Oftentimes the message in the chronic pain community is to keep your head down, count your small wins and never let chronic pain become overwhelming. Those are great sentiments to strive for, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to persevere in the face of a chronic pain condition. Some days, you chronic pain can simply be too much. In today’s blog, we explain what to do on those days when your chronic pain condition becomes too much to handle.
When Chronic Pain Overwhelms
A chronic pain condition can easily become overwhelming, but this isn’t an indictment on how you handle pain. Nobody knows exactly what you’re going through, and combined with everything else you have going on in your life, it can be easy to become overwhelmed for a bit by your physical condition. However, it’s important that you understand how to best respond in these situations. Here’s some advice for overcoming overwhelming chronic pain.
1. Take Some “Me” Time – Don’t just continue to try to push through the pain, because that’s going to be exhausting for your physical and mental health. Instead, lay down and relax. We know even relaxing can be difficult if you have chronic pain, but it’s important to try to destress and destimulate your body. Go into your bedroom, turn off the electronics, and get some much needed rest. You’ll need it to tackle your pain condition head on in a bit.
2. Talk With Someone – Talking with someone about your feelings can go a long way in helping you find more control in the situation. Even though you may feel helpless, talking about your frustrations can be a cathartic experience, regardless of whether or not the person you are talking to is trying to find solutions to your pain. Talking with a parent, a friend or a doctor about your experience can help make it easier to overcome.
3. Exercise – We know that “exercise” oftentimes gets cast as this catch-all solution for chronic pain, but there are a number of studies that show a positive correlation between exercise and things like mood or pain perception. We know that the last thing you want to do when chronic pain feels overwhelming is to go to the gym and put in an intense workout, so find a different way to exercise and keep moving. Go for a walk, do some yoga or head to the swimming pool and swim some laps in the warm water. Movement is helpful in controlling the physical and mental expression of chronic pain.
4. Eat Healthy – You can’t control every aspect of you body, but one thing you have total control over is what you put in it. Choose healthy food options, and it can help to calm inflammation that may be triggering a flare-up. If you choose unhealthy options, inflammation could persist and you could gain weight that could further complicate a joint or muscle issue.
5. Connect With A Specialist – Finally, if your current chronic pain treatment simply isn’t working, sync up with a pain management specialist like Dr. Cohn. He’ll conduct a comprehensive diagnosis, develop a variety of treatment options and he won’t stop until he finds a solution for you. You don’t have to try and overcome your pain condition alone. Let our team put our decades of experience to work for you.
For help with your chronic pain issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today at (952) 738-4580.