Blog Archive

Nonexperts often misunderstand diseases like hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Harmful myths about what it’s like to have this connective tissue disorder can lead to adverse health outcomes, mental health stress, and social alienation for people living with it. When you and the important people in your life understand the...

Cervical dystonia, a movement disorder that causes you to develop involuntary muscle spasms in your neck, can be uncomfortable and limiting.  Did you know that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medical Botox® injections as a first-line treatment for cervical dystonia?  It’s recommended by the American Academy of Neurology. ...

When you suffer from chronic pain, you need effective treatments to relieve pain and maintain full mobility and quality of life. Cooled radiofrequency ablation (RFA) treatment can address chronic pain with minimal invasiveness, often with better results than other treatment options. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness, interventional pain management specialist...

As a new year starts, many people’s minds turn to assessing health and wellness. Are you healthy? Are you operating at optimum wellness? And, looking ahead, are you setting yourself up for years of continued good health and wellness? This time of self-reflection and self-assessment can do a lot for...

Chronic migraine headaches disrupt your daily life. Whether your migraines come with or without a pre-headache “aura,” headache days mean sensitivity to sensory stimuli, including light and smells, as well as intense, often localized headache pain.  You may need to miss work or skip important personal or social events due...

It has become increasingly clear that people living with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) need specialized care, treatment, and lifestyle modifications. That’s why interventional pain management physician Dr. Nichelle C. Renk and Dr. Mary Beth Calor specialize in EDS diagnosis, treatment, and support. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness of Anchorage, Alaska,...

Could you benefit from a long-term, non-pharmacological interventional pain management solution for health issues like chronic back pain? Spinal control stimulation (SCS) often provides effective, patient-controlled pain management results. Dr. Nichelle Renk and the team at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness of Anchorage, Alaska, focus on pain management that really works....

Migraine headaches come with a range of unpleasant symptoms, including pain, sensory sensitivity, nausea, and vomiting. You may experience discomfort and warning symptoms before a migraine as well.  People who go through at least 15 migraine days each month have chronic migraines and need treatment and support to deal with them. If...

If you’ve been struggling with low mood, mood swings, or other emotional disturbances, questions about your diet could be furthest from your mind. You’re more likely to get stuck thinking about your personal life, your personal history, or all of the things that worry or upset you. Nutrition is very...

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a connective tissue disorder that has genetic causes, meaning it can be inherited. Children with EDS have some distinct health care needs, so they benefit from working with a provider who has experience with this condition. Dr. Nichelle Renk, Dr. Mary Beth Calor, and the team at Alpenglow...

Your diet makes a huge difference in your health and wellness, both positive and negative. Eating the right foods at the right times, after preparing them with healthy cooking techniques, gives your body the energy and nutrients it needs to stay strong and active, and to heal itself from within....

In the last few years, working from home has become an increasingly popular professional option. It’s convenient to skip out on a commute, and working from home also keeps costs down.  Maybe now you’re discovering a common downside to working from home — an increased risk of neck pain. If you’ve...

Your temporomandibular joints are located where your skull connects with your lower jawbone, also called the mandible. You rely on these joints to open and close your mouth, to talk and chew, and to move your jawbone from side to side . Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ) is a common cause...

You wake up in the morning and, instead of feeling refreshed, rested, and ready, you’re overwhelmed by aching pain in your hips. What’s causing this morning hip pain, and could it indicate an underlying medical condition? What’s the best way to relieve your symptoms? Turn to the interventional pain management...

Migraine headaches are more common than you might realize, affecting about 12% of Americans. When you have a migraine, disabling symptoms like pain, light and sound sensitivity, nausea, and aura often become overwhelming.  If you have at least 15 migraine days a month, your condition qualifies as chronic. Turn to...

Your two greater and two lesser occipital nerves are found on each side of your head at the base of your skull. These four nerves transmit sensation to the top of your head. Irritation of these nerves, known as occipital neuralgia, can leave you with chronic headache pain in this same distribution....

Conditions like chronic pain, sleep disorders, and autoimmune conditions challenge the frontiers of interventional medicine. We continue to learn more about interventions that can improve your health and wellness.  Since the 1980s, medical research has developed a great amount of information on the many potential uses of low-dose naltrexone (LDN)...

Manual therapies involve the therapeutic use of hands to treat issues in your musculoskeletal system. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness of Anchorage, Alaska, Dr. Mary Beth Calor, and our two massage therapists offer multiple types of manual therapy that can help with back pain, neck pain, leg pain, and more....

The role of your brain and nervous system in your health and wellness is complex and not always easy to understand. It can be hard to believe that a single type of procedure, a stellate ganglion block (SGB), could help with physical and mental health concerns. However, you should know...

You feel pain in your brain as much as in your body, due to the way nerve signals from around your body register as sensation.  For some chronic pain patients, nerve signals around pain continue to fire even when there’s no need or cause, resulting in mysterious pain symptoms that...

Pain treatment can be a complex process. Figuring out the right approach or combination of approaches to manage your time takes patience, knowledge, and care.  The interventional pain management specialists at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness in Anchorage, Alaska, led by Dr. Nichelle Renk and Dr. Mary Beth Calor, deeply understand this complexity. At Alpenglow Pain...

Many people are discovering the benefits of working from home. You can cut your commute, saving time and money. Working from home can also give you needed scheduling flexibility, or make it easier to support family members or pets.  Working from home provides many people with needed physical or mental...

Your body needs a well-balanced, full set of vitamins and nutrients to function with optimal health and wellness. However, getting that full amount of vitamins and nutrients can be more of a challenge than you might realize. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness, Dr. Nichelle C. Renk and Dr. Mary Beth Calor understand the unique factors...

More and more people are learning about Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), an inherited connective tissue disorder that often presents with overly flexible joints, stretchy skin, and chronic musculoskeletal pain. Interventional pain management specialist Dr. Nichelle C. Renk of Alpenglow Pain & Wellness has the experience you can trust when it comes...

Migraine headaches are a complex chronic condition that can become disabling. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness in Anchorage, Alaska, interventional pain management physician Dr. Nichelle C. Renk provides effective treatment for chronic migraines. Your migraines are considered chronic if you go through 15 or more headache days within a month....

Persistent chronic pain involves abnormal pain signals transmitting through your spinal cord to register as sensations in your brain. For some types of chronic pain, effective treatment involves stopping these pain sensations at the spinal cord, a procedure called spinal cord stimulation (SCS). Expert interventional pain management specialist Dr. Nichelle...

Long-term conditions like complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and long-haul COVID-19 can be difficult to treat. Symptoms of pain, fatigue, anxiety, headache, smell or taste difficulties, or brain fog make just getting through each day a challenge. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness, interventional pain management specialist...

Does low or mid back pain keep you up at night, or keep you from getting or staying active the way you’d like? You’re not alone: Back pain affects nearly all adults at some point. Back pain develops for some common reasons, like a muscle strain, arthritis, or a herniated...

Chronic pain seems to echo around your body, felt everywhere and nowhere, without a clear physical cause like an injury to explain your pain symptoms. As a way to give lasting relief from chronic pain, blocking nerve pain signals with radiofrequency (RF) ablation shows promise. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness,...

In people living with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, long-term cases of high blood sugar levels create health and wellness risks. Among the potential complications of diabetes, peripheral diabetic neuropathy can become a serious problem. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness, interventional pain management specialist Dr. Nichelle C. Renk treats...

The symptoms of severe depression, ranging from persistent sadness to sleeplessness and including constant feelings of exhaustion or loss of interest in hobbies and personal goals, can feel like a boulder on top of your chest. Seeking treatment only seems to present more challenges.  How can you get out from...

Chronic shoulder or knee pain due to conditions like osteoarthritis reduces your mobility and limits your quality of life. Innovative interventional pain management treatments seek to address and resolve your joint pain.  With new treatments and therapies like radiofrequency ablation, we’re improving our ability to relieve your pain every year....

You do your best to eat right and give your body the nutritional support it needs. But it can be challenging to get sufficient levels of essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients from diet and lifestyle alone.  Your body might need more than your diet can provide. Many men and...

The Migraine Research Foundation notes that around 12% of all adults in the United States deal with migraines. Migraines are more common in women than in men, but can affect patients of all genders. Your migraines are chronic if you suffer from 15 or more migraine days per month. Migraines...

Chronic back pain causes aches and discomfort at all hours of the day, keeping you from getting around during the day and getting to sleep at night. Pain signals that travel from your spinal nerves to your brain don’t let you rest — or stay active when you want to....

You get up in the morning and you’re greeted by achy knees or hips that make you wince with every step. Or, perhaps you hit the shower and find washing your hair to be nearly impossible thanks to a painful shoulder. These types of joint problems have a way of...

Acute pain usually indicates an injury or illness, a warning about a threat to your body. Often a sharp and obvious sensation, it could be of a short duration, such as when you stub your toe, or it could be long-lasting, like the pain you experience from a kitchen burn...

Recurring migraine headaches impact every part of your life, from the days you lose to debilitating symptoms to the suddenly abandoned plans that have to make way for pain, nausea, and light sensitivity. Migraines differ from regular headaches and pose a chronic problem for many adults. Chronic migraines occur when...

Your spine contains hundreds of fine, bundled nerves that convey information about sensation, including pain, to your brain. If you have chronic pain, your nerves can continue to keep firing off pain signals to your brain, even if you haven’t experienced a recent injury or trauma. To break the feedback...

Chronic pain often can’t be effectively controlled with simple strategies like yoga, physical therapy, or anti-inflammatory diets or medications. You might need more direct solutions to break your cycle of chronic pain.  With an implanted spinal cord stimulation (SCS) device, Nichelle C. Renk, MD, who is board certified both in...

Under medical supervision, Ketamine can provide substantial benefits to patients suffering from treatment-resistant mental health conditions like depression, PTSD, and anxiety, as well as other chronic pain conditions. The difference between safe and unsafe Ketamine use comes down to the presence and supervision of an experienced medical practitioner. With medical...

Some complex, chronic conditions can leave you suffering from debilitating pain symptoms without providing a clear understanding of the cause. You need expert diagnosis and treatment to learn and address the cause of your pain and restore your quality of life. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness of Anchorage, Alaska, Nichelle...

While some medical problems have simple solutions, other conditions, especially those that are chronic, can be more complicated to treat.  If you suffer from a chronic condition like fibromyalgia, an autoimmune disorder, or anxiety or depression, you may have struggled for years with treatments that don’t eradicate or sufficiently address...

Your body needs vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to function at peak wellness. Getting all of the nutrients you need just from dietary sources can be a challenge, however. That's where dietary supplements come in. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness in Anchorage, Alaska, Nichelle C. Renk, MD, knows how difficult...

You could have chronic joint pain due to a condition like osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, or your joint pain might be related to old injuries or repetitive motions on the job.  No matter why your joints ache, however, the pain can be stressful and limiting, keeping you from the daily...

What comes to mind when you hear somebody mention Botox®? Chances are, you know of the drug in the context of anti-aging procedures. Botox is derived from botulinum toxin and delivered safely by a medical professional. Cosmetically, Botox relaxes certain facial muscles. When these muscles don’t contract, they can’t form...

Living with a chronic condition, either physical or mental, takes unique strength. Each day, you may be coping with symptoms of pain related to a physical condition, or digging yourself out from under feelings of depression or even despair.  You keep going, taking each day as it comes. But could...

As part of your attention to your whole-body health and wellness, you might wonder about your vitamin and mineral needs. Vitamins come from plants and animals, so we consider them organic in nature. We consider minerals to be inorganic, coming from soil, stone, or water.  We sometimes describe the vitamins...

As a kid, you might have thought you were extra flexible. Perhaps you excelled as a dancer or gymnast because of your natural ability to do a split without effort, or to be able to contort your body in a way that elicited envy from your peers. While this extra...

If you’re one of the 50 million American adults living with chronic pain, you’re 1 in every 5 men and women you know. That's how common it is to deal with pain nearly every day of your life. And, also like most people, you’ve probably tried a variety of treatments...

Alternative treatments for pain have been in practice for thousands of years. The use of herbs, plants, and the ancient practice of acupuncture for medicinal purposes were in existence long before modern medicine. In recent years, CBD oils and products have seemingly risen to popularity out of nowhere, but scientists...

Do you constantly get throbbing migraines that impact your day and quality of life? If so, then you’re one of 37 million Americans who experience them. Fortunately, with migraines being so common, there are many ways you can find relief and learn how to better manage them. One way is...

An incredible 80% of Americans experience lower back pain at some point in their lives, and 20% go on to struggle with chronic problems. By its very nature, back pain has a widespread impact on your life. Not only does the discomfort wear you down, it can limit your life...

Do you suffer from chronic pain and want a solution that doesn’t involve narcotics or surgery? At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness, located in Anchorage, Alaska, Dr. Nichelle Renk specializes in a pain management treatment that you may have already heard of: Ketamine. For the last 50 years, Ketamine has been...

Your joints serve as the connection between two bones and are essential for supporting every move you make, from turning your head to raising your arm to walking. Because of the regular workout your joints endure every day, they’re under constant stress and vulnerable to the wear and tear that...

Your devices may make it easier for you to stay connected with friends, family, and work no matter where you are, but all that time you spend with your head down and shoulders hunched may be wreaking havoc on your neck.  The dull achy pain you feel in your neck...

Are you in pain? If so, you’re not alone. About 50 million Americans suffer from ongoing, chronic pain, which lasts more than 12 weeks. Chronic pain can derail your daily activities and take away from your quality of life. Finding relief used to mean relying on pills or injections, but...

You might think that Botox is merely good for erasing crow’s feet and frown lines. You might not know that Botox is an FDA-approved treatment for chronic migraines. Dr. Nichelle Renk and the rest of our team at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness can help you reduce or eliminate headache pain...

Chronic back pain is a misery without letup. It can prevent you from enjoying life, even from living a normal life. When other treatments have failed, a spinal cord stimulator (SCS) can provide relief from chronic back pain. Dr. Nichelle C. Renk and Alpenglow Pain & Wellness offer the Nevro...

Migraines can be crippling. They often leave you severely pained and unable to function. What’s more, they can last anywhere from four to 72 hours. We have good news for those who suffer. There are several natural migraine remedies that can make an incredible difference. And we’ve rounded up the...

Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome — how many times have you had to explain this disorder to someone, even a healthcare professional? Or maybe you are suspicious you have EDS but have not received the diagnosis officially. Coping with a rare disorder like hypermobile EDS can be a frustrating battle as you...