Pain and pain management
Starting this to discuss the issue with @warmheartedhuman836 and anyone else who would be interested in contributing to the topic. I hope it is ok for me to post this here.
I don't really know a lot about medicine other than my lived experience. I have manageable pain myself, from a psychosomatic neurological movement disorder, It seems to get worse when I am anxious. I wanted to help you find a place to discuss this @warmheartedhuman836 as I understand you are new here and learning your way around. Please help me start this conversation.
Also you can subscribe to communities like this to help you find this and other topics that are helpful to you. I also liked the paths.
Thanks owl!!!! Owl and l are similar in that we are dealing with chronic pain. I am not sure how his manifests. Mine began when my spinal cord was ripped in half in an accident way back in 1981. It has been there since. As if my legs and arches are being burned, frozen, sometimes crushed, sharp knife like pains mixed with nervy feeling jolts of pain on and off. No rhyme or reason to it. Different every day. Can't plan things because l may be doing too badly to leave the bed that day! It is frustrating. His pain has similarities, l will let him speak to his pain. Most interesting thing owl said for me was that anxiety causes it to get worse! Anxiety and stress hss the exact same effect on my pain. A bad day can become almost unbearable from worry, an argument, or such. Emotions play into it for me and Owl both, it seems. Thank you for starting this thread if that is what it is called? Ha. I somehow have a positive outlook, even though l am alone 95% of the time. I can only explain that from the strength l believe God gives me to endure it. But it is no picnic. Life is a struggle in pain for sure.
@warmheartedhuman836 Welcome to 7cups. I'm glad to have met you. How did you find the site? It sounds like you have been through a lot.
I don't know that my pain is called chronic pain honestly. I am learning to advocate for myself at the doctor as I tend to ignore medical issues. I finally just made a spreadsheet otherwise I forget the who what when and wheres of my Dr visits. I have a movement disorder and it affects my posture which can cause pain. I believe it to be psychosomatic and it seems to get worse with anxiety. That is a big reason I am here to help learn about how to lessen things like anxiety as it is new to me. I am learning a lot here actually that I didn't even realize I needed to learn about being more in touch with my feelings.
But about the pain have you found anything that helps alleviate it?
Well, maybe your pain isn't turned on every second like mine. But its there l assume when anxiety is high so to me, it is a ",chronic" condition. So yes, you and me both need to be getting more in touch with our feelings and not allowing anxiety to crop up as much. I take 4200mg of Gabapentin a day, which is a lottt, and have been on it for 35 years or so! I just grunted my way through tge pain the first 9 years but finally found a pain specialist that did a work up on me, even doing a catskan of my brain when l said the pain was as easy as it gets and another when l said its at the peak. (It goes up and down in a cycle twice per hour) it was a double blind study written up in a pain journal. They showed the scans to people who read such things, they all could tell it was the same person, when l said l was barely hurting, the blood flow in my brain appeared normal, but when l said it was aweful, all the blood flow was centered around the spot they know registers pain from previous studies. So l can actually prove l have pain, which is wild! Whatever mechanism is causing it, it is absolutely real! I imagine yours is just as real! Even if what causes it, like mine, isn't well understood!
And the Gabapentin! It isn't normally the top choice for my kind of pain, but is the only one that worked! It is used for outright seizures. The doctor thought there was a loop going on between my damaged spinal cord and brain as the brain was trying to find the position of my lower body and the signals were coming back scrambled, telling my brain things that aren't actually true! This seizure med calmed things about 25% and l will take it. Took some of the edge off it unless l get stressed or anxious. Then the meds cant handle the extra load stress adds. At least that's how l see it after so many years. Oh, and what l eat matters! I first noticed this long ago when l ate a huge batch of pop corn. After a few hours my pains jumped sky high for hours! I tried it again to be sure it wasn't a fluke and they went sky high again! Other things have similar effects. Corn on the cob, just almost anything with a lot of fiber in it.
They say you intestines have as many nerve connections as your brain. Some researchers think the pain is going around the spinal injury through some means, the sympathetic or parasympatheic system. It's so ridiculously complicated that you can't find two doctors who agree on it. Ha. You may run into the same problem. Trying to understand your type of pain may well be more complex than mine! I appreciate you beginning this my friend. Maybe others will hop on. Pain is no fun no matter when it comes or how strong. Kind of like a dog biting you as you go about your day, but is it a Chihuahua or a pit bull! Stress can take mine from small to large in a hurry. I try to stay calm as possible. I can just keep texting. Ha. I also want through biofeedback training to control my breathing to ease the pain. Takes a ton of concentration to do it, helps at church or a funeral where l need to be still. Pain makes me move, trying to get comfortable though no position helps? So l use that breathing technique to take the pain with my mind only but showing no outward signs that l am in pain. So l gave thought a LOTa out pain over 44 years of the same deal that never stops. Wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy! Okay, going to eat. Sorry l wrote so much! Ha
I haven't been to a pain doctor. I haven't gotten to that point thankfully, but I can certainly relate to doctors not agreeing!
Hopefully others will join in. Sometimes it takes time to get responses or to connect with others who have similar issues I am finding on here, but I have seen there are users on here who deal with all different health conditions. It is a big site! If you explore there are paths that I really enjoy going through also. It might help with stress issues. I liked getting points for the paths and for interacting. I need to revisit these .
I am going to see my son this weekend, so I'm getting ready to go out of town and probably won't be around a whole lot, but I hope you have the chance to explore the site more and are able to have some respite from the pain!
Thanks my friend. I am glad you pain isn't as constant as mine but yes, l think there have to be others in pain on this huge site! Be careful. Talk to you soon!
@warmheartedHuman836
I wanted to check in with you How are you doing today?
Thanks ReservedOwl, l am struggling taking things one day at a time. I am at peace knowing there will be a day when l am in no pain and walking! (When The Man comes around!!)
Have you ever heard of the book? The Miracle morning by Hal Elrod? I just stumbled across it and I found it to be very inspiring. Do you read/ listen to books much @warmheartedhuman?
@warmheartedHuman836 I miss seeing you around cups. I was thinking of you and wanted to check on you. It sounds like you were having a really hard time the last time I reached out. How are you today?
Hi warm hearted. I found an article that you might find helpful. Give it a read. https://share.google/1bcdNaYXAJyollXfm
An often unwanted way to reduce chronic pain is something most refuse to believe is possible or real.
I suffered with full body pain for five years.
Then. I changed my diet and all the pain went away.
My disease is life long.
If I stop my diet all the pain will come back.
The diet that helps? Keto and the anti inflammatory diet.
But no one in pain cares about this cure. I know it took me five years to finally take heed.
Good luck. Everyone.
@Hellohello90 Thank you for mentioning this. Can you explain Keto? I have heard it is a really difficult diet, but I’m not sure why. @Warmheartedhuman836 is this something you have heard of?
@reservedOwl321 It's about which vegetables to eat and what vegetables not to eat. I'd suggest getting a Keto book from your library or visiting several websites. It's about eating food that will stick with you longer so you need less food.
Hi, I am brand new to 7 Cups, and its actually my chronic pain that lead me to finding the app. I have a number of issues with my back. It could be a lot worse - I can still go to work, exercise and function. But also living with Generalised Anxiety, depression, and Health anxiety, it can be hard to not focus on the pain.
I just had an extended period of time that was relatively smooth and I just tried to appreciate it for what it was. But 2 weeks ago I started a new weight loss program which sparked a bit of anxiety and then I over-trained, which aggravated my back. Ugh!
@Cup8395 welcome to the site. That's no fun to overtrain especially this time of year. I have been there! If you can and it is safe I recommend going slowly on the exercise but work on a consistent easy routine at least to start. That helped me. I sometimes just would use massage chairs at the gym if I was hurting to keep consistent. Focusing on weight loss has been a recipe for disaster for me anyway. Hang in there!
They have massage chairs at your gym? Damn that's cool! Mynwife used to be a fitness instructor so I just use our home studio. And yeah, I'm pulling back on weight so I can focus more on form and control.