Hi everyone, over the past 5 weeks I have been
attending a Pain Management course, and since I promised a few people, I have written
a post all about it to report how it went, what type of things I learnt and if
in general I found it helpful. So here
it is -
I have struggled for so many years, feeling very
cut off and left alone to cope and manage because all the doctors told me is
that I have this condition
for life, there is no cure so you're stuck with it. Learn to manage it, look up tips online, off
you go, bye-bye! And that was it.
I've felt like I'm floundering, just left to pick up the pieces of what's left of my life, just trying to push on through and all the while being in constant pain, exhausted and depressed. I didn't know where to turn, the internet wasn't the best of help because there's just so much online, where do you even start, what is actually the right advice to follow!
In general I am proud of myself, because I
struggle every single day trying to get things done and get through the day,
sometimes even when I'm in so much pain I'm in tears. But most days I do it, I
still push through and I get what I can done!
At least now, after completing this course I have that little bit of extra
knowledge and positive thinking behind me, to be able to help me get through life
in a little bit of an easier way!
Being able to go on this course has given me that support and understanding I've desperately needed! It's given me all the answers I've been searching for and more. If it
wasn't for my councillor (that I see for my depression issues), telling me
about the course, I would never have known about it. As soon as she told me, I said I was
definitely interested so she referred me.
Being able to go on this course has given me that support and understanding I've desperately needed! It's given me all the answers I've been searching for and more.
I've now learnt how important it is to have
people in your life to talk to (friends, family, a nurse or good gp etc) about
your health, your emotions and fears, your medications, problems and ways to
help solve them and for general support! Because you should never have to manage alone!
I've learnt how important it is to exercise and
stretch! Even if you're in too much pain
to move, which sounds crazy right! But
it's so true. The more you get your body moving, even a little bit each day, the
more it will get used to it, strengthen the muscles and help you feel you can
move with less pain. It REALLY does
work!
I've started doing my short stretching routine just for 10 minutes every day and it's already made a difference in the last few weeks. I've learnt that it's ok to just do a little here and there and that things you already do, like housework, walking or playing with the dog etc any movements are classed as part of your 30 - 60 minutes of daily exercise! It made me feel like I was already achieving something and I hadn't even realised!
I've learnt ways to help plan ahead, not forget
important things despite my foggy fibro brain.
I've learnt that it's ok to take pain relief
when I start to feel ill rather than waiting until I feel even worse and I'm trying
to manage, because I feel guilty about giving in and taking them beforehand. Because if you wait to take them when you feel
even worse they're less likely to work! So
I don't need to feel guilty anymore, plus not only does it seem to help ease my
pain better, I find I'm now taking less pain killers than before!
I've learnt that it's ok to feel down and sad
but there are so many ways to help deal with it that you can do for yourself,
keeping an emotion diary and writing down your feelings, healthy distraction
techniques and other ways to turn it around and have a more positive attitude
to help feel better!
Breathing and relaxation techniques, mini
exercises and even the best ways to help others understand our needs better!
The tutors were completely lovely and so
understanding, mainly I think because they had chronic illnesses too. They had
all been through it the same as the rest of us attending the class, and they
had also taken the course themselves. It
had worked so well for them they had been able to go from bed-bound, severely
ill people hardly able to walk to people with lives!! I think that helped give us all more hope.
There were 7 others on the course with me, each of them with very different and
difficult conditions but we all agreed how much we had learnt and how much we
were all so grateful to be able to do this course.
One of the best things I found for me, was being
able to put all their various techniques and ideas into practice in small ways
in my daily life, just little changes or added things that have made a huge
difference. Because they taught us in
such a way that we could all make the ideas work for our individual needs. That was definitely a game changer for me and
means that I will always be able to keep up with these changes and progress
with them to really help me manage my condition in the long term. Of course I'm not saying it was a cure-all, I
will still always have my health issues and will always suffer with being in
pain most of the time, but I will
ALWAYS be so incredibly grateful for all the help I was given and the
information I can now use to help me manage and get through the bad days.
If you suffer from any type of health condition
or chronic pain, I cannot urge you enough to go and talk to your gp or health
practitioner and ask them about a pain management course. Not all areas have
them, but they are becoming increasingly popular and the more people that ask
for them, the more chance they will create groups in all areas.
I also highly recommend this book "Self
Management for Long-term Health Conditions". This is basically what
the course is based around and the tutors constantly referred to it throughout
the course. So if you aren't able to get in to a course or you want a head
start, go get this book. It's available
to borrow from most libraries and you can purchase them online for as little as
£5 from both Amazon and ebay.
I hope this post helped some of you who are in
the same position I was and are currently struggling with your health
condition. If you would like any more
details about the course or would just like to talk to me, please feel free to
contact me via email (crystalsparklydreams@hotmail.co.uk), IG chat (@CrystalSparklyDreams)
or DM me on Twitter (DaniJ72), and I
will try and help in any way I can.
So until next time, Stay Positive ♥