Stop Fighting it and Learn to Live with Chronic Pain

It's Up to You, How You Choose to Live with Chronic Pain

By Candida Bohnne-Eittreim, published Mar 19, 2006
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Over 1 million Americans live with some form of chronic pain everyday. Arthritis, back injury, IBS, and the long term pain of autoimmune disorders, all have effects and stress that impact their entire quality of life. Pain exerts a major influence on your cardiovascular system and your emotional health. Learning how to live with chronic pain successfully can dramatically improve your life.

Back pain accounts for a huge number of chronic pain sufferers. Back injuries affect over 100,000 workers every year here in California. In many cases the pain becomes so debilitating, the injured worker becomes legally disabled. Yet, in many cases, this can be addressed fairly easily through a variety of therapies. One of the most overlooked causes of chronic back pain is literally at your feet. That's right! Your feet. 

Finding a good podiatrist can assist many patients in finding a solution. This can range from specially fitted shoes, with orthotic insoles, to surgery. When you realize that your feet carry the entire weight of your body, it becomes obvious that having "bad" feet can create havoc with the joints in your knees and back.  Restoring the imbalance created by a back injury can work wonders, and often allow a worker to return to a productive life again.

Spinal injury patients who suffer from fusion problems to herniated discs now can utilize a variety of therapies designed to lessen their pain. Finding a pain clinic that specializes in the spinal area is a good first step. After assessing your subjective level of pain, reviewing your history, and studying your medical records, a plan is developed to help you improve your overall quality of life.

Many patients have a misconception about pain clinics. While it's true that their goal is to help the patient get by with a minimum of pain medication, they are not there to deny you pain relief. What a good pain team does is offer the patient a package of pain oriented therapies, which may include bio-feedback, visualization and relaxation techniques, as well as support for emotional issues that often exacerbate or accompany pain.

 
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Takeaways
  • Laughter has been proven to reduce pain by at least 50% in cancer patients.
  • Support groups, whether on or offline, can be a tremendous resource for the chronic pain sufferer.
  • One of the most overlooked causes of chronic back pain is literally at your feet. That's right! Your
Did You Know?
When you realize that your feet carry the entire weight of your body, it becomes obvious that having "bad" feet can create havoc with the joints in your knees and back. Restoring the imbalance created by a back injury can work wonders, and often allow a worker to return to a productive life again
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As a 29 year old women who has sero-positive rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative disk disease, polymyalgia, reynauds syndrome and sjorens syndrome I was taken aback by the title of this article and a bit offended. It is isn't easy living with chronic pain, even with decent pain medicine and belonging to a pain center. As I read through the article, the message you are trying to get across made more sense, but unfortunately the title put the reader on the defensive from the get go. Something else that needs to be considered that I noticed wasn't touched in the article, is the fact that many people with chronic suffer from lack of sleep and costant fatigue which only makes their pain worse. It is also difficult to find a doctor who is willing to offer the level of pain meds necessary to even start to get pain somewhat under control when you are a person in your 20's, early 30's.

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Posted on 04/30/2008 at 11:04:53 PM

 
As a 29 year old women who has sero-positive rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative disk disease, polymyalgia, reynauds syndrome and sjorens syndrome I was taken aback by the title of this article and a bit offended. It is isn't easy living with chronic pain, even with decent pain medicine and belonging to a pain center. As I read through the article, the message you are trying to get across made more sense, but unfortunately the title put the reader on the defensive from the get go. Something else that needs to be considered that I noticed wasn't touched in the article, is the fact that many people with chronic suffer from lack of sleep and costant fatigue which only makes their pain worse. It is also difficult to find a doctor who is willing to offer the level of pain meds necessary to even start to get pain somewhat under control when you are a person in your 20's, early 30's.

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Posted on 04/30/2008 at 11:04:37 PM

 
A rather insulting article for those living with chronic pain. You imply that managing pain is no big deal. You trivialize the pain of others. You support the culture that demonizes the expression of pain and other feelings. You degrade people for expressing their pain. You ignore the fact that, in America, most chronic pain sufferers do not have the luxury of "taking it easy." Millions of Americans suffer through their work weeks, living to sleep as it's the only escape from pain they have. Their lives consist of a full-time job, sleeping, and eating. They have no energy for gardening or walks or even bubble baths. The old argument, "Other people have it worse" is also offensive. It's saying one thing is just dandy because other things are worse like it's fine if one child dies in America because children are dying all the time in Africa. Two wrongs never make a right.

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Posted on 03/18/2008 at 1:03:59 AM

 
Yeah I think you trivialize the effects of chronic pain on sufferers. I am 24, young and in constant pain. My pain is not as severe nor as debilitating as others, but my brain receives a constant message of pain from the body. There will be episodes of greater pain from time to time, when I wonder how I can just get through it all. I don't know how others who are worse off do it. I am supposed to start a new job next week and I don't know if I will manage with it, but I will try, because I have no choice. It is physically demanding, and I am hoping my back is strong enough. Unfortunately I can't stay home and watch movies like you suggest, because then I would starve to death.

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Posted on 10/17/2007 at 7:10:00 AM

 
A headache, a bit of back pain is one thing and I wouldn't by any means consider it to be chronic. However, being someone who is married to someone with severe chronic pain I find your article somewhat rediculous? I mean "learn to live with it?" are you kidding me? A lot of people who suffer with chronic pain are also in severe pain and how can you go about saying "Stop Fighting it and Learn to Live with Chronic Pain". Tell my 23 year old husband who has to use a walker to get out of bed each morning to "stop fighting it" and "just live with it". Easier said than done.

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Posted on 07/08/2007 at 9:07:00 PM

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