You don't lack willpower.
You lack answers.
What you lack is a clear understanding of what your chronic pain is, and the skills necessary to make real progress and reclaim your life.
You've been to countless appointments. Tried everything. You're exhausted, frustrated, and starting to wonder if anyone really understands what you're going through.
But, here's what happens when you finally understand what chronic pain really is:
The fear loosens. When you learn that pain doesn't always mean tissue damage, that your nervous system can get "stuck" sending alarm signals even when there's no danger, something shifts. You stop catastrophizing every pain flare.
You make better decisions. Instead of bouncing between treatments hoping something works, you understand why certain approaches help and others don't. You can tell the difference between strategies that mask symptoms and ones that actually retrain your nervous system.
Most of the patients I see have lived with pain for years. Sometimes decades. They’ve seen specialists across the province. Had every test. Tried every treatment.
But most of the time, nobody had ever explained to them why their pain kept coming back even when nothing showed up on their scans. Why they were suffering with no clear cause. Why “just push through it” or “try this new medication” never really worked.
The first time I explain how their nervous system has become hypersensitive, or how their body is actually working, they often go quiet. But I see it in their eyes before they even say it.
“So I’m not crazy.”
That’s exactly it. And that moment of understanding changes how they approach everything after.
In chronic pain management, doctors aren’t meant to have magical powers. We’re meant to guide. That’s what this site is for.
Who I am and why I built this:
I’m Dr. Caroline Racz. I trained for as a surgeon in France, immigrated to Canada, retrained in family medicine, and eventually found my way to chronic pain management at the QEII Hospital in Halifax. That winding road taught me something important: chronic pain looks completely different depending on which side of the desk you’re sitting on.
Over the past 15 years I’ve worked in head and neck surgery, general practice, and hospital medicine. Which means I’ve seen a lot of patients leave appointments with a prescription but no real understanding of what’s happening to them.
That knowledge gap keeps people stuck. And it’s fixable.
Knowledge isn't just power, it's permission to trust yourself again.
To experiment, to recognize patterns, and to advocate for yourself with healthcare providers who may not specialize in chronic pain.
What you'll find here :
📝 Articles — Pain science translated into plain language. No jargon, no false promises. Read one, then tell me what you think in the comments. I read every single one.
📚 Book reviews — I read the bestsellers so you don’t have to, and pull out what actually applies to chronic pain. Same deal, leave a comment. Let’s talk about it.
New content every Thursday.