way Forward, which Weaver facilitates with Abate.

A Way Forward is a program that helps those with chronic pain find methods other than pain medication to cope. It's different for everyone, but generally involves changes in diet and exercise, increasing pain tolerance, group sessions and finding techniques that are best suited to each person.

"I’m one of them, I have chronic pain," said Weaver, who suffers from an inflammatory disease known as ankylosing spondylitis.

Although he's not a doctor nor does he give medical advice, Weaver is dedicated to helping people communicate with physicians about their chronic pain as well as learn to manage it without drugs.

"It’s not so much mind over matter. It’s retraining how we think about pain," Weaver said. "How we look at labeling the emotions involved in pain is a big part of it. It’s not mind over matter because this is tried and true research. It’s just retraining how we think. Cognitive behavioral therapy techniques are proven."

The program was in its infancy about two years ago and has captured the attention of health professionals across the nation, Weaver said. Weaver and Abate are presently searching for 10 volunteers to go through all eight of A Way Forward's modules, free of cost, and work with a scientist from Washington State University to conduct a publishable study on the program.

"Once we get that science done to prove what we’ve all lived, it’s the goal of these people and me that this nation has this tool," Weaver said. "As the pendulum swings, my fear is that the need will outpace us."

Weaver said he is concerned about prescription pain medications causing addiction, depression, suicidal thoughts and in the end actually causing more harm than good. He also expressed concerns about patients with really severe pain turning to heroin as a way to cope.

"It’s not because they're bad people," he said. "It’s because they don’t know what to do."

Robert Casey, of Coeur d'Alene, has been a chronic pain sufferer for several years after breaking his back two different times. He said he lived his life "in a dull haze" from the excessive amount of fentanyl he was using. He said through A Way Forward, his prescription use is down about 80 percent and he has learned techniques to manage the pain and communicate better with his doctor and loved ones.

"I wouldn’t have believed it two and a half years ago," Casey said. "I believe it now because I am living proof."

Before the program, he was in the same situation as many chronic pain patients who feel dependent on their medications and don't know alternatives exist.

He explained that many patients fear doctors cutting them off the meds, which are most times a person's only escape from the pain.

"They might say, 'You’re done, I’m not going to give you any more pills,’ then you’re stuck with going out and finding that somewhere yourself," Casey said. "Or, if you’re up at the fentanyl where I was, it could be a suicide thing. If you can’t get what you need and you can’t find support for your bang, your mind plays way bad tricks on you."

For information about A Way Forward or to volunteer for the chronic pain study, contact Weaver at 691-8471.

"My heart’s goal is to let the people know that there is a program that helps, that there is a place to turn," he said, his voice filling with emotion. "I remember being the person that walked out of the hospital. They took me off my pills, everybody was great about that they were all excited to get me off my pills, but nobody had an answer for my pain and there was no place that I knew of to turn."