Curing a mysterious nerve condition by inflicting unbearable pain | 60 Minutes Australia

Battling the Western world's addiction to

pain

killers is one of the biggest headaches facing doctors until recently, taking a pill had always been the easy answer to controlling

pain

, but far from helping, the overuse of medications Prescription drugs are actually killing more and more people in the United States. Doctors have come up with a very radical treatment for suffering teenagers. Instead of drugs, they are fighting the pain by

inflicting

even more pain. It gives new meaning to the old saying: you have to be cruel to be kind, but the results are surprising. Seventeen year old Suzie Lin is in unbelievable pain, it feels like my legs are being stabbed while catching fire, my body is on fire, that's what anyone else feels, this gentle vibration would be like a massage, but Susie is suffering from a confusing and

mysterious

nervous

condition

that can affect up to a quarter of all teenagers and in extreme cases like this turns a touch into a punch.

Does that mean her nervous system is on edge all the time? Basically it means that in our children their nervous system feels too much and so it sends too many pain signals, so we are supposed to have pain signals to help protect us from things, so if you sit on a thumbtack it will It's supposed to hurt and then you jump, but in my patients even if an injury heals or a disease heals, the pain

nerve

s continue to send those pain signals even though they should have been turned off. Susie has amplified pain syndrome, but here at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City they actually fight pain with more pain, conventional medicine is changing. in her head by dr.

Cara Hoffert and her team our mantra is if it hurts to do something that's what you should do if it hurts to do something that's the right thing to do, which is completely contrary to what anyone learns about pain, even in medicine, without pain there is no gain and all this intensive therapy must be endured. Non-drug pain relievers are prohibited for patients, who are mostly teenagers. There was a time when I wasn't bathing. My mom had to put me in the bathtub and bathe me. Because? Why is that Suzy? She physically she wasn't strong enough to hold me up.

There is a stabbing pain here or was it a numbing pain, how do you explain it to me? It's sharp, it's really like it's a sharp pain like someone took a knife and it's like I. I'm digging it inside you and making it flow and you like it, I know it's probably like that, it's not like a headache like no, but that's it: it's a pain so intense that sometimes you can't even move properly, but Kansas City could hold the murderer for a long time. The pain of Olivia, 15 years old, today is her first day. Is she excited, nervous, sir?

I guess I'm super nervous today. Korie and Missy Gatlin are enrolling Olivia in the pain program to take care of her back. Such is the demand for placement. The Gatlins were only given three. days to get here and, like any parent, they are desperate for their daughter's

condition

. She was a cheerleader right out of high school and she would go cheer and then I was gone for the next three days and she couldn't move, you know? and we were like Olivia, you were happy but now you can't go to school, you know, it just didn't make sense to us, what probably caught our attention the most was getting these text messages at midnight or 2:00 in the morning. tomorrow and I say I can't move, my neck hurts, my shoulders hurt and it doesn't line up with any of the diagnoses we've seen before, so we think this is not right, something is not right, when did it ?

First you realize you had a problem. I remember sitting in a fourth grade classroom and I, as always, was struggling just by looking at the teacher, it was very difficult to keep my head up because it was a lot of pain. Great is your fidelity Olivia is one of four children, artistic, athletic and intelligent. She has ambitions to be a doctor, but her pain became so acute that she was withdrawn from school. It got to the point where I was like: am I in my head? Is this really like an attack? Is this real? So it was really frustrating to sit in a doctor's office for hours and hours trying to re-explain what's going on and when you didn't even know what was going on.

Just I like it. I started to question your madness, right, right, I thought I was going crazy. I thought there's no way anyone can miss a lot of pain and no one knows what it is. You shouldn't be better off with a broken arm or leg. something they can see, it would be better if I had something they could physically see with their own eyes, my job is to empower you, okay, pain is trying to take over your life right now and that's just not right. In fact, I specifically tell every patient that Facing this pain is not in your head and that is the number one message for me because people can't see pain, they don't understand pain and people are very mean about it.

Are you saying that would empower them right then and there? with that because they think finally someone absolutely believes me, hardly a visit goes by where people don't have happy tears because they finally feel like there is a place where we understand what they are going through and have a plan for them. When you found out about this program, what did you expect? Well, at first we had a feeling of relief because we actually had a diagnosis, it wasn't something made up and there was a treatment that is like a massage. Olivia. They could be here for up to six weeks.

It is a full-time treatment made up of five hours of daily exercise plus psychology and occupational therapy sessions but it is these specific trainings that are the biggest challenge, they are literally trying to reboot the nervous system of these teenagers, but it is agony. By nature, it increases their pain when they first get here because they're doing things they haven't done in a long time, but to get better, you actually have to get through those really tough times to essentially reset. how that nervous system works, it doesn't take long for Olivia to realize that she's going to be pushed to the limit, and beyond that, there are a lot of difficult challenges on this show, yeah, how do you find it honestly, for lack of a better word, difficult. so incredibly mentally challenging physically challenging I take it to the limit right, right, diving deep is like running away from a tiger all day.

Yes, to escape the pain. Programs like this change and save lives. The dramatic results. It brings enormous hope, it's just emotional to see that I'm here now and I'm standing, that's what's next in 60

minutes

. Olivia Gatlin and Susie Lynne have literally been thrown into the deep end at Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Both girls are patients of the Raps program. short for rehabilitation for amplified pain syndrome, a hypersensitivity disorder that can turn the touch of a feather into an agonizing punch for these girls, any part of the pain they are experiencing is imaginary, no, there is nothing imagined in their pain, so everything is real and it's

unbearable

and there is a lot of science behind it dr.

Kara Holford is the program's medical director. You know how hard it is to push yourself and why you don't want to push yourself too hard either. We help these kids get through it and not only do they see improvement in their ability and function. but they start to gain confidence in their body again because really, when you think about it, their body has betrayed them, your refined feet move your shoulders on your elbows, only three teenagers are treated at a time and it doesn't take long for Olivia Susie. and the third patient, Bella had Nieto join in for the first time in a long time.

They feel that they are not alone in their struggles. I mean, I hate to think that anyone else has this, but knowing that we're not crazy, this is a real thing. It's just that it's very powerful I mean, sometimes I felt like I was dying like I had something very very serious it's like running away from a tiger all day yes, running away from the tiger means taking these patients out of their comfort zone they get bombed with sensations touch vibration pressure and temperature so that the body's

nerve

s work properly again so that they can so we help them do normal things like you do normal things the nerves take that to mean wow, this must be really dangerous because if you move, it's very painful, so the nerves actually increase their pain signals in response to our kids just walking, and to get better with this, you actually have to do normal functional activity, so it really is a way to teach the nerves what is normal. and that normal is not dangerous and even if it hurts you don't have to stop, make sure it goes to the bottom and this form of tough love rehab is difficult not only for the patients but also for therapists like Misty Wilson. must strike a chord with you - yes, there are many times I have to keep reminding myself in my head why we do what we do you almost want to stop oh, I absolutely want to stop I know you can poke me in the eye Later, no one wants to work in Pediatrics because they want to inflict pain, but the results here are difficult to argue: 90% of patients who go through the program become fully functional, 70 percent stop feeling pain.

Do you think this program changes the lives of these children? permanently and I believe that programs like this change and save lives, you say that saving lives is dramatic, it is that dramatic because we know that if we do not detect this and we do not treat it, they will probably be An adult with chronic pain faces many challenges and it would be difficult to maintain a job to have a family, so this program gives them the skills they need to be successful at anything they want to do. It is very emotional to see that I am here now and I am standing all day.

I need to think that six months ago I couldn't take a bath and I had to do it like my parents. I couldn't put on my tennis shoes. Now Susie is climbing the stairs as if a woman possessed while Bella today is running the first mile of her life. Your body in your mind and your nerves have the idea that you are not going to stop and they have the idea that things and movements What are you doing? No. It's not dangerous. When was the last time you walked a mile? I have never run a mile, never in a mile.

I think what's really important to know is how much this team cares about these kids in the relationships we have with these kids and their families. it's different than anything else in medicine well you're the kind of last chance cations that typically yesterday I'm going to tell you good job if you haven't done a good job no Olivia was just beginning her recovery when we filmed her as an athletic girl whose life She's been hijacked by pain, I'm not going to tell you to stop, okay, this is to see how long you can do the mantra without pain.

There is no gain from this program. It means pushing her past her breaking point, but that's why. that she is here. like Olivia you're a bit of a perfectionist oh yeah, make sure you do everything absolutely perfect here yeah, and it's hard, well, because then you can see, you know the record, what you just did, I can't do it, I've tried, my record is 53 seconds. Doing exactly what you just did when you beat me, don't sell yourself short, it's okay, pain for me has been a big player and I just want to take it back. I want to be able to say that the pain is here, it is there. but you know I have control and I can make this space.

Hi, I'm Liam Bartlett, thanks for watching to stay up to date with the latest news from 60 Minutes Australia. Make sure to subscribe to our channel. You can also download the full 9 Now app. episodes and other exclusive 60-minute content