chronic pain management

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by Guest Posts on Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:05 pm

chronic pain management

I have been on the same level of painkillers for over 15years which no longer keep the pain under control or give me any relief.

Does your body get used to the same medication over a long period of time? My Doctor refuses to believe that I am still in immense pain due to my disability.
Michelle
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Matthew Rogers
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by Matthew Rogers on Tue Oct 13, 2020 11:47 am

Re: chronic pain management

Most of the time if we hurt ourselves we know what has caused it and the pain that we experience will resolve within a short period of time, usually less than 6 weeks. Sometimes once you have been living with pain for more than 6 weeks (as you have been), the nervous system will become a little more sensitive to pain than it should be and this is referred to as ‘central sensitisation’ or ‘persistent pain’ (you can find out more here: https://www.iosteopathy.org/osteopathy- ... tent-pain/ ). If you are living with persistent pain, your pain nerves may trigger off a little easier than normal. In this case, the hurt you feel is not necessarily a sign of harm. You could think of this as a sensitive car alarm that goes off in error when someone walks past.

Persistent pain is very common and effects over 14 million people in the UK alone. Frustratingly, it often does not respond to conventional medical interventions and needs a different kind of approach, but there are many things that you can do to manage your pain yourself with the support of your medical team, your family and loved-ones.

Keeping active, performing exercises and stretches can help, learning to pace your activities so that you don’t trigger a flare-up of your pain as well as setting goals and priorities are all very important and can help you to maintain a fulfilling lifestyle (the charity https://www.arthritisaction.org.uk/livi ... actsheets/ provides lots more information on this). Your GP might be able to refer you to a cognitive pain-management department near you that can teach you techniques that you can use to manage your symptoms yourself. There are also specific types of medication that can help with this sort of pain.

I know all this can sound a little scary, but there is hope and once you have found the right approach for you, I’m sure things will improve.
Matthew Rogers
Head of Professional Development, the Institute of Osteopathy

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by Codetalk on Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:03 pm

Re: chronic pain management

Hello, I posted this under a couple of other sections but it is as relevant here as there so I'll repost it.

Living with chronic pain is exhausting. There is a frequent overlooking of how depressed people can become when living with a chronic condition, and it is estimated that a little under 50% of such people would meet the criteria for depression. However, it's not as much the diagnosis of depression that is the main issue but the recognition of it. Medication is available but perhaps what also needs to be thought about carefully is how you, the individual, responds to your conditions(s) and how you work your life around it. Pain leads to low mood, poor sleep, isolation, irritability and many others things.

As I mentioned under Fibromyalgia and My pain never goes away, using an approach that views you as a dynamic entity with a variety of factors playing a part in your life is important. Pain is not simply a physical thing but is exacerbated by your emotional states, physical movement, genetic factors, your social environment and so forth. Becoming more familiar with how you function as a person and seeing yourself as mind and body, rather than mind or body, is a good start.

Mindfulness, combined with an emphasis on your psychological make up and how you respond as an individual, has been found to be of significant benefit. This approach isn't a cure or medication, but it most certainly can help you negotiate your situation and help you work with your pain in a different or altered way. It really is worth giving it a try and persisting with it for a time. It's also worth reading up about pain memory as this is a frequently neglected area regarding chronic pain.

I hope this helps add a new dimension to managing your pain.

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