Much as may be painful to acknowledge it, pain does serve a purpose. It’s your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. If you touch something hot for example, the nerves in the skin that’s touching it send a signal to the brain. The brain responds by telling your muscles to move away before you get badly burnt.
Sometimes though a painful situation is a bit more complicated, and whatever is causing the pain can’t just ‘be moved away from’. This is the case with painful health disorders like arthritis, migraines, fibromyalgia et al. These types of pains have to be managed as there is often no simple, quick fix solution, like moving away from the pain stimulus.
Here are some tips that will help you understand, and manage, pain.
Pain differs. It differs depending on what causes it, and can differ from day to day too. Migraine pain for example is different pain to what you feel if you touch a hot object, or you get stung by an insect.
Chronic painful diseases such as arthritis have several sources of pain. Inflammation causes the painful swelling and redness in the joints. As the disease progresses, it affects the joint tissues leading to more pain. Pain makes your nervous system more sensitive, which in turn increases the severity of the disorder. Damage to joint tissues can also happen after injury, stress, or abnormal pressure on the joints.
Living with chronic pain can be exhausting, leading to chronic fatigue, which in turn makes dealing with the pain harder. It may even seem like the pain is getting worse, simply because you can’t cope with it as effectively. You may then find yourself spiralling into a downward cycle of stress and depression caused by difficulty coping with the pain, restricted movement, and the fact that you can’t do a lot of the things you enjoy doing. It then becomes a self perpetuating cycle that is very difficult to halt, or break free of.
Something else to be aware of when it comes to dealing with pain is that not everyone reacts, or copes with pain the same way. Some people are more prone to getting caught up in the spiralling cycle of pain, depression, and stress. This makes it harder for them to deal with painful conditions like arthritis.
Tips For Successfully Dealing With Pain
Pain, especially that caused by disorders like arthritis, will only take over your life if you let it. Try focussing on the positives and building your life around health and wellness rather than pain. Understand that your mind plays a significant role in the way you feel and respond to pain.
Learning effective pain management skills is a proven way to reduce and cope with pain. Many people have found that by thinking of pain as a trigger to do something positive about it they’ve been able to successfully break the pain / depression cycle. Gentle stretching and relaxation exercises (yoga, tai chi etc), meditation, massages, hot/cold packs and maintaining a positive frame of mind are all proven ways of managing chronic pain.
Focus on other things rather than on your pain. If you’re constantly thinking about how much pain you’re in, you’ll invariably feel a lot worse. Learn to distract yourself and take your mind off your pain. Do things that engage your mind, like an absorbing hobby, or something that focuses your attention away from your body. You’ll be surprised by how well this technique actually works.
Be positive. Having a positive self-image can also go a long way towards helping you cope more effectively with pain.
Finally, there are obviously also many medicinal ways of treating chronic pain too. Some are more natural and have fewer side effects than others – Steve Harvey CBD oil is a good example of a potent, natural antidote for many types of chronic pain with few nasty side effects. Also talk to your physician about various other treatment options.
