If you've been told your pain is real but there's nothing more medicine can do, or told it's all in your head, this is the page for the space between those two failures. Chronic pain, long COVID, POTS, fibromyalgia and Ehlers-Danlos all involve a nervous system that has learned to amplify and sustain the alarm, and that part is treatable. At Taproot Therapy Collective in Hoover, minutes from Birmingham, we treat it with Pain Reprocessing Therapy, somatic work and parts therapy, led by a therapist who lives with chronic illness herself, in person or by secure video anywhere in Alabama. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama accepted for most clinicians.
Why pain persists after the body has healed
The International Association for the Study of Pain now recognizes primary chronic pain as a condition in its own right: the nervous system, not the tissue, is generating the signal. That's why imaging is clean and the pain isn't. A 2022 randomized trial in JAMA Psychiatry tested Pain Reprocessing Therapy, which retrains the brain to read the signal as safe: two-thirds of people with chronic back pain were pain-free or nearly so after four weeks, and most held it at one year. Long COVID and dysautonomia run on related circuitry, which is why panic-like symptoms, exertion fear and crashes respond to nervous-system work alongside medical care.
Who this page is for
Back, neck, pelvic and joint pain with clean scans. Migraine. Fibromyalgia. Long COVID with fatigue, brain fog and post-exertional crashes. POTS and dysautonomia, where standing up feels like a panic attack. Hypermobility and Ehlers-Danlos, with the medical trauma of years of not being believed. Depression after surgery or a diagnosis. And the trauma that so often sits underneath a body that won't stop sounding the alarm.
How we treat chronic pain and illness at Taproot
Pain Reprocessing Therapy teaches the brain that the signal is safe, through education, graded movement and somatic tracking. Somatic therapy and Somatic Experiencing lower the baseline alarm that flares everything. Internal Family Systems works with the parts that guard the body, and the ones that gave up on it. Lifespan Integration handles the medical trauma. We coordinate with your physicians and we don't ask you to stop any medical treatment; the Dysautonomia International and Ehlers-Danlos Society resources are the ones we recommend alongside.
How it works at Taproot
- 1Free 15-minute intake call
Tell the coordinator what's going on; you'll be matched with Pamela, Kristi or Brittany.
- 2First sessions
History and what you've already tried, in the Hoover office or by secure video.
- 3Treatment
Pain Reprocessing Therapy and somatic work for the alarm, IFS for the parts guarding the body, Lifespan Integration for the medical trauma, coordinated with your physicians.
Conditions we see, and what the nervous system is doing
| Condition | What the nervous system is doing | Where we start |
|---|---|---|
| Chronic back, neck or pelvic pain with clean scans | Amplifying a signal the tissue no longer sends | Pain Reprocessing Therapy |
| Long COVID | Immune and autonomic dysregulation; fear of exertion | Somatic pacing work with your medical team |
| POTS and dysautonomia | Autonomic swings that feel like panic | Somatic regulation; separating panic from POTS |
| Fibromyalgia | Central sensitization; a body-wide alarm | Somatic Experiencing and IFS |
| Ehlers-Danlos and hypermobility | Real instability plus years of not being believed | Medical-trauma work with Lifespan Integration |
| Depression after surgery or diagnosis | Grief for the body you had | Depth work alongside the somatic work |
Is chronic pain and chronic illness therapy right for me? A 30-second check
Chronic pain and illness therapists
Lives with chronic illness. Chronic pain, long COVID, POTS, Ehlers-Danlos, MCAS and fibromyalgia, with Pain Reprocessing Therapy, IFS, Somatic Experiencing and Lifespan Integration, by teletherapy anywhere in Alabama.
Chronic illness with attachment trauma and the addiction patterns that grow around pain; polyvagal therapy and Brainspotting.
Brain injury, concussion and the burnout of living with illness; EMDR and Brainspotting.
Cost, insurance and teletherapy
We accept Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama for most clinicians. Private-pay and out-of-network sessions are $250, with an income-based sliding scale, and we send a monthly superbill with the codes your insurer needs for out-of-network reimbursement. Secure video sessions are available anywhere in Alabama on the same sliding scale.
Frequently asked questions
Are you saying my pain is in my head?
No. Your pain is real and it is produced by a nervous system that has learned to run an alarm. That's not imaginary; it's neurology, and it's what makes the pain treatable. A 2022 randomized trial found two-thirds of people with chronic back pain were pain-free or nearly so after four weeks of Pain Reprocessing Therapy, with relief holding at one year.
Do you treat long COVID?
Yes. Long COVID is a nervous-system and immune condition with a mental-health cost that gets ignored: fear of exertion, grief for the body you had, isolation, and dysautonomia symptoms that look like panic. We treat the nervous-system side alongside your medical care.
What about POTS, Ehlers-Danlos and MCAS?
Pamela Hayes lives with chronic illness and specializes in exactly these. The therapy doesn't cure them; it treats the anxiety, trauma and nervous-system amplification that make them worse, and it takes them seriously, which most people with these conditions have never had from a therapist.
Is chronic pain therapy by video?
Mostly, yes. Pamela's chronic-illness clients see her by teletherapy across Alabama, partly because driving to an office is itself a cost when you're sick.
Start chronic pain or long COVID therapy in Hoover or online
Your first call is a free 15-minute conversation with our intake coordinator, who matches you with the right clinician. Our office is off I-65 at the Riverchase exit in Hoover, about ten minutes from Vestavia Hills, Homewood and Mountain Brook and fifteen from downtown Birmingham, with free parking at the door.
Book onlineCall (205) 598-6471