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 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 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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