How to cope with Chronic Pain

Chronic Pain

Living with chronic pain limits what you can do. Chronic pain can interfere with your ability to work, play with your children, walk or even take care of yourself.

Chronic pain can cause what is known as disuse syndrome, which is the medical way of saying “use it or lose it.” To avoid pain, many people limit the amount of things they do in a day. Eventually, this causes weakness, which leads to even less activity, and a cycle is formed and chronic pain becomes impossible to cope with.

You may think that there is no hope for the relief of your chronic pain, but those who don’t create a gam-plan for coping do nothing but spiral downward in their pain. Many people continue to live healthy, productive, and happy lives in spite of their chronic pain. This is because they have found ways to cope with chronic pain, either through medications, alternative treatments or a combination of the two.

If you suffer from chronic pain, here are some tips on coping with it.

Medications and Alternative Treatments to cope with chronic pain

Used alone or combined with medications, alternative and complimentary treatments (CAM’s) can be a powerful tool in learning how to cope with chronic pain. Some examples of commonly used CAM’s for chronic pain are:

• Massage
• Magnetic therapy
• Energy medicine
• Acupuncture
• Herbal medicine

Managing Stress to cope with chronic pain

Stress causes muscle tension, which can increase the amount of pain you feel. Allowing your muscles to relax reduces strain and decreases pain sensations. Learning to relax your body can help you control your pain without the use of additional medications. Relaxation is a pain management tool that can be used on its own, or in combination with other treatments.

Yoga and guided imagery are useful in decreasing stress and muscle tension, major contributors to the intensity of chronic pain. Yoga uses a series of poses combined with deep breathing to relax your mind and your body. Guided imagery uses meditation to calm your mental state.

Medication to cope with chronic pain

There are so many types of medications that control chronic pain; it can take months to find the one that works best for you.

You may be worried about taking medication for the rest of your life, as well as living with its side effects. You may also be concerned about prescription drug abuse. Yet most non-narcotic pain medications are safe and effective when taken correctly. There are many pain medications on the market today that are non-narcotic and will not have any addictive properties.

Find support to help cope with chronic pain

One in 10 Americans has suffered from chronic pain at some point in their lives. Chances are that someone close to you understands exactly what living with chronic pain is like.

Finding a support group or even a supportive friend can help you learn to cope with chronic pain. They can give you advice and tips on what techniques and products worked for them and be a sympathetic ear when you need to talk. There’s a lot of anger and frustrating that happens as a result of chronic pain so the stronger your support system the better chance you have of moving forward and healing.

If you or a loved one is in need of drug, alcohol and/or chronic pain treatment please give us a call at 800-951-6135.