By wendy, on October 24th, 2012%
 MARTA Bus Stop (Photo credit: Wikipedia) We’ve been in the new apartment for almost 4 weeks now, and I’ve discovered something important. . . It’s time to move on, not just in our living arrangements, but at work, too.
I didn’t want to change stores because I really like most of the people I work with (and the others I can deal with,) but staying at this store is going to be totally unmanageable. To be at work by 4PM, I have to leave the apartment by 1PM to make the connection to the bus at the other end. Then I spend an hour and a half to 2 hours and 15 minutes getting home, depending on whether it’s a weeknight or a weekend (and if the bus on either end is early or late, I’m screwed because I miss my connection.) Basically, I’m getting paid for 5.5 hours, and spending 11 hours to get it, and it’s playing hell with my fibromyalgia (not to mention the effect on my blood sugar from not being able to eat when I should, or what I should.) I just can’t handle 4.5 to 5.5 hours a day on public transit, so something is gonna have to change, soon.
Working with a chronic pain condition is difficult enough without this . . .
If you also figure in the physical costs (increased pain levels and flaring, fatigue that makes it possible to fall asleep standing up leaning against a post, fibrofog from hell, and a diet heavily weighted toward peanut butter sandwiches;) add the extra financial costs (multiple added bus trips because I can no longer just grab groceries before I leave work, buying cigarettes because I don’t have the time or energy to make them, and buying convenience foods because I don’t have time to cook;) then add in the money I’m losing because I don’t have time to write (anywhere from $150 a month and up;) it’s actually costing me more than I’m making to continue working at that store.
Luckily, I work for a major chain, and there are 12 stores within an hour’s bus ride of the apartment, so hopefully I can transfer to one of them (SOON!) If I’m really lucky, I’ll manage to get into one of the 3 that are less than 30 minutes away, so cross your fingers. (Tomorrow’s project is contacting all of the stores and trying to set up a time I can talk to the deli manager if they aren’t there when I call.)
Other than that, I haven’t really found any major difficulties since we moved. (There’s a noisy dog upstairs, but I’m not here enough for it to be that big a deal for me right now.) I’m loving the apartment, and we’re gradually getting everything organized and arranged. There are still some boxes that haven’t been emptied, but they’re all either in the bedroom, or stuffed in a closet because the things in them aren’t used often enough for them to be emptied. I’m even finding all kinds of stuff I haven’t seen in years because it sat in boxes under the bed from the time we moved to the cottage until we moved here.
I will admit, I miss “the boys” and Soxkitty, but it’s not like I can’t go visit, message them on FB, or call or text them whenever; and the advantages of the apartment over the cottage are worth it (mostly.)
Even better, hubby’s doing much better now. He’s seeing a different doc for his ADD, and this one a) has ADD herself, and b) actually recommended vitamin D instead of an antidepressant. I’ve been giving him vitamin D for the last few weeks, but she recommended a higher dose than I was comfortable with giving him without a doctor’s advice, and it’s really making a difference.
He’s also finding some folks to hang out with, which helps even more since it gets him out of the house. He even traded a second guitar someone gave him for guitar lessons. I hear a lot of growling and grumbling during practice sessions when he’s not getting the result he wants, but he doesn’t give up, he just b*tchs and keeps going.
Things have improved so much that I’ve even come home to find the dishes done and the living room cleaned up, and he’s volunteered to take over keeping the bathroom clean if I’ll buy some bathroom cleaner instead of making him use my homemade stuff. I’m thinking it’s worth the trade-off of a few extra dollars and the small amount of added toxins, since cleaning the bathroom tends to put me in bed for hours of recovery. I’m gonna have to think about this one – I’m not sure how comfortable I am with the idea of using a commercial cleaner again.
All in all, the move has been a very positive thing for both of us, and once I get the commute under control, I think I’m going to be very happy with the changes . . .
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By wendy, on September 12th, 2012%
 
Doctor, Why Does My Face Still Ache?: Getting Relief from Persistent Jaw, Ear, Tooth, and Headache Pain by Donald R. Tanenbaum, DDS, MPH and S. L. Roistacher, DDS is an outstanding explanation of the causes of facial pain, and why it’s so hard to find treatments that actually work.
I thought the following quote was exceptionally appropriate because so many chronic pain patients have spent years hearing doctors, nurses, friends, and family members telling them that their pain is “all in your head.” Although Dr. Tanenbaum’s explanations of the causes of facial pain rest on the mind/body connection, he makes it quite clear that this is a physical problem, not a psychiatric or psychological one.
“While the brain’s inability to maintain normal muscle function is the catalyst for your pain, it is important to emphasize that the pain is not “in your head.” Real physical changes have occurred in muscles and their associated nerves and tissues.” (Emphasis mine.)
I have to admit that I expected this to be a difficult read. With many complex muscle and joint interactions; plus the interplay of stress, the mind, and the body to explain; I anticipated many hard to understand medical and dental terms, paired with complicated definitions. Instead I found terms with clear, plain-English explanations that were easy to follow and actually made sense; and drawings that show the interplay of muscles and the areas of referred pain.
Dr. Tanenbaum provides simple, straight-forward explanations of complicated concepts like referred pain; sensitization; and how it is possible to have severe pain without having any structural problems, damage, or disease processes causing it. He spells out how stress, suppressed anger, and the physical habits (like nail-biting, jaw-clenching, tooth grinding, etc.) we develop to deal with them can affect the muscles of the head, neck and shoulders; causing muscle tension, spasms, and referred pain. He also provides an excellent flow chart showing the interactions and feedback loops of a “brain under siege” by long-term stress (recreated here with permission.)
 Copyright 2012 by Donald R. Tanenbaum and S. L. Roistacher (reprinted with permission) I highly recommend this book for anyone who has unrelieved facial pain, especially if you’ve been seeing multiple doctors trying to find a way to ease your pain and getting no results, or having even more pain after treatment. An extra copy for your doctor or dentist can help him/her treat you more effectively, or help you get a referral to an appropriate specialist if that is necessary. I’ve even found that some of the techniques suggested in the book help me manage my fibromyalgia pain, since stress increases central sensitization, which is a factor in both facial pain and fibro pain.
About Dr. Tannenbaum: Donald Tanenbaum is a specialist in orofacial pain. He was the Council Chair of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain 2020-2011, as well as President of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain 2009-2010. He is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at Hofstra North Shore, LIJ School of Medicine; Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dental Medicine at Stony Brook University; and Section Head, Associate Attending Orofacial Pain/Dental Sleep Medicine Department of Dental Medicine Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center New Hyde Park, NY
Disclosure: A free review copy was provided by the author. No other form of compensation has been offered or received for this review.
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By wendy, on May 26th, 2012%
By Wendy Burnett
The terrors of living with chronic non-cancer pain in this climate of opiophobia and prescription drug crackdowns are horrible and constant. Patients are never sure when their doctor will reduce the amount of pain medications he’s willing to prescribe, or when the DEA will come for a doctor who is willing to prescribe adequate amounts of medication and leave them scrambling to avoid the torture of having no medication at all.
I understand the torment of living with chronic pain and having no medication available to ease it; the hopelessness of knowing the pain will ALWAYS be there; and the times when the agony is so bad, so totally unbearable, that you desperately search for a way to kill yourself that won’t torture the people you love with guilt and regret. I’ve lived through all of those things, and much more.
I also understand the misery of having an addict in the family; the fear of the call telling you they’ve overdosed, the belongings that disappear into the local pawnshops to pay for drugs, the mood changes and rages. I’ve been there, I’ve lived with addicts and violent alcoholics; and I know what it’s like. My heart breaks for all the people who are still in that situation, who are desperate to keep their loved one from being able to get the drug that’s causing them so much pain, who think that if the drug was just not available, things would be okay again. Continue reading Opiophobia, Restrictive Laws, and the Torture of Chronic Pain Patients »
By wendy, on December 31st, 2011%
 Image via Wikipedia By Wendy Burnett
Okay, you don’t know what “painsomnia” is, or if you have it, but you definitely have trouble sleeping on a regular basis, right? After all, that’s a common issue for anyone with chronic illnesses. Painsomnia is a term I came across on Twitter; I don’t know who came up with it, but it is absolutely perfect for what it’s intended to describe. (If you invented it, or know who did, please leave me a note in the comments so I can give credit where credit is due.)
painsomnia – combined word made up of the words pain and insomnia, used to describe an inability to sleep because of high pain levels.
There are tons of posts and articles out there with tips for going to sleep more easily and getting better quality sleep. There are also a lot of articles about ways to reduce your pain levels. There are, however, only a few posts or articles available that suggest ways to do both at the same time. (Most of them are found on blogs that focus on living with chronic illness in general, or a specific illness.)
Doctors aren’t much help with this one, since they usually want to throw another pill at the problem. More pills can be problematic for anyone with a chronic pain disorder like fibromyalgia, since sleeping pills and pain medications may not work well together. Even if you have medications for both pain and sleep, sometimes even the maximum safe dose isn’t enough and you need extra help.
There are lots of safe options you can try that won’t interact with the medication you take, but first I’m going to give you a short list of things NOT to do.
- NEVER, ever use alcohol with pain medications. This is one of the most dangerous things you can do, since alcohol and pain meds are both depressants, and the combination can (and often does) kill. This is even more dangerous if you’re also taking muscle relaxers, sleep medications, or anxiety medications in any combination with your pain-killers.
- Don’t add over-the-counter medications that haven’t been approved by your doctor. OTC pain and sleep medications can also have serious, even deadly, effects when combined with prescription medications. Even cough and/or cold medications and antihistamines can be dangerous if they contain alcohol or an ingredient that causes sleepiness.
- Finally, (and this one is going to sound a bit odd from me, since anyone who has read much of this blog knows I’m a great proponent of herbs and supplements,) don’t use herbs with prescription medications unless you’ve thoroughly researched the possible interactions or discussed it with an expert herbalist you trust. (I am not an expert, I’m a knowledgeable amateur. Without knowing exactly what you take, and what the dose is, even an expert can’t make definite recommendations, only suggestions of things for you to research.)
Now for the good stuff, things you can do to make it easier to sleep, in spite of the pain:
Heat:
Heat is great for easing the aches and pains of many chronic illnesses, and most of us have electric heating pads, but going to sleep with one turned on can be dangerous. It can cause burns if left in one spot for too long, and if you roll over on it and get it folded over, you can end up breaking the wires inside and getting a bad electric shock or shorting it out and causing a fire. For bedtime, a much safer option is TheraBeads Microwaveable Moist Heat Packs . It may take a bit of experimentation to determine how long to nuke them for, but I have one of the neck wraps and a rectangular one that I love. I zap them right before I go to bed, and they stay warm more than long enough for me to fall asleep. There’s no chance of burns after you fall asleep, because they gradually cool down, the hottest they ever are is when you first pull them out of the microwave. (If the Therabeads hot packs are too expensive, you can get a similar result with a sock filled with cheap white rice heated in the microwave. This doesn’t provide the moist heat that seems to help the best; and it’s difficult to shape in a way that is comfortable to lay on; but it is an affordable, workable solution for areas where you can put it on top of or beside the painful area.)
Another option, if you have extra pillows and more sore spots than heat sources, is to lay a goose down pillow over the area that needs heat. This one takes longer while you wait for the insulating properties of the goose down to build up the heat, but it works well. (I don’t know if other types of pillows will work or not, since I only have goose down, but it’s worth a try. If you try another kind of pillow, please let me know how they work.)
A final note: I sometimes have so many heat sources on different areas that I get overheated. If I’m going to be awake, I’ll place a well-wrapped ice pack on my stomach to help cool me down. (Don’t do this right after a meal, since the cold will slow down digestion and can cause some discomfort from that.) After 20 minutes (which is the longest you should ever leave an icepack in one spot,) I move it to the top of my head or the back of my neck for about 10 minutes. That helps to reduce my body temperature, without making any of my joints hurt. At bedtime, I put it close to, but not touching, the top of my head, since I (hopefully) won’t be awake to move it every 20 minutes. The cool air coming off the icepack encourages my body to send more blood to the area to keep it warm, and helps to cool the blood before it returns to the areas that are receiving heat. (This also works with the icepack near your feet if the cold doesn’t make them hurt.)
Pillows:
Pillows are another important “tool” for helping you get to sleep. Many of my chronic friends use multiple pillows to help them get comfortable, and the wrong pillow under your head can make sleep impossible and cause you even more pain.
If you wake up every morning with a stiff neck, tense shoulders, or a headache; you’re almost certainly sleeping on a pillow that is wrong for you. Pillows are very individual, since the “right” pillow for you depends on a lot of different things. The first is whether you sleep on your side or your back, but that’s not all that needs to factor into your decision.
Your pillow needs to keep your head and neck in a “neutral” position, so that your spine is straight, and your head isn’t tilted forward or backward. Imagine a perfectly straight, level line running from the top of your spine through the top of your head. If your pillow allows your head to droop, or pushes your head up; so that the line meets the top of your head anywhere other than directly over the top of your spine; it will put a strain on all the muscles of your neck, shoulders, and upper back. This can cause you to have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep; as well as causing headaches and/or pain in the neck, shoulders, and back.
Extra pillows can also be very helpful. A body pillow can help to keep side-sleepers from twisting their back into an unnatural position and support their top arm and leg. A pillow or rolled blanket under the knees for those who sleep on their backs can prevent strain on the lower back and hips and help with sciatica pain. Finally, a foam wedge (in addition to the pillow) will raise the head and upper body several inches, and can help those who have heartburn problems or difficulty breathing when laying flat.
For more pillow ideas, check out this blog post: ‘Twas the Night before Christmas (A Tale of Four Pillows). Not only does it have lots of useful info, it’s really cute, too. (There are lots of other great posts on there, too.)
Breathing Exercises and Guided Meditations:
Another thing that helps me is breathing exercises. When I lay down, I focus on my breathing, taking long, slow, deep breaths in, then slowly releasing them. If it’s a really bad night, I’ll repeat “go to sleep” in my head on each inhale and exhale, with “go to” on the inhale and “sleep” on the exhale. That helps me relax, and keeping my attention on my breathing helps me to NOT pay attention to the pain.
I also have multiple guided meditations and relaxation exercises on CDs and as mp3s. I use them on a regular basis, with a set of earbuds or headphones. Focusing on the exercise ALWAYS sends me to sleep. (I don’t think I’ve ever heard the end of most of them, unless I’ve listened to them while I was sitting at the computer or something.) If earbuds or headphones make it too difficult for you to get comfortable, listening to the meditations or exercises until you’ve learned them by heart, then practicing them when you go to bed will also help.
Miscellaneous Bits and Pieces:
Taking a bath with 2 cups of epsom salt before bed helps to relax tense muscles and ease pain. (Use a water temperature that is comfortable for you, and if you need a temperature that’s too cool to easily dissolve the salt, pre-dissolve it in a little bit of hot water, then adjust the temp in the tub.) Adding a few drops of lavender essential oil to the bathwater will enhance the effect of the epsom salt. (Before using any essential oil other than lavender for the first time, please see my article Using Essential Oils Safely.)
Adding a drop or two of lavender essential oil to your pillow or a diffuser can also help you relax and sleep.
If light and noise are an issue, a good sleep mask and set of earplugs are essential. I use a Bucky Eye Shade because it’s very lightweight and comfortable, as well as being easily adjustable. It does a good job of blocking the light, even when I sleep on my side, and has a small pocket on the front for storing my earplugs so I don’t misplace them.
Herbs:
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or certified herbalist, and do not recommend using herbs without consulting an expert. Herbs can be useful, but many of them can and do interact with prescription and over-the-counter medications. NEVER use any herbal product without making sure it’s safe with your own particular combination of meds and physical issues.
I use herbal teas to help me go to sleep, too, but that requires a good bit of research and experimentation to determine which ones would be safe with your particular medications, any allergies you may have, etc. Chamomile is a decent one for bedtime, and is easily found at almost any grocery store on the coffee and tea aisle, but if you’re allergic to ragweed or any other member of the daisy family you could be allergic to it, too, and need to be EXTREMELY careful if you decide to try it.
Catnip is another option, if there are possible allergy issues with the chamomile, but you have to either get it from an herb store or order it on line (unless you happen to grow it) because it’s not available in a regular grocery (the stuff they sell for you to give your cat isn’t safe for human consumption, it’s almost always too old and is frequently contaminated with other stuff.)
Your Mattress:
I’ve left this one for last because most of us can’t afford to buy a new mattress anyway, but if you can afford to, this might be the best thing you’ve ever done for your painsomnia.
The vast majority of us own innerspring mattresses, which is fine for most people, but for those of us with chronic pain, they can be the worst possible kind of mattress there is. The springs can put pressure on sensitive areas, and the older the mattress is, the more likely it is that some springs will have different pressures from others. In addition, innerspring mattresses don’t conform to your body very well, so you may not be getting the support you need in some areas, while other areas are receiving too much support.
The reading I’ve done suggests that the “memory foam” type mattresses and the “Sleep Number” mattresses tend to be the best for those of us with chronic pain. Both are conformable, and neither has anything in them that will cause pressure points or uneven support. They each have advantages and disadvantages, and the choice between them is very individual.
I use a “Sleep Number Bed,” and my reasons for choosing it over the foam may give you some hints about which type would work best for you. I like being able to change the firmness of the bed to suit my needs. I can make it firmer if I’m having more problems with low back pain, and soften it if I need less pressure on my joints.
I also have problems with overheating on the foam. I purchased a pillow made out of the memory foam when I was trying to decide which type of mattress to get, and I’m really glad I did. I couldn’t spend more than a couple of hours on that pillow without getting soaked with sweat anywhere my body touched it. I can’t imagine trying to sleep with my entire body resting on it, since just the pillow made me miserably hot, and that was actually the determining factor for me.
The foam does have a major advantage though. If you can’t afford a new mattress, you can get a foam topper for your old mattress. This solves most of the issues caused by an innerspring mattress (unless the mattress is so old that it has deep, permanent depressions in it) while costing much less than a new mattress.
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Disclosure: Product links in this article are affiliate links. It won’t cost you anything extra if you purchase something through them, but it will help support this blog.
By wendy, on November 30th, 2011%
By Wendy Burnett
Do you do everything you can to ease your fibro symptoms, and wonder why you don’t feel better? If you’re being exposed to the following substances, you may be undoing all the good you’re doing with your diet, medications and alternative treatments.
- Aluminum Hydroxide – An adjuvant added to vaccines to increase antibody production, aluminum hydroxide is a neurotoxin that has been connected to Gulf War Syndrome; as well as cognitive dysfunctions and motor neuron disease, which is virtually indistinguishable from classical amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) except for the age of onset. It has also been linked to the destruction of, and damage to, motor neurons; which are responsible for telling your muscles to contract or relax, thus controlling movement; as well as for receiving sensations from the body.
- Aspartame – Aspartame (Nutra-Sweet) has been linked to headaches, including migraine; higher pain levels, cancer, brain tumors, tinnitus (ringing or buzzing sound in the ears,) noise sensitivity; decreased vision and/or other eye problems such as: blurring, bright flashes, squiggly lines, tunnel vision; decreased night vision; pain in one or both eyes; dry eyes; dizziness and unsteadiness; confusion and memory loss; severe drowsiness and sleepiness; Continue reading 8 Things You Didn’t Know Would Make Fibromyalgia Worse »
By wendy, on October 30th, 2011%
 Credit: Free images from acobox.com
By Wendy Burnett
When I was in therapy, my therapist used to tell me I was comparing my “insides” to everyone else’s “outsides.” (Thanks Ginny, it took me a while, but I finally get it.) Intellectually, I understood what she was saying, but I never really “felt” it until recently.
What gave me the push I needed was one day when I was still working fast food. One of the people I was working with said she envied me and wished she had a life like mine . . . My immediate thought was, “darlin, if you knew what my life is really like, you wouldn’t want it.” That’s when it really connected for me.
She only saw what I let her see, the cheerful, funny me with the great friends and strong marriage. Continue reading Are You Comparing Your Insides to Everyone Else’s Outsides? »
By wendy, on June 23rd, 2011%
 Image via Wikipedia
By Wendy Burnett
If you take more pain medication than your doctor has prescribed for you, on a regular basis, you have a much bigger problem than you think. Whether the doctor is under-prescribing or not, if you’re constantly calling and asking for more meds, you are labeling yourself as an addict.
Even if you legitimately need a higher dose, taking matters into your own hands will only make it harder to get. The more desperate you seem when you ask for more, the less likely your doctor is to even renew your existing prescription, let alone increase it. Continue reading Do You Take More Pain Meds Than You’re Supposed To? »
By wendy, on May 6th, 2011%
 Image via Wikipedia
Are you living in the future? In the time when there will be a cure, or a treatment that will make everything better? Or do you live in the past, rehashing old trauma; remembering all the bad things that have happened to you? Or maybe you live in the past, dreaming of the days when you felt GOOD; when you could work all day and still cook dinner when you got home.
I’ve been in all those places, over and over; and you want to know what they taught me? That I’ve spent a big portion of my life missing out on my “now.”
My past is over. The good and the bad are gone, they live on only in my head and in how they’ve shaped me. The only power the painful times have is the power I give them to affect my present. If I obsess over the wrongs that have been done to me in the past, or the things I’ve lost; it prevents me from being able to enjoy what I do have.
The future? There’s no guarantee that there IS a future. If I’m walking home from work worrying about what I have to do when I get here, I don’t see the roses blooming, I don’t smell the sweet honeysuckle that grows beside the sidewalk or hear the beautiful bird song.
I can walk home focused on what I’m going to do when I get here, or focused on how tired I am, or how much my back (neck, hip, knee) hurts; and the more I focus on the pain, the more I hurt; the more I focus on all the things I have to get done, the more stressed I get.
My other option is to acknowledge the pain and what needs to get done, then focus on how good the sun feels on my skin or how sweet the honeysuckle smells. I can choose to focus on the beauty of the roses, or the pain of the thorns. It seems such a small thing, that choice; but it’s actually huge. It’s the difference between having a good day, or a painful one; the difference between being stressed out or relaxed. The pain is going to be there anyway, it’s always there; but if I choose to focus on the beauty I will be happier than I will if I focus on the pain, and in the end, isn’t that what life is all about?
The biggest thing I’ve learned in this journey is that positive thinking won’t cure my illness, but it sure as hell makes it easier to live with.
By wendy, on November 21st, 2010%
Dr. Grinstead was kind enough to allow me to post this short article as a guest post, and the copyright belongs to him exclusively. The contents of this post may only be used with his permission, and with appropriate credit and links.
By: Dr. Stephen F. Grinstead, LMFT, ACRPS, CADC-II
To find a balance point you must be able to identify what the extremes are that you need to balance. In the table below you will see each of the target five balance points you need to strive to obtain in your life.
1. Positive Self-Talk
2. Appropriate Emotional Expression
3. Healthy Support Network
4. Spirituality/Humility
5. Effective Pain Management
Most people pay little attention to all the random thoughts that go through their head each day. Unfortunately, this is not the best way to go through life if you want to thrive. I want to have you consider a quote attributed to the Dalai Lama that I’ve posted below.
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
Balance Point One: Positive Self-Talk
The first balance point is positive self-talk. On one end of this continuum is repressed self-talk. When you are at this end of the spectrum you are not listening to your thoughts that eventually create your destiny. When your thoughts can lead you to making poor choices this might not be such a bad thing. However, for the most part it is important to monitor your thinking patterns so you can end up not creating negative consequences for yourself.
Balance Point Two: Appropriate Emotional Expression
A trap I see some people fall into is labeling feelings or emotions as either good or bad. I do not believe in “good” or “bad” emotions. I do believe that emotions can however be comfortable or uncomfortable. Some emotions such as happiness or joy are sought after, while other emotions like fear or loneliness are to be avoided at all costs. This type of paradigm can lead to going to one end or the other of this spectrum.
Balance Point Three: Healthy Support Network
It is crucial to build a chronic pain support network for yourself. This balance point of a healthy support network also has two dangerous extremes—isolation and enabling. Let’s start with the isolation extreme. This is usually fueled with the belief that I have to do it myself. Sometimes this is coming from a power position because of a mistaken belief like “I can’t trust/depend on others.” While for other people the mistaken belief might be “I have to do it myself because I’m no good; or nobody is there for me.” Either way you lose the chance to have someone in your corner when it really counts.
Balance Point Four: Spirituality/Humility
The next balance point of spirituality/humility also has problematic extremes. Here too people can vacillate between the extremes and never stay in the middle. On one end of the spectrum people are at risk for moving into pride and/or arrogance while at the opposite end is shame and guilt. Spirituality is a complex and multidimensional part of the human experience. It involves beliefs, perceptions, thinking, feeling, experiential and behavior aspects.
Balance Point Five: Effective Pain Management
This last balance point of effective pain management is crucial for effective chronic pain management and freedom from suffering. The two extremes here are ignoring pain or suffering. I believe that there are times when ignoring pain—or avoidance by appropriate distraction—can be a good thing. I don’t believe it is ever a good thing to be in suffering from your pain.
Striving for balance in chronic pain management recovery is crucial for freedom from suffering and obtaining a great quality of life. This will help you move beyond surviving with chronic pain to thriving and enjoying life to the fullest.
Dr. Grinstead’s blog: Addiction Free Pain Management Blog
Dr. Grinstead’s company website: CENAPS
Dr. Grinstead’s personal website: Addiction Free Pain Management
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