Sometimes, the pain can be pretty unbearable. You know, when you lie there, wide awake from the pain, and start to wonder if being stabbed causes the same amount of pain. When muscle relaxants, muscle creams, narcotics, and even Ativan can't help you sleep because you're in too much pain.
So do you lie there and bawl your eyes out until morning and hope that the pain subsides after some time? Not my style. Plus crying causes migraines, and I would prefer the stomach/flank pain over a migraine any day.
One of the less obvious problems here is that I can't just get up in the middle of the night and take my dog out for a walk. 1.Walking more than ten minutes at this point could cause a fainting spell, a scene, and a trip to the emergency room. 2. I am a girl, and it's not exactly safe. 3. I have a few too many meds in me to feel confident enough to function at a mental capacity to react to an adverse situation.
So - trick is: be productive! If you can't sleep, and you are in pain, be productive! This could be as simple as getting ahead on work/school, writing that dreaded paper you have been procrastinating to write all semester, try a new skill, plan a trip, do some online window shopping*, practice (quietly) a musical instrument, cook or bake something for the next morning, research a topic that interests you, etc...
*online window shopping: go on your favorite website, put as many things as you would like to buy in your 'wish list' or in your 'shopping cart', then delete everything and walk away (because really, you are on narcotics and narcotics and shopping is just a bad idea). - I do this all the time on nflshop.com
What's the moral of this story?
When you start wondering if a knife would hurt as much as the pain you are experiencing, just accept that sleep will evade you all night, get up and do something that makes you feel emotionally/intellectually stimulated. Do something that will make you feel good about using your horrible time for some productivity. Seriously, it helps!
#thelightersideofmedicine
#copingstrategy
So do you lie there and bawl your eyes out until morning and hope that the pain subsides after some time? Not my style. Plus crying causes migraines, and I would prefer the stomach/flank pain over a migraine any day.
One of the less obvious problems here is that I can't just get up in the middle of the night and take my dog out for a walk. 1.Walking more than ten minutes at this point could cause a fainting spell, a scene, and a trip to the emergency room. 2. I am a girl, and it's not exactly safe. 3. I have a few too many meds in me to feel confident enough to function at a mental capacity to react to an adverse situation.
So - trick is: be productive! If you can't sleep, and you are in pain, be productive! This could be as simple as getting ahead on work/school, writing that dreaded paper you have been procrastinating to write all semester, try a new skill, plan a trip, do some online window shopping*, practice (quietly) a musical instrument, cook or bake something for the next morning, research a topic that interests you, etc...
*online window shopping: go on your favorite website, put as many things as you would like to buy in your 'wish list' or in your 'shopping cart', then delete everything and walk away (because really, you are on narcotics and narcotics and shopping is just a bad idea). - I do this all the time on nflshop.com
What's the moral of this story?
When you start wondering if a knife would hurt as much as the pain you are experiencing, just accept that sleep will evade you all night, get up and do something that makes you feel emotionally/intellectually stimulated. Do something that will make you feel good about using your horrible time for some productivity. Seriously, it helps!
#thelightersideofmedicine
#copingstrategy