I wanted to write a couple of posts discussing Chronic Pain, I have been suffering with daily pain for over 20 years and have a lot of experience with many of the rabbit holes you can go down trying to find out how to fix things or at least make them better.

Here's on overview of my conditions:

A lower back injury from years ago that causes me general aching and limited time driving a car, if I spend more than 90 minutes driving I need to get out and walk around for about 5 mins, then I've got about 20 minutes between each forced stop from there on in; for the rest of the journey. About once every 2 years my back will “go” and I cant move around at all, it normally takes 3-5 days for me to recover..

I have Fibromyalgia which manifests itself as general all over body pain; ranging from aches and stabbing; to feeling like all the bones in one area are being broken, my personal favourate is the hot needles being driven into my shoulders on most days..

Back in 2014, I was diagnosed with episodic Cluster Headaches, these show up every 2 years and last 8-10 weeks, with 3-10 attacks per day. This condition is totally debilitating, while you are having an attack you are rolling around on the floor; grabbing at your head and face and normally making lots of loud strange noises, you are not able to talk, eat, drink or even think. If the attack is left untreated it can go on for over 6 hours, I am lucky, the nasal sprays I am prescribed 'Sumatriptan' work within about 20 minutes, but waiting for each attack to start during those weeks is not fun, as you can imagine you cant' be out in public when this happens..

Each of these conditions appear in their own unique ways and all are treated with different methods and drugs, but one thing is common to all, if you let the pain get to you and you start to feel down; the struggle is very real and the pain just seems to get worse and worse.

One thing I have learnt that seems to apply to all my conditions; is stress and anxiety make the pain feel worse and having a depressed view of the future only intensifies these feelings further.

I have included a couple of things into my daily life, meditation, mindfulness and appreciation.
I try to meditate for at least 10-20 minutes per day, this quiets the mind, calms the nervous system and seems to give you some extra strength to deal with your day in a positive way.

Second, being grateful for the things you do have in your life and taking a minute every day to appreciate at least one thing, this can be anything, a friend, a loved one, where you live, your house, your job, your children, just something you genuinely appreciate, this is quite humbling and is a good way to stay grounded and positive.

Thirdly, take a couple of minutes each day to look up and outside of your life, appreciate the birds gliding in the wind, the sunset, the sunrise, the color of leaves changing in the trees, nature is a great a boost and really seeing it and feeling blessed to be part of this wonderful world can help to keep you calm and stay positive.

By including these small changes in my mental attitude towards the external world; I have reduced the pain in my world, now whether the pain is actually lower, or just my perception of it is, it doesn't matter, my quality of life has been improved greatly and I am a happy, positive person 90% of the time.

I hope this helps some of you....

If people want me to? I can continue with more posts talking about my experiences and coping mechanisms for each of my conditions.

Stay safe

Puff