Welcome to BASE CAMP

Stuck in a viscous cycle of low recovery and high stress leaving you with intense flares/crashes, brain fog, chronic fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety, digestive issues, or motor changes?

Guess what…

What you do during the day has a huge effect on what happens at night, and the pain levels and other symptoms that cycle of unmanaged sensitization amplifies.

Systematically addressing and linking each of the primary symptom buckets of sensitization to the appropriate treatments/interventions is how we turn the dial WAY DOWN on the intensity of those outputs. That’s what we do in BASE CAMP.

 
 

I see so many patients with unmanageable pain because central sensitization was not only never well explained to them, but definitely not treated. Because well, we don’t really. There’s not a clear, defined way to identify symptoms and link them to treatments. It’s the piece of chronic pain that is most put on patients and treated like it’s in your head or does not have a medical explanation.

And you can’t treat what you don’t recognize.

Improving inputs like someone’s sleep, fueling, mood, stress and energy management, is always at the top of the priority list because everything else being layered in sustainably depends on it. It’s like Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. You can’t manage stress and create more capacity to do more movement or life with less blowback if your body has no sense of safety and support, and all the alarm bells are screaming at you with the volume turned up to 20. It is the aspect of complex chronic pain that is most under-rated and neglected, yet if present has the biggest impact on symptoms. Central sensitization, THE grand-daddy amplifier of pain.

Which is actually, great news!

Because if you’ve ‘tried everything’ when it comes to meds and treatments and nothing is helping, but you haven’t addressed the most impactful things for you that affect central sensitization - that means there is definitely room for improvement.

The start of everything else that is possible despite your diagnosis. Here, you learn all the critical skills in two months, with other unique warriors like you, whom have the same weird stories. Why? Because there are patterns and reasons to why we all developing similar symptom clusters and diagnosis…

WELCOME TO BASE CAMP.

Want to join us next round? Add yourself to the no-obligation wait-list below.

“Addressing the central sensitization component to diseases like CRPS, hEDS, Fibro, CFS, MCAS, POTS etc. are how we shed the layers that are amplifying our symptoms most.”

— Justine Feitelson

My MARSMethod is specifically designed to address all the biggest dial movers we affect as patients, that most affect complex, amplified pain and symptoms - Movement, Awareness, Recovery and Stress.

 

Many of us are so overwhelmed surviving, we don't recognize the impact of what we do during the day having a dramatically negative effect on what our body does at night. That’s why getting a handle on your sleep wake cycle, nutrition, energy management, pacing wind-down and other skills around recovery and fueling sustainability can so significantly

affect your resilience - which is essentially the amount of space your nervous system has to take on more stress and absorb it without overflow i.e. flaring. This is where the stress bucket analogy comes in! When your nervous system is maxed out without the recovery to support any additional onslaught, it can’t cope and it results in additional flares and crashes.

Below are how central sensitization primarily affect patients, and the MARSMethod interventions we use to impact them.

Base Camp Program Curriculum

 

Week 1: Sleep Disturbance

Identify and improve the behaviors and environmental factors that are making it much harder to fall asleep and feel recovered. You'll learn how to anchor your sleep/wake cycle, wind down, use circadian rhythm and other strategies to make falling and staying asleep easier so you can have more energy and capacity.

Week 2: Nutrition

We’ll go through critical lifestyle and nutritional habits that affect energy and metabolic symptoms. Food is energy. This may sound obvious, but it’s not when you’re in survival mode. Lacking protein, being severely undernourished, and having poor meal quality and timing give you no chance against extreme fatigue.

Week 3: Pacing

Pacing takes planning, and routine is the antidote to stress.. As soon as you recognize how to create more balance, recovery will improve. You’ll learn various strategies to be able to stay more organized mentally to combat brain fog, progress activities and better set goals so you can better manage energy and do more life

Week 4: Implementation

Last time we ran the group, I got clear feedback the participants found a week to integrate everything they’ve learned thus far helpful. This is a week to practice strategies and techniques learned so far, before layering more in. Allowing yourself to acclimate sustainably is behavior change 101.

Week 5: Mood & Stress

Struggling with stress, anxiety, grief/depression, other mood challenges? Stress like anxiety fuels the sympathetic state, but avoiding stress isn’t realistic. Instead, we must understand how it impacts us and learn tools to better manage it with breathing and mindfulness.

Week 6: Dysautonomia

Whether a true dysautonomia or orthostatic intolerance, POTS, GIT, bladder issues etc. can wreak havoc on a person. These varying forms of nervous system imbalance can affect way more than HR or BP and require different interventions depending on what systems are impacted.

Week 7: Sustainable Movement

Different forms of movement are like different languages to our nervous system. Learning how to use movement sustainably without creating more pain gives us the most powerful tool against chronic pain, but is the most challenging piece without an appropriate plan.

Week 8: Sensory & Motor

Learn different ways to impact your sensory systems and work around sensory sensitization to improve neuromuscular inhibition. We’ll expand on destim and distraction strategies to improve the issues from pain, as well as loss of motor control and reflexive stability.

 

This is NOT like other pain programs. You’ll learn how to integrate unique MARS Method strategies with other awesome warriors from someone who gets it, impacting things like: 👇

  • Sleep hygiene and circadian rhythm: We deal with the physical and mental challenges around sleep. How to fall asleep easier, anchor your sleep cycle better, nap less. We’ll audit daytime behaviors that are inadvertently making it tougher to fall asleep and improve your environment, so you get better sleep quality, wake up with more energy and have less dips during the day.

  • Meal quality and timing: We all know we need to eat better, but how to get healthier food easier and more consistently isn’t easy with these symptoms. You’ll gain strategies to make sourcing easier and improve systems around prep with limited energy or standing capacity, taking specific common challenges/needs into account like protein with hEDS, gastroparesis, nausea, lack of appetite, food aversions and intolerances.

  • Energy management and pacing: The daytime side of recovery. You’ll learn how to better manage allostatic load, progress activities properly, organize yourself more sustainably, and know when to ‘push’ and when to ‘listen to your body’, integrating pressure release valves and built in flexibility that allow you to still achieve goals. As I semi-joke, “it’s not about doing less, it’s about being less stupid”. How you organize yourself matters. As you gain capacity with increased recovery and lower stress, you earn more freedom with this.

  • Mood and stress strategies: How to better manage your nervous system and down-regulate on demand with various breathing and mindfulness we progress so you can lower your sympathetic, get stress out of our bodies better, separate from stressful thoughts easier and decrease anxiety as a global sensitizer. Your perspective with pain matters. This is a safe space to talk about the challenges it creates with connection and other things we love but struggle to sustain, and how to work around that better so depression has less of an impact too.

  • Sustainable movement: You’ll learn how to better address the neuromuscular inhibition and sensory issues that develop, plan and execute movement with less pain and flares, and more ways to begin to overcome intense pain, neuropathy, and the resulting weakness and compensations. You’ll leave with strategies to improve brain mapping in different areas, joint differentiation, and the weakness/spasm cycle that develops. If you are also hypermobile and have struggled with proprioceptive issues affecting movement, this is critical information.

 

Want to be notified when I run this again? Join the interest list below.

Call structure:

  • Each week there will be about a 2 hour call where we talk about how things went last week, I teach on the subject, and then open up the rest of the call and any other questions.

  • Besides the education component, calls are an opportunity for you to not only learn from me, but learn from other participants and get to know each other as you work through implementation together.

  • Even though it’s a group program, the application is still individualized. This is a safe space to make authentic, meaningful connections and meet other awesome warriors with similar goals and challenges.

  • All calls will be recorded and be sent out afterward, which you have lifetime access too.

Resources/HW:

  • Each week you’ll get resources/handouts that covers information I’ll be sharing on the call, and serve as resource guides for the types of changes we want to make over the course of our time together. You’ll then leave the 8-week program having Base Camp bible so you can continue to cultivate your awareness around these habits long into the future.

  • Slides will be provided so I can make your learning process as easy as possible.

What Else You Get:

  • Private group/community to share wins and challenges in and meet others.

  • Direct access to me - you can email me anytime throughout!

  • All my best practices compiled into one program at the fraction of the cost of the individual program

BONUS ALERT!

Those who register April 1st will get access to a live Q&A session with Dr. Dan Bates, my podcast partner It's Not in Your Head. This is NOT an April Fools joke!

 He will be available to answer any questions you have about your diagnosis, treatment options, challenges you're having with your provider or addressing symptoms and can speak to a lot of the common challenges we deal with trying to treat. If you've been frustrated with the medical end of your treatment, this is a must attend.

This bonus alone is worth well over half the price of the program considering Dan's hourly rate/consult fee. He is a world renowned sports med/pain doctor who is deeply interested in and has a lot of experience with the CRPS, highly sensitized, hEDS type complicated complex pain diagnosis, and most importantly is a good guy who get's it as much as anyone can who doesn't live with this themselves. 

Who IS this for? Are you a complex pain warrior who:

  • Has widespread sensory pain or sensory sensitivity to light, sound, smells etc

  • Struggles to pace themselves and has chronic low energy; feels burnt out and lethargic, with uncontrollable fatigue

  • Often finds themselves in unpredictable flares and with unmanageable stress, anxiety or depression

  • Can't manage pain at it's often worst in the evening and keeps going to bed really late, at inconsistent times, and falling asleep too much during the day

  • Wants to improve the quantity and quality of their sleep; have more usable hours of the day, and need to nap less

  • Has brain fog or trouble concentrating and with memory

  • Has a hard time eating regularly or knowing what to eat because of not being able to cook and other barriers

  • Has maximized treatments or want to be less reliant on medications

  • Wants to be able to work out more and flare less from things

Who is this NOT for?

  • People with severe insomnia, night terrors, vivid nightmares, medication induced sleeping issues, sleep walking, narcolepsy, apnea or other serious sleep disorders they require more specialized treatment. The techniques and strategies taught in this program would still be useful and applicable, however such scenarios require more than just the strategies taught in this course for best outcomes.

  • You do not desire to take more control back of your life, and have more agency in your chronic illness experience.

Details and Dates:

  • Program will run April 4 - May 31, 2024

  • Our calls will be on Thursday evenings at 4pm PST, 7pm EST, on Zoom.

  • We begin Thurday, April 4th, so please sign up before then!

  • I will not run this again for at least a year, and am not sure it will be in this format again.

 

Ready for the next round? Join the interest list below.

  • “Guess what, my sleep’s been freaking epic! From where I was when I started The Sleep Solution to where I am now is astounding. Most nights I am asleep without even remembering falling asleep. Compared to what was sometimes 90 minutes of tossing and waiting for sleep in the past. My circadian rhythm is ON POINT! I wake up at 5:20, 10 minutes before my alarm regularly now. Thank you for this amazing gift. I had insomnia from ages 8-34. I think I’m past that phase in my life now. Just wanted you to know that months later I am experiencing incredible results that have only continued to grow since the program. THANK YOU!!!

  • “You were in my morning journaling as I was expressing gratitude for sleeping. It’s so amazing to not stress about whether or not I’m going to get any sleep at night. I know I am going to sleep not because of the systems and routines I’ve put in place. Slept 9:30-5:30 and it was beautiful. Thank you for that”

  • “For most of my life I’ve lived with insomnia. For MANY years I considered a 4 hour sleep night a great night. Adding in the tools/techniques I learned from The Sleep Solution with Justine I am now sleeping at least 7 hours a night!! It really is MUCH more than a sleep program though. I now have so much more knowledge on how to fuel my body, and set myself up for successful sleep time.”

  • “My morning routine starts with a glass of ice cold water and time in front of the sunlamp while stretching. This has been a key factor in changin my sleep habits. Insomnia for 26 years to sleeping 6-8 hours a night. It’s been a process but so worth it. Learning even more new tools in TSS.”

  • “Been sleeping like a boss the last couple nights! I only have to work evenings a few times a year when we have sales…I got home about 7, but didn’t let that change my wind down routine time. I was asleep before 10pm!!!”

  • “This course has been amazing. Insights have me mind blown. So, so grateful for Justine”

  • “Chronic pain affects me the most in wanting to eat because I am so nauseous from the pain I experience. I’ve been working hard with Justine on taking back the joys I’ve lost because of my diagnosis and learning how to live in my new body!”

  • “Working hard making changes to my relationship with food. Staring to view it as fuel/medicine to help my healing. I had no idea the depths of incredible and ACTIONABLE information I was going to acquire doing TSS with Justine. It’s been such an incredible journey.”

  • “I am asleep without thinking about it 28/30 days the last 2 months! From 25 years of serious insomnia to this - it’s AMAZING!! You have given me the incredible gift of information and tools to have this amazing new relationship with sleep. You’re the best. Rockstar status!!”

  • “If you are dealing with CPRS, especially chronic pain, check out Justine’s new group program!

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • If your symptoms as a result of pain are difficulty sleeping, extreme fatigue, nausea, increased sensitivity/pain, mood/stress challenges, A LOT because sensitization is really fueling the fire. That amplifies the crap out of underlying pain, so improving that element dramatically decreases that symptoms bucket too. You will have improved energy during the day, less fatigue, an improved sleep/wake cycle, easier time falling asleep and less anxiety around it, be able to eat more regularly, and have a multitude of skills to be able to down-regulate your nervous system on-demand or manage the sympathetic end of the nervous system better at baseline.

  • The program is 8 weeks with seven live calls and one implementation week. This is what allows you to continually layer in changes sustainably.

  • No worries! Of course I’d love to have you Live, but all calls will be recorded and sent out after via email with lifetime access.

  • They'll be up to about two hours, with me teaching on that weeks subject for about an hour and then it being open for downloads, questions, thoughts and discussion around what we're trying to implement. Even though it's a group program, you're getting individual application of the material to your unique situation while also being able to learn from others process too.

  • Nope! I want you to just show up as you are, however you feel safe. This will be a very welcoming, supportive space, but the most important thing is you’re just exposed to the information in whatever way that is comfortable for you. Totally fine to turn your camera off.

  • Unpredictable symptoms, busy schedules and competing priorities are definitely a reality for us. That’s why I structured the program the way I did. Just 2 hours a week as far as call time and that’s recorded. If you can’t make it, you can watch it anytime that works for you. The HW to implement is easy to follow and implement. Ironically, the changes you make will quickly begin to give you more energy back than you came into this program with.

  • This program is designed to help complex pain patients troubleshoot and establish healthier sleep habits and optimize their sleep environment, but it is not intended to diagnose or treat the complex medical conditions or sleep disorders we come into this with alone necessarily. If you suspect you may have a sleep disorder or other medical condition that is affecting your sleep, please consult further with a healthcare professional.

  • You have lifetime access to the live recordings and resources.

  • Changes with pain, sleep, energy, mood, cognition etc. take time to establish and vary from person to person. That being said, as you layer in changes to your behaviors and environment you should see changes within the first few weeks, and by the end of the 8 weeks, navigate your days and nights very differently than you were at the start of the program. With continued practice and implementation of the strategies I teach, you can expect to see even more significant improvements compound over time.