In my latest 'Ask Me Anything' post, I was asked to write about my best and most favourite ways to cope with mind-boggling pain without medication.
Before recently finding a medication that truly helps with my pain, I had to find all sorts of other ways to cope, and even WITH medication, I still use each and every one of these coping strategies on a daily basis. I still experience constant pain and massive flare days.
The days when my head feels like it is going to implode from migraine headaches. Days when I am very much tempted to stick a knife into my abdomen and try to take my damn intestines out myself. Days I cannot even stand because of intense burning sensations from intestinal inflammation or joint erosion that I cannot stop.
My body is filled with little cells that are absolutely hell-bent on destroying my organs one by one. An army. An army that is more likely to succeed than not. And I live every single day actively fighting that army back into its trenches - even for an hour or a few minutes.
So how do I ignore all of that information? How do I pretend the pain does not exist and simply get on with day to day life?
There are a lot of strategies...
I try and stick with these basic five:
1. Distraction
2. Adrenaline
3. Relaxation
4. Movement
5. Numbing the Senses
Distraction:
This can be as extravagant as going out with friends, out for dinner, to a party, a movie, anything that is out and requires concentration, or as simple as tapping your fingers on the bed as you're lying down. Keeping busy even without really doing anything at all. Make lists, paint, play music, write in a journal, play with a pet, watch youtube videos, binge Netflix, go for a walk, anything to keep your focus.
Adrenaline:
Adrenaline is the all-powerful natural opiate. Although coming down from this 'drug' can be brutal, it can at least provide several minutes (or even hours) of feigned relief. Getting your heart racing and your adrenaline up can provide some much needed time of relief. And remember that this does not mean you have to suddenly start running marathons - horror flicks sufficiently increase adrenaline without ever having to leave the house. Simple pushups, jumping jacks, crunches, or the most basic app with a time limit. These can all provide both distraction AND adrenaline rushes - on a small scale of course.
Relaxation:
Seriously - nothing is better than a good bubble bath. It is crucial to remember that even if you have joint inflammation, the muscles around your joints play a pivotal part in pain. Massages, meditation, light stretching, epsom salt baths, a steam room or sauna, swimming - all of these help to relax the muscles. I highly recommend swimming for joint pain - it relieves the pressure placed on our joints from our own body weight. It also requires focus and provides distraction. Plus if you happen to be able to follow guided meditations - you can truly transport your mind and psychologically leave your body for a few moments.
Movement:
Not just exercising, but literally any movement will provide enough distraction to be in its own category. Ever see people who suffer from severe pain? They tend to rock back and forth, shift positions and postures, and be constantly on the move. Add in that visual of a patient writhing in pain - there is a reason for that. When the body is suffering severe amounts of pain, the reaction is to get out of the situation, position, or get away from whatever is causing you pain - so you flinch, you move, you react. Sitting still without movement means more pain. The problem arises when the pain is coming from inside the body - then the body writhes in odd and irrational ways because it is incapable of getting away from the source of pain. So - movement temporarily tells the body that we are actively trying to remove ourselves from the source of pain. Movement equates progress. Plus it is a good distraction.
Numbing the Senses:
Don't worry, I am not referring to drugs or medications here. I am referring to topical muscle creams, peppermint oil with a lotion or in the bath - any safe substance that leaves your skin feeling that cooling/burning sensation. Hot bubble baths, heating pads, ice pads. Anything that provides the body with an intense sensation that opposes the pain you are experiencing inside the body. Feeling hot from inflammation? Use a cooling pad to contradict the pain. Feeling stiff and sore, maybe a heating pad would work best. Having an intensely different sensation on your skin can confuse our systems and may allow us to feel a little less pain for a while. Like a distraction for our cells.
The saddest part about any coping strategy is that the pain will always be there, unless we reach remission or a cure. We can reduce it, we can hide it, we can slow the disease down, but chronic means chronic. So you have to find various ways of coping.
The most important of the strategies - in my opinion - is distraction. If there is any way you can focus your mind and your senses on something that is more intense than your pain, then you might be able to forget it for a while.
For me - my love of music, my love of art, my love of movies and writing and conversation and reading and cooking and family and my puppy and 20 other things that I LOVE all help to distract my mind from the constant pain that I experience.
It's probably the biggest reason why I have always 'jumped in with both feet' in many endeavors. I need that intensity - or I may never get out of bed.
Coping strategies will differ from person to person, but these are my top 5 categories of coping with intense unceasing pain.
My last piece of advice is to find ways to make things easier for yourself - without hurting others. Find easier ways of doing things - like sitting down to do your hair or makeup instead of standing, sitting at the stove while cooking, making sure you have furniture that does not increase pain. It may sound like common sense, but you would be surprised at how often people stick to their habits even though those habits increase pain. Modify habits and activities to give you the best chance of enjoyment.