Learning to Manage Chronic Pain

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.

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 ♥

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Living with an Invisible Illness

Hi everyone, after my last post I received very mixed reactions and comments.  Some people thought I was being quite over the top and dramatic saying how hard I was finding having a new puppy (who is currently driving me mad and still wearing me out, bless her little fluffy paws)!

I feel a new puppy for anyone can be super tiring as a few people have told me, but for someone with my type of health condition it can be a even harder.  So for those who don't know, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you a bit more about my heath conditions and the type of symptoms I have to deal with on a daily basis.  To start off with I have several conditions; Fibromyalgia, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and chronic IBS, these all come with their own symptoms but as they often go hand-in-hand with each other, the symptoms get very intermingled.

Have you ever run a marathon and the next day feel like you've been hit by a truck, or had the worst flu ever?  That's how bad I feel 90% of the time, that level of feeling like I have no energy left, feeling weak, achy and in pain.

Doing even the most simple mundane tasks like vacuuming, washing up, having a shower or changing the bedding, tasks that most people barely think about, exhaust me to the point where sometimes I almost pass out.  And as for going out, even just for a few hours makes me so tired and worn out I have to sleep and try to recuperated for at least the following couple of days.

Here's a brief list of symptoms that I live with all day, every day -
Tiredness
Achy and very painful joints, muscles and limbs
Headaches
Bones dislocating easily
Stiffness
Muscle spasms
Brain fog
Depression
Random weird feelings anywhere on my body that can feel like hot patches, itchy for no reason, pain like I've just bashed myself, bruised feeling or extremely sore patches that feel like cuts and grazes.
Just bending down gives me stomach pains and makes me dizzy.
As well as all that, I have very over sensitive skin, I can even feel a hair on me and clothes labels feel like razor blades, and if I get knocked or poked, it pains and bruises as much as if I had been hit.

That's just stage one, then when I've been doing tasks, add in to that list even more exhaustion, less energy, feeling extremely dizzy and sick, sometimes palpitations too, that's stage two.  And if I try to push on through it and carry on with daily tasks or extra jobs that I need to do, I go on to stage three where all my symptoms get worse and I end up feeling so exhausted and ill, I can barely move.

Finally, the more I do, the worse I get and if I over-do things too much too often, and/or I get too over stress, I get flare ups.  These are like being in stage two/three constantly for up to a week.  Trying to 'live life' and function feeling this  bad, is incredibly hard I can tell you, but life doesn't stop, the tasks still need to be done, and of course our puppy still has needs too.  Which as you may understand a little more now, is why I was finding it so hard.  In fact I was finding it so hard and getting so stressed with the whole situation (i.e feeling ill and still needing to manage), that I even had a break out of bad eczema which I haven't suffered with for about 9 years!  After eliminating different foods and other possible causes, my doctor told me was all due to the stress, I didn't even know stress could cause eczema but apparently yes it can!

So there you go, just a brief insight into what I deal with each day and how I feel.  It's not easy, it's not fun but sadly I'm used to it so I make the best of it and push through because that's just what you have to do.  Just maybe next time you throw the duster around or take out the trash, spare a thought for those of us with an 'Invisible illnesses' that can't do all these simple things quite so easily!

If you would like to know more details about how I came to have these health issues, when I was diagnosed etc, you can click here to see my post all about it, or click on the 'health' tab at the top of the page.

Going back to basics in my next post, with a little life update and some favourites.  So until next time, Stay Happy ♥

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5 Things To Do On A Down Day

Hi everyone, part of having my Fibromyalgia condition means that I suffer a lot with anxiety, depression, stress, generally feeling down and days when I feel like I'm going crazy, it's not fun and it's hard to deal with and some days even though I can get up feeling ok and quite ready for the day, it'll suddenly hit me for no real reason and I can feel miserable for the rest of the day!  Plus I'm in pain and discomfort most days and have my ibs condition too (you can read about that here) which often helps make me feel down and pretty crappy.

I'm not someone who likes taking more tablets and meds than I have to and I really feel pumping myself full of chemicals is only going to cover up how I feel emotionally rather than trying to deal with it and I much prefer trying to make myself feel better, so I've had to find ways to cheer myself up and make myself feel more positive, it's not easy but it does help and I thought I would share a few of them with you in the hope that it might help some of you too.

My number one go-to thing has to be sleep!  It's really not the best use of my time, but it's the one thing that gets me away from feeling down and feeling ill too.  I've been using a lovely app on my phone lately called Calm, I set it to the 'mountain lake' scene and put the volume up, then lay on my bed with my eyes closed and just try and imaging I'm led on a soft blanket in a secluded clearing in the woods, next to a lovely stream.  With the birds singing and the warm sun beaming down (and usually with my celeb crush led next to me), well whatever works right! ;-)  But lately that's been really helping, even if it's only for 10-15 minutes, I still feel more refreshed and a bit calmer afterwards.  I always set my alarm before I closed my eyes or I know I will doze for too long and I really have to try and clear my mind or I will just lay there thinking of everything I don't want to be thinking about!

The second thing is YouTube, there's definitely a few people on there that always cheer me up.  It's a good 'quick fix' to watch a 5 or 10 minute video, just to get your mind to stop thinking unwanted thoughts and think about something else.  I like chatty ones, vlogs, funny collabs (especially Zoe and Mark ones, they're hilarious) and I've also been watching Sawyer Hartman's videos every day for the last couple of months.  I've watched him for years but he's been vlogging everyday lately, he has a drone which he flies pretty much everywhere and the views are incredibly beautiful.  Just click on his name for a link, that video is probably my favourite one so far, just watching these makes me feel calmer (and slightly jealous and desperately wanting my own drone!!)

Obviously music is a major one, but definitely avoid anything with sad memories attached or generally sad tones, I find any piano music quite depressing.  I usually go one of two ways when listening to music to make me feel better – either full on hard shouty rock music, like Linkin Park, POD or Razor Red Noise to help get my anger out or I listen to really upbeat dance music or old 90's music which I love, it always makes me feel more positive and a gives me a real energy-boost kind of feeling.

Definitely try and find time to watch a good movie or your favourite show.  Pick a film that you know always cheers you up and makes you feel good, even if you're not in the general mood to watch it.  Of course my favourite show to watch is The Walking Dead, anytime day or night :-)  And since I love so many films (you can check out my 50 favourite movies here, for some ideas), I know I can usually find one that will cheer me up.  I've been loving Boondock Saints so much lately, it's my go-to film that always makes me laugh plus of course it has my fav man in it :-)  If you get anxiety over things like being single, obviously avoid anything about love stories or breakups!

I know this sounds obvious and but trying to avoid stress as much as possible is a must.  If there's confrontation with anyone, just keep your cool and back off, don't aggravate the situation, if you're feeling depressed anyhow you're far more likely to say something you'll later regret!  Apart from that I mostly just try to avoid thinking, about anything particular.  Avoid all negative thoughts as much as I possibly can and I don't let myself think about past upsets, bad memories or anything that I know will generally upset me whether I'm depressed or not, because lets face it, that's only going to make things worse!  Having a 'power' word has always been quite helpful for me.  As soon as I start to get a negative thought or a bad memory pop in my mind, I literally stop myself from continuing that thought and say my 'power' word to myself, sometimes out loud or just in my mind.  It can be a funny word that triggers a good memory or that makes you think about something nice straight away as soon as you hear it, or a short positive quote - anything that quickly changes your thoughts for the better and stops you thinking negatively.

Once you get into that rut of feeling down, it's like a dark cloud comes over you and you can't see the light through it, so you have to try anything you can to keep yourself calm, stay away from any triggers and try and get your thoughts out of your current head-space.  I find distracting my mind and thinking about something else, anything else even for a short time, can really break the cycle and help lift the cloud!

Having little things to look forward to whether it's planning to watch a good film, saving up to buy something nice, or something a bit bigger like planning a day out with friends or a weekend away can really help too.

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Of course friends and family can be a major help, but these are just a few things that I try and do when I'm on my own and there are times when I have to just rely on myself to make me feel better!

I hope you like this post and found it helpful.  Are they any other ways that you use to help make yourself feel better?  If so please share them with us all in the comments :-)
Until Next Time Stay Happy ♥

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