Nociplastic pain, or sensitization, is the most challenging to treat due to lack of consistent identification and impactful treatments, which create a void in being able to effectively investigate and treat the symptom clusters this type of pain creates.

The vague, but persistent symptoms are often labelled as other diseases, making the picture even more confusing and overwhelming, leading patients down rabbit holes of diagnosis that seem unconnected but are being driven by nervous system dysfunction. What we need, is language to talk about symptoms that providers are able to pull out of the patients' summary and identify as central sensitization, so they can be systematically investigated and treated just like other pain types.

We share our developing model for categorizing central sensitization into various buckets including but not limited to:

• Sensory Hypersensitivity
• Sleep Disturbance
• Fatigue
• Cognitive Dysfunction
• Mood Disturbance
• Dysautonomias
• Motor dysfunction (since added)

Listen to learn how central sensitization really presents, and for examples of how to approach management strategies and prioritize interventions.

Resources:

www.iniyh.com

https://www.instagram.com/iniyhpodcast/

https://www.resilientwarriorcoachingllc.com/

https://www.drdanbates.com.au/

Timestamps:

00:00 Official Intro

00:17 Intro to Central Sensitization

03:19 Review of 3 Types of Pain

05:55 How Central Sensitization Presents

08:43 Diseases caused by CS

10:11 Categorize CS

10:32 1 Sensory Hypersensitivity

11:23 2 Sleep Disturbance

12:39 3 Cognitive Dysfunction

13:19 4 Mood Dysfunction

13:58 5 Dysautonomias

15:24 You end up with a cocktail of diagnosies

16:37 This gives you language to talk about symptoms

17:15 Example of First Line Management - Sleep Disturbamce

21:19 Second Line Perspective - Sleep Disturbance

22:58 First Line - Orthostatic Intolerance

24:21 Second Line - Orthostatic Intolerance

25:50 You have to ASK the Patient

29:48 CS is such a BIG deal

30:19 Final Thoughts - Look for the Comorbid Diseases

36:21 Disclaimer