 Join the club. Better yet, join our Facebook group Chronic Pain Champions – No Whining Allowed.
This group offers a "positive” resource for people with non-cancer/end-of-life chronic pain, caretakers (family and friends), medical professionals, and industry experts to champion pain. The focus is on living well, despite pain, including understanding pain, accepting pain, adjusting to pain, and adapting to pain. No complaining, woe is me or negative talk is allowed. It can make pain worse. Education, pain management information, and reassurance/support are welcome.  No one likes pain. And we’ll do almost anything to find the cause and a solution.
It’s easy to jump on what I call the pain merry-go-round. Visiting all types of healthcare providers. Going through x-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs, CT scans, and all sorts of other tests. Attending lectures. Spending countless hours on the Internet. Taking a concoction of opioid painkillers, non-opioid medicines, vitamins, and herbs. Getting injections. Even having surgery or surgeries. While some of these might help, some may not, and some may even make things worse. Meanwhile, they all cost time and money and delay chronic pain rehabilitation. Get your free copy of the e-book Chronic Pain Won’t Stop Me for ways to make the jump. Have the thought without buying the thought It’s easy for our mind to wander and lose touch with the things we enjoy.
Mindfulness has shown to reduce anxiety and stress while improving mood and pain acceptance. It redirects the mind from the wandering negative thoughts in our head so we can enjoy the present with no judgement, rumination or worry about the pain. It simply asks us to become aware of our senses and free our mind. We can practice mindfulness when simply taking a deep breath by focusing on the breath, how we breath, and what the air feels like coming in and out of our bodies. We can also practice mindfulness when listening, walking, or doing simple things like playing with our pets. Best yet, it’s free and requires no special equipment. Learn more:
Get tools: People with chronic pain often do too much when they’re having good days and not enough when they’re having bad days.
Pace activity by setting time limits, slowing down (start low, go slow), breaking up tasks, and taking frequent short breaks – gradually increasing what you can do to build endurance. Here is a helpful resource to help you. What do you do and say when you hurt? How do you react to chronic pain? You may moan or groan. You may make a face and grimace or wince. You may touch or rub the area that hurts. You may stop what you are doing and limit activity. You may even say a few choice words. The body’s natural vocal, verbal, physical, emotional, and social reactions to pain are called pain behaviors. They are our ways of expressing we are hurting. While fine for acute pain like touching a hot stove, these pain behavior reactions place undue focus on chronic pain and reinforce the pain – causing emotional distress and anxiety. Which can lead to reduced coping skills, intensified perceived pain, disability, and increased use of the healthcare system. But, wait, Tom. Are you reinforcing the pain by the sheer fact of talking about it in this article? No. Not really. It's okay to talk about chronic pain in a general or educational sense just like we do any other topic in a conversation. Our emotions stay in check. What is not okay is “stinking thinking” – verbally expressing pain, complaining about it, wallowing in it, or placing blame for it. Pain is a learned response not just a physical problem Research has shown as pain conditions become chronic, the relationship between pain severity and pain behavior weakens. In other words, pain behaviors can become over-exaggerated responses to the pain. Rubbing the spot where it hurts may help you feel better. But what does rubbing and other pain behaviors tell your brain? They tell your brain how to react the next time you have pain. You not only learn the pain; you learn the reaction. And what do pain behaviors tell others around you? How do they react to your demonstrations of pain? They may become confused, over helpful, over cautious, or over critical. They may even stop interacting with you. Change how we react to chronic pain We know what to expect from our pain by the very nature of it being chronic. It is not like twisting an ankle or getting stung by a bee. Below are a few tips to reduce pain behavior:
While easier said than done, these tips can work with practice.  |
