5 Tips for Handling Pain

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, Tim Murphy gives you five useful suggestions for dealing with chronic pain. These can't be the only possibilities around and I'm sure you have your own hints and tips for getting through the day. The challenge is for you to come up with some more and share them with us all. Please use the contact form (click the Contact button above this post) to do it, or leave a comment (underneath the post).

Win the Pain Game by Tim Murphy

Hurting? These tips can help.

BUILD YOUR PAIN-FIGHTING TEAM

You need a primary-care doc who takes your pain seriously and will work with you to find drug or non-drug solutions—possibly including referral to a pain center. If your doctor pooh-poohs your pain (or gives up on it while you’re still hurting), find a new one!

KEEP A PAIN DIARY

Tracking your pain (on a 0 to 10 scale) throughout the day, over several days, 
can give you a sense of control. It can also create a picture of when your pain ebbs and flows—and it’s a great tool to bring to pain doctors. Google “Pain Diary” to find several print-and-use versions online.

TRY SIMPLE THINGS

Naps, light stretching or exercise, hot baths, hot tea, work breaks, breathing, meditation and prayer can all give you “pain breaks” throughout the day. So can your favorite dumb TV show!

BALANCE PERSISTANCE AND ACCEPTANCE

You don’t have to live with pain but you probably can’t banish it overnight. Balance fighting pain with accepting it, because panicking just makes it worse. Do what you can do every day and let go of the rest. “There are days I get angry and depressed,” says 15-year chronic pain survivor Betsy Luz Correa (43), “...and days 
I say, ‘I feel, so I know I’m alive.’”

BE SMART ABOUT USING PAIN MEDS

Pain meds can be powerful and effective long-term, but they can easily be abused, especially if you have a substance-use history. “Don’t wait to take your meds until you’re so uncomfortable you can’t function,” says Mark Cichocki, RN. “But don’t self-diagnose and self-medicate.” Get Doc’s help.