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New Options for Chronic Pain: A Whole-Person Approach from a Pharmacist*
14 Plays2 days ago
Learn how DNA and your subconscious mind influence chronic pain—and how pharmacogenomics, hypnosis, and holistic tools can support personalized pain management.
In this episode, you will hear pharmacist Stacey D’Angelo’s personal story with chronic back pain and what finally helped her. Together we will:
- Learn what deprescribing really means—and why it matters for people living with chronic pain
- Discover how pharmacogenomics and DNA can help personalize medication decisions
- Explore the complex relationship between medications, mindset, and emotional healing
- Understand how medications for anxiety, depression, and pain can become less effective over time
- Hear why slow, supported withdrawal from medications can lead to greater clarity and wellbeing
- Explore natural and holistic alternatives like hypnosis, supplementation, and mindset work
- Understand why emotional support, collaboration, and personalized care are essential
- A must-listen if you're wondering, “Do I still need this medication?” or supporting a loved one who is
Stacey D’Angelo, BScPharm, RPh, is a pharmacist and founder of Your Simple Health, an independent practice focused on deprescribing and medication optimization. She helps people reduce or simplify their medications safely, using a personalized and holistic approach that considers lifestyle, genetics, and overall wellbeing.
Stacey began her career in long-term care, where she gained extensive experience managing polypharmacy in older adults. Over time, she became passionate about supporting patients through complex medication tapers and empowering them to take an active role in their health. She now partners with individuals and healthcare providers to create thoughtful deprescribing plans and is currently completing certification as a health and wellbeing coach to further support her clients—many of whom are navigating chronic conditions such as pain, anxiety, and insomnia.
You can connect with Stacey here:
Website: https://www.simplehealthpharmacist.com/
LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceydangelo/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/yoursimplehealth/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085572370229
Book a complimentary call: https://yoursimplehealth.janeapp.com/#/staff_member/1/treatment/1
If you would like to learn hypnosis for pain management, you can schedule a free consultation with Robbie Spier Miller:
https://www.hypnosistrainingcanada.com/book-now
*Each person’s situation is different, and the information shared in this podcast is not medical advice. Be sure to consult with your doctor and pharmacist when making decisions about your medication and health situation.
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Transcript
Introduction to Chronic Pain Management
00:00:00
Speaker
Historically, we would call this class of drugs painkillers. We can't often eliminate the pain. The goal is to make it manageable. I've always really believed in a really holistic approach. Once they do come off some of these medications, they actually feel so much more clarity and better than they had anticipated.
Personalized Pain Management Approaches
00:00:20
Speaker
Welcome to the Habit of Possibility podcast, the show about turning obstacles into opportunities. I'm your host, Robby Spear-Miller. Today, we're talking about new, more personalized ways to manage chronic pain with pharmacist Stacey D'Angelo. She shares how your DNA, mindset, and medication history all play a role in pain, and how tools like pharmacogenomics and hypnosis can help people find relief without relying solely on medication.
00:00:49
Speaker
Hello
Role of Pharmacogenomics and Deprescribing
00:00:50
Speaker
everybody, this is Robby Sphere-Miller, your host for the Habit of Possibility podcast. And today we're welcoming Stacey D'Angelo, who is a pharmacist and she she specializes in something called deprescribing, which I had never heard of before I met Stacey.
00:01:06
Speaker
ah My understanding is what it is, is that she'll look at the situation you're in with your medication and help you sort out what is actually working for you or not working for you and drug interactions or helping you get off certain medications if it's appropriate um and all the interactions between the drugs. So I'm going to have her explain that to you a little more.
00:01:26
Speaker
She's joining us in the big picture because we want to explore the topic of pain management and what can drugs do for us for pain management and what are some natural alternatives such as hypnosis, which we help people with hypnosis
Holistic Pain Management Strategies
00:01:40
Speaker
for pain management.
00:01:41
Speaker
um So I would love to hear, Stacey, your experiences helping people with that, because I know it's a very complex and difficult situation that a lot of people find themselves in. So go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell us a little more about what you do, and then we'll we'll dive in.
00:01:57
Speaker
Absolutely. So first of all, thank you so much, Robby, for having me here today. I was really excited when you offered to have me join you on the podcast for two reasons. One, obviously, as you mentioned, I'm a pharmacist and I do specialize in this area of deprescribing, which is really helping people to come off medications which are no longer right for them.
00:02:15
Speaker
um and as well as pharmacogenomics, which I'll kind of explain a little bit in a second. But as it pertains to deprescribing, this can often happen in the area of pain management when it comes to medications for pain. So as especially if we're dealing with chronic pain,
00:02:33
Speaker
medications may need to be changed over time. If you're you know you but if you're dealing with chronic pain over course of a lifetime, um your body changes and your medication regimen may need to change over time as well. And it's not always that simple as just stopping the medication. So that kind of comes into play there.
00:02:50
Speaker
um The pharmacogenomics piece is another area that I held to specialize people optimize their medication regimens by understanding how their DNA, their genetics,
Mindset and Medication in Pain Management
00:03:00
Speaker
influences their response to medication. So we can actually proactively understand which medications you're more likely to have side effects to, which ones are more likely to work for you or not, um which can be really useful in pain management as well as has a big role to play in the area of mental health, which those two areas often and kind of interplay with each other. So think that's my kind of professional hat. I'm really excited to be here for that.
00:03:25
Speaker
um I also come with my own kind of story of experiencing chronic pain myself. I've had back pain for about 15 years now, since I was in my early twenty s So I have had my own journey kind of um with the area of kind of chronic pain management, realizing what works and what doesn't work in terms of not just medications, but from a holistic perspective.
00:03:46
Speaker
So happy to share anything around that kind of story as well. So yeah, it's honor to be here with you. Yeah, have great. And I think it's amazing that with what you do we can there's less trial and error because often you hear people trying a medication and then it doesn't work and they have to try another one. And right in there's this whole long period of of experimentation.
00:04:07
Speaker
So it's amazing that you're able to predict some of the effects that's going help people. Absolutely. I think that's the goal have a little bit more of a proactive approach, a preventative approach.
00:04:19
Speaker
Even if we can
Medication Side Effects and Alternatives
00:04:20
Speaker
just, you know, reduce that trial and error, I always tell people it's not necessarily going to be like a silver or bullet, but it will kind of give us a little bit more kind of pieces to the puzzle to have better chances of getting it right and avoiding what's wrong for you.
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, all right. And these days there are lots of choices for something like pain management. I know you know my mom used to take these shots. She had very severe arthritis and spinal stenosis in her back. And so she used to go for these regular injections to help with the pain. And then at some point they weren't working anymore. If she was having side effects, she she couldn't get them anymore. And so I saw her go through that whole process. um And some things worked for her and some things didn't. And in the end, she just had to mostly live with yeah yeah which is pretty brutal like it's it's exhausting and makes it difficult to enjoy everyday lives so i know a lot of people are struggling absolutely i think even just kind of historically we would call this class of drugs painkillers right but this is actually a misnomer because but in most cases especially in bj
00:05:25
Speaker
except for in very acute situations, um we can't often eliminate the pain. We're just kind of the goal is to make it manageable or to be able to increase your function and to really kind of live
Tapering Off Medications Safely
00:05:40
Speaker
alongside the pain and not in the pain.
00:05:42
Speaker
um So yeah, that comes a lot into play. One of the areas that we've chatted about before and that I also believe really strongly in is Your mindset around medications also comes into play um very much so with pain. And i think even what I see in practice is how people feel around their medications can often impact how
00:06:05
Speaker
not only how they work for them, but how they use the medication. So I'll see two ends of the spectrum. Some people who hate taking pills and never want to take pills. And sometimes they're avoiding the safer option, which may be used more
Holistic Strategies: Hypnosis and Mind-Body Connection
00:06:20
Speaker
frequently to get that pain under control because they don't want to take pills.
00:06:24
Speaker
But it results in the pain kind of skyrocketing. to a point that is like unmanageable and having to use options which are not as safe or more risky or have more side effects long term.
00:06:36
Speaker
um So that's just one example of how that might come into play. But I think it's a big, it's it's not as simple as many other areas of medicine where it's like cardiology, you're going to take this pill and it's going to reduce your cholesterol levels and that's it. Pain is quite complex.
00:06:51
Speaker
yeah for sure you know from my hypnosis point of view when when we experience pain it sends a signal to our mind and then our subconscious mind interprets that signal and sends another signal back to our body.
00:07:05
Speaker
So the mechanism of using hypnosis for pain management is to shift the perception we have of that signal so that the signal that gets sent back helps us be more comfortable and helps us you know relax because stress adds to pain.
00:07:19
Speaker
um And then sometimes there are emotional things around the pain. and Like sometimes, you know, if people are suffering more, they get more attention from their family, for example. And if they feel better, they're not getting that attention. So, or they need to go back to work. Right. So sometimes, and it and sometimes its suck it's accidental. Like people have no idea they're doing it, but there are these emotional
Healthcare System Limitations and Comprehensive Care
00:07:40
Speaker
components as well.
00:07:42
Speaker
So, you know, from the point of view of what we do here, a lot of the work with pain management is helping people learn how to have more choices ah around and that. So I'm curious about how, you know, how did the drugs impact people or the, you know, when people get the injections or the other options, how that made an impact. So a couple of things kind of came to mind as you were kind of telling about that.
00:08:07
Speaker
First is even back in pharmacy school, day one, we always learned that Pain is people's perception of it. It's not something you can test in a lab. You have to really rely on that individual in front of you. and just it just speaks to not only the physical element of the pain, but the connection with those kind of brain wirings. And I think I can totally see how hypnosis would have a big impact.
00:08:34
Speaker
um The other thing we know is that like, the pain and the biopsychosocial factors, right? It's the biological impacts of the pain itself. So why are you experiencing the pain? Is it an injury or a trauma or a disease process or all of these physical factors, the biological factors, but it's also those psychological factors. And we all
Individualized Approaches to Medication Tapering
00:09:00
Speaker
know, for example, if you're tired and stressed and you experience chronic pain, like I know myself, if I was stressed, I know that my pain is going to flare up.
00:09:10
Speaker
And so just kind of thinking about that in your everyday life, it's clear how those are interconnected. um And then the social impacts as well, right? The cultural factors. And, you know, we we know if people have a lower and education or income level, they're more likely to experience pain and vice versa. So I think all of those factors just show how inter interconnected all of this is and complex and how um really I think most people who experience chronic pain in order to get it managed, well managed or managed to a level that's good enough for them or better for them um have to tap into all of these elements to kind of
00:09:54
Speaker
be able to have that kind of level of comfort or level of you know function in their life if you're enjoying this podcast please like and follow us and post a review so other people can find us too can you tell us like maybe an example of somebody you've worked with who needed this kind of help with deep prescribing and how you navigated that whole thing just so we can
Link Between Emotional and Physical Pain
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Rub our minds around how it works. So I guess um an example around some medications that might be used for pain management.
00:10:29
Speaker
So I think when we think about pain management, we often think about these injections or anti-inflammatories or opioids. A lot of times we'll also see things used off-label for pain, like anticonvulsants or seizure medications, like gabapentin or Lyrica is very commonly used for pain management.
00:10:49
Speaker
especially for what's called neuropathic type of pain. So that stinging, burning sensation. example, if you've had shingles in the past, um a lot of times antidepressants can be used off-label for these kind of indications, things like Cymbalta or tricyclic antidepressants.
00:11:08
Speaker
And especially those medications can be really difficult to just stop. um And they do have maybe not immediately, but long term, more risks and side effects. So as we age, especially with normal physiologic changes, like changes in your kidney function and, you know, an increased risk as we age to our brain function and cognition.
00:11:32
Speaker
many doctors will start talking to patients about tapering off these medications for pain. And at a certain point, we don't know if
Lifestyle Factors in Pain Management
00:11:40
Speaker
you've been on it for a long time, is it still helping you?
00:11:43
Speaker
i mean, we don't really know until we try and kind of pull back a little bit. So those are kind of some of the situations that I'm really helping patients with to kind of taper off slowly in Also talking about this holistic perspective, what else can you be doing in addition to the medication to set you up for success and kind of pulling back on this medication um and just kind of seeing what's what's the best scenario for you as well.
00:12:11
Speaker
Mm-hmm. All right. It doesn't happen that our bodies adapt to it. So if we're taking a certain dose of ah pain medication, that that dose won't work anymore and we need to be even higher dose to get the same effect. does that happen?
00:12:26
Speaker
Absolutely. So not with every single medication, some classes of medications more than others, um but things like opioids, um things like benzodiazepines, things like gabapentin, those things over time, your body becomes tolerant. So it's not working as well as it did in the past, which means either you need a higher dose.
00:12:47
Speaker
Sometimes you kind of max out on the dose. So you might get to a point where it's really not going to be beneficial to keep going up. And so unfortunately, I see definitely see patients who kind of are in that situation where they need to start
Support and Challenges in Medication Transition
00:13:00
Speaker
pulling back. And it it is it can be difficult.
00:13:03
Speaker
It's easier if you do it with support and slowly with someone who kind of specializes in that area and also working in conjunction on these other strategies that can help you manage the pain in other ways.
00:13:16
Speaker
So it can be done. I think there's a lot of fear for patients around that, if they especially if they've been on it for a while, but it absolutely can be done. And I hear from patients that once they do come off through some of these medications, they actually feel so much more clarity and just better than they had anticipated. yeah and I can totally see it because if a medication has helped you and you you perceive it as you need it function, it must be very stressful to consider weaning off of it or trying something else because who knows?
00:13:51
Speaker
It's what you know. Exactly. Often our our tendency is to stick with what we know even though it's not working because it's familiar and we we believe it's safe for us.
00:14:02
Speaker
Absolutely, especially if they've had a bad experience. So maybe they've missed a day of their medication or missed a dose or they tried to reduce in the past, but they did too big of a drop. So they went from 100 milligrams to 50 milligrams.
00:14:16
Speaker
um That doesn't mean that it's not still possible and
Conclusion: Holistic Health and Pain Management
00:14:20
Speaker
not still beneficial. Maybe if they went down by 10 milligrams or like as an example, um did it a bit differently. But those experiences can really bring up a lot of fear and anxiety around the process, even if they might be better off without it.
00:14:34
Speaker
And g do you this in conjunction with their doctor or how does that work? Yeah. So always what I'm doing, especially working as a pharmacist and working as kind of a consulting pharmacist, I work for the individual.
00:14:46
Speaker
um not really like a health team. So I'm always working with them and their doctor or their prescribers. Sometimes they might have multiple prescribers. So basically I work with them to kind of understand their history and what they want to achieve and their kind of health goals, kind of review the medical kind of aspect, and then write a consultation note and work in collaboration with their prescriber and with their kind of care team um to ensure that there's that continuity there as well. And something that I can see is amazing about this is you have one person looking at the overall picture because sometimes if you're you you have a lot of health conditions and you're seeing a lot of different doctors,
00:15:25
Speaker
they're not paying attention to what each other is yeah doing or they're they're just looking at their specialty. Yes. They're not looking at, they might be inter interrupting and they may not even see the interaction. Absolutely. i definitely see that. And especially sometimes they don't want to step on each other's toes, to be quite frank.
00:15:42
Speaker
There might be something that was prescribed five, ten years ago that's still there and I'm kind of like... is this guidelines, you know, say one year, for example, but the other doctor doesn't want to step on the toes, but when there is independent third party kind of overview of everything from a drug expert and collaboration with the person who wants to feel healthier and is on board with the change, we get a lot of good traction.
00:16:07
Speaker
Yeah, and let's face it, in the healthcare care system, doctors are overworked. They don't have time or not necessarily the expertise to really see the whole picture. So it's really great to have this available.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. There's definitely the systemic factors today. It's just a reality of our healthcare care system and we're very blessed in Canada to have this amazing acute care system, but definitely sometimes on the chronic disease side and on the preventative side, i think there's definitely some gaps to fill for sure. Okay, so if people who are listening are interested in accessing this type of support, um like what are some typical scenarios where people come to you or like what are the best, I guess maybe moments or situations where you can help people the most?
00:16:54
Speaker
Yeah, I would say um kind of three areas. One is someone who but knows they want to come off a medication but are struggling. So someone can be, I talk about deprescribing. lot of the research for deprescribing actually happens on people who are on many medications. So often the geriatric population who's on 10, 15 plus medications.
00:17:18
Speaker
um And definitely, you know, like I was saying, there's a great opportunity for those individuals. i'm often working with um you know, sandwich generation people caring for their elderly parents or aging parents.
00:17:30
Speaker
um to just kind of give that independent third party advice and overview for them on where they might be able to pull back if kind of on certain medications. That's kind of one element.
00:17:42
Speaker
um I also think there's opportunity for people who are even on one medication that's difficult to stop to get that support that they need to do it safely. So these are medications like sleeping pills, anxiety medications, antidepressants.
00:17:58
Speaker
um um various medications kind of in that realm that really can cause withdrawal effects or and it's not because you're addicted to the medication it's really a physiologic dependence on the medication over time and so doing it more slowly it was or we're just starting to get research into this area um so that's kind of an area that I really focus on and and work a lot with clients around.
00:18:23
Speaker
Yeah, because a lot of addiction, and serious addiction, starts by somebody taking medication for a real reason. and Absolutely. And then they just don't know how to focus on what's next in a useful way.
00:18:38
Speaker
Yeah, but deprescribing support, like all the clients that I work with are not at the addiction population. Addiction occurs when that surpasses the point to where you're taking the medication and it's causing harm.
00:18:53
Speaker
Like you can't, you you're taking more than is benefiting you. You can be taking the appropriate dose, have no issues. but also it's not benefiting you anymore or you're at that tolerance point or you're concerned about or like a great example is anxiety medications. Maybe you were prescribed these at a point where you had a job loss or lost a loved one.
00:19:17
Speaker
um You know, you've done all the work, you've put in therapy, you've done all these things to two years down the road. Do I still need this medication anymore? i think I might be ready to try and come off it.
00:19:29
Speaker
but you have trouble doing at that time because if you try and you know't cut it in half, you're starting to get brain zaps and headaches and agitation and um all of these things that aren't addiction.
00:19:43
Speaker
but it's a difficult scenario to be in. So that's kind of the place that I can provide some support. Yeah, it's interesting you say that because working as a hypnotist over the years, I've worked with thousands of people and it's pretty common that somebody has been on something like an anti-anxiety or antidepressant medication for duck yeah And when you ask them about it, and I'm not a doctor, so I can't have any opinion, but I get curious about, you know, what prompted them being on this medication, just so I know some background. often there is some kind of life event. Yes.
00:20:15
Speaker
But yet they've been the life event is like way over, and they're still on the medication. I wonder if they're afraid to... ah get off of it because they don't want to go back to how it was before they were on it but they're the whole thing that prompted the situation isn't true anymore yeah so yeah absolutely absolutely this happens every single day and I think big part of our community like they're quite common these days yeah um and you don't realize these kind of subtle differences that you might be experiencing but you're kind of used to like
00:20:45
Speaker
um The big kind of couple things with antidepressants specifically, sometimes for anxiety or or mood, um is like what they call emotional numbing. So you may not experience the low lows, but you also may not be experiencing the high highs and the happiness and joy or pleasure in life that you could be experiencing.
00:21:06
Speaker
And sexual dysfunction is another really common thing. kind of side effect of these medications. That's not something that you just happens when you start the medication. It can be lifelong. It can obviously impact your relationships, which also impacts your mood. And so it's quite cyclical. And if you really take some time to think about it, I think a lot of people could be more in a position to kind of think about, doesn't have to be necessarily solving, but pulling back to see how things go.
00:21:33
Speaker
And as they're looking at that, if they're building some better ways of coping with life, then the the same life events might not have as big an impact on them as they used to.
00:21:44
Speaker
Absolutely. I mean, that's the goal. That's the goal. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think it's really wonderful for people to discover that they can handle it A lot of people are worried that they're they're too weak or they can't oh they can't function. yeah And so they're relying on the meds. And, you know, and I know some people need them. And if they need them, it's great that we have them. Absolutely. But I think that, you know, if they can have the kind of support you're providing and safely, know,
00:22:11
Speaker
come off of them and develop other ways to ah be more resilient and flexible and help themselves. thats you know I think it's really great for their confidence yeah and for their life because they're actually functioning better yeah instead of just numbing out. Exactly, just living a more kind of full life. I think for me the biggest thing is to just get out there in the awareness that these withdrawal symptoms can occur. i think a lot of people might try to stop or, you know, miss the dose or cut it in half or something like that and experience anxiety or agitation or headaches and just automatically think, oh, it's because I still need the medication.
00:22:53
Speaker
not realizing that it's actually not a return of the thing, but it's due to that stopping too fast. And that is the piece that we're just starting to learn more from the scientific community perspective ah about why people are experiencing these things and how prevalent it really is and how impactful on on life. And I would imagine that a lot of people you know try and they think they still need it, so they stay on.
00:23:22
Speaker
And I think there's something to be said for believing it's worth it and having some idea of what the road ahead is like so there's a realistic expectation. yeah um I think that that can help a lot of people because then they just know, oh, okay, this is going to be, and I don't know what the time frame is, a few days or a couple weeks of weeks or whatever, but then life is better. yeah So believing that can Absolutely. And honestly, there's such a huge variation of human experiences around coming off certain medications. It depends on the medication, like the physiology of it, how it works in your body, how long it lasts ah in terms of how long it might take. But I also see a huge variation of how slow people need to taper.
00:24:05
Speaker
ah Some people very slow. Some people can tolerate going more quickly. And so I really, that's why I think that individualized approach, it's not that easy to get a prescription that says decrease 25% every two weeks and you're done.
00:24:18
Speaker
Because I see the difference in how people respond to that. And some people need to go slower. I guess just that awareness that that is the case. Yeah, and they need the support, so it's great that you're there. I know when my mom was really ill, she was prescribed a medication, and in so she took a dose and she had a really bad reaction. But it was hard to know, was it from this actual medication or was it a coincidence? And then she just didn't take it, and she couldn't get in touch with the doctor. like It took him like two weeks to get back to her. Oh, wow. Yeah. And it was you know a serious situation and so it's some yeah I think that that's not an unusual yeah experience that people have and it's not the doctors fault, they probably just have way too much to do. yeah
00:25:03
Speaker
um So it's it it it makes people make decisions that are very short sighted and not necessarily in their best interests. yeah Absolutely, I'm sorry that your mom went through that and I'm sure you as well as the caregiver, like not enough has been said with the caregiving you know ah situation I think that that you know puts a lot of strain on people as well. Yeah and also that you're in charge of making the decisions like I was the power of attorney for her health and so with that responsibility you don't have enough information to make a good decision so yeah it's complex for sure. Yeah it is.
00:25:42
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And so when you're working with people, um, do you suggest some like natural alternatives or what, what kind of things do you offer? Yeah, absolutely. I've always really just in my core, believed in a really holistic approach. I used to prior to this had a clinic where had, uh, worked with naturopathic medicine and holistic nutrition and all of this. And I just learned from my own personal journey, how important that is. Um, so I am definitely a believer in, you know,
00:26:13
Speaker
incorporating multiple modalities, I think whatever is the right roadmap for you is very individual. um For some people, it's supplementation, depending on your lab work. For some people, it's nutrition. For some people, it's physical, you know, modalities like chiropractic or acupuncture or physical exercise, physio.
00:26:36
Speaker
For some people, you know, it's mindset, meditation, hypnosis. In reality, ah for some people, it's medication. And in reality, most people need pieces of all of those. and Your individual kind of treatment plan that's going to work best for you is like very unique.
00:26:54
Speaker
So I think um my goal is really to just work with people to explore where they're at in that process, what they know works for them, what they want to explore. um make suggestions where I can, but just be very open to like their own desires and that type of thing.
00:27:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's great. And um it's interesting from the my point of view because physical and emotional pain actually are registered the same way.
00:27:21
Speaker
And sometimes we cause emotional pain for ourselves that's not even existing in reality. um And so learning how to to manage that better, right? Yeah, it's like we help, we do help with physical pain management with a note from the doctor, but we also help a lot of people learn how to interact better with life so that they can feel better in the first place and look at things in a way that is more useful for them because you know our subconscious mind's job is to protect us from danger so if we have a way of coping that looks like it protected us and we're still here and we feel okay or we've adapted to the situation we'll tend to hold on to it yeah and the truth is often there are better options out there and so we're really helping people discover
00:28:08
Speaker
what other options they have from a functioning in life point of view and an emotional point of view or a relational point of view. That's so interesting. love to hear how that ah kind of tapping into your subconscious, like what you don't even realize your patterns are. yeah um And then being able to shift them through hypnosis, I feel would be a really great compliment to managing chronic pain, but also just becoming more healthier and vibrant in so many areas of life.
00:28:38
Speaker
oh Yeah, awesome for sure. Yeah, and just as an example, years ago I had a client who was coming for weight loss when we got a doctor's note because she was extremely overweight so it was considered medical situation.
00:28:52
Speaker
So with the permission of her doctor we did some I was so excited in her story was that she had lost a child when the child was really young and maybe like four years old. i think that the child died of cancer which is totally heartbreaking and it must have been awful experience for her to go through and then she proceeded to gain well 100 pounds and she never even really like saw that she was eating to numb the pain. And it was decades later and after eating all that weight that she started to see that and be able to have choices around that. And then you know the people around her were supportive of her
00:29:37
Speaker
you know, emotionally, but accepting the how she was treating herself because nobody wanted to rock the boat or, you know, like she'd she'd been through enough, which is the truth. yeah um But that you know to to have that moment of realizing, oh, maybe I can...
00:29:54
Speaker
I can be safe enough now to discover some other way ends that I don't need to rely, you know, self-medicating with food is something a lot of people do. And to discover that that's not necessary and that there are choices can be a really powerful thing. And that's just one example. But as you know, as you talk about, we're looking at the whole picture.
00:30:14
Speaker
um it When we see that, it's easier for an outside person sometimes to see where the the the person who's struggling could make a powerful change.
00:30:25
Speaker
Wow, that's incredible. ah Definitely it starts with that like connection of awareness. If that piece is not there, how do you make the choice? So like, unveiling that whole connection I think is really powerful. Yeah.
00:30:38
Speaker
being able to navigate the waters to what's next oh that's really powerful and there's an adjustment time because when people have those discoveries it's like the whole world rotates on its axis because they've been living a certain way for so long so having that feedback along the way and learning the skills to handle this new life it's like entering a whole new way of looking at life Having that support can be really helpful for people. So we we do a lot of that kind of thing in various circumstances with people so that they can make their life better than they imagined it could be. Wow, that's really powerful. and
00:31:15
Speaker
Yeah, so it looks like we have lots of opportunities to collaborate, Daisy. For sure. Yeah, great. Is there anything else you want to share with the audience? oh No, I don't think so. I think, yeah, just just being able to share and talk to you more about pain management, about medication, about deprescribing, I think, bringing awareness to this topic that I'm really passionate about.
00:31:37
Speaker
um you know, my own journey with pain is that for me, it's been such a multimodal approach. Like, I have to be keeping the stress down. I have to be exercising. I have to be taking the right supplements and, you know, using pain management appropriately.
00:31:56
Speaker
to keep it at bay. It's not ever going to go away. And I've had to come to terms with that and also like shape my own understanding of beliefs and mindset around that as well. And that's okay. And that's finally got me to a place which is like,
00:32:10
Speaker
you know, manageable and better. oh But yeah, it's been a great opportunity to share that with you and to learn more about hypnosis. I think it has a huge role to play and not only pain management, like you said, but so many factors as it relates to health. So for sure. Yeah. So tell us how people can get in touch with you if they're looking for help.
00:32:28
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So you can find me at my website, which is simplehealthpharmacist.com or online on LinkedIn, Stacey D'Angelo or Instagram, your simple health.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, all right. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It's pleasure. Thanks for listening. You can learn more about Stacey's work at simplehealthpharmacist.com or on Instagram at yoursimplehealth.
00:32:53
Speaker
And if you're curious about how hypnosis can support pain relief or medication changes, visit hypnosistrainingcanada.com. If this episode helped you, please share it or leave a review to help others find it too.