Dr. Howard Schubiner

Dr. Howard Schubiner is a professor of internal medicine at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. He's been treating chronic pain patients for over two decades, during which time he has been refining his medical approach based on breakthroughs in the neuroscience of pain. He’s authored more than 100 publications, including an NIH-funded study on fibromyalgia for the journal PAIN, and a brain-imaging study for chronic-back-pain patients published in JAMA Psychiatry. He is author of the book, Unlearn Your Pain. [read longer bio]

tony

Tony has suffered from debilitating leg pain since he was 12. In the last five years, he’s had to stop playing basketball and attending school. The dozens of doctors he’s visited can only tell him that he has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), which typically has no cure and no known cause. Once he turns eighteen, he is likely to be prescribed opioids. This is when he meets Dr. Schubiner.

MAUREEN

Maureen is a writer, working on a book about the Great Lakes, an area she loves. But she suffers from severe pain in her hands that makes it hard to type, and has also prevented her from getting a full night of sleep for years. After physical therapy doesn't work, she is told that her final option is neck surgery followed by a long recovery period, during which she’d be dependent on opioids for pain management.

KYM

Kym used to ride motorcycles and worked at an auto parts supplier. But then her abdominal pain and fibromyalgia became so severe that she’s spent the last 8 years in bed rest, disabled. While she currently depends on opioids to manage her pain, and on her mother to help with the household, she hopes to return to a full life where she can play with her nieces and nephews, and be of service to others.