Chemotherapy, CRPS, Pain Center, Nerve Pain Therapy, Back Pain Relief

Mistakes That Make Pain Worse

What if I told you that, besides being generally unpleasant (to put it mildly), pain can also be deceiving and misleading? Yes! Pain can play tricks with our heads and fill us with thoughts that can be harmful and hold us back from getting better. Here are two of the most powerful mind tricks that pain plays on us (they may surprise you!): 
Catastrophizing
Think of catastrophizing as a thought process where you see the worst in a situation and consider only the most negative of possible outcomes. Catastrophizing is often associated with rumination, meaning you keep thinking that something terrible is going to happen and you can’t get it out of your head. This constant negative thinking can then directly impact your feelings and emotions, which means you can start to freak out or get really depressed. A lot of pain research done over the years suggests that catastrophizing can have a big impact on how we hurt. Not only does catastrophizing influence the intensity of our pain, but it seems to play a significant role in whether the pain becomes chronic or not. In fact, studies have found that catastrophizing can lead to an increased chance of long-term disability.In some cases, how we interpret the words we hear from our doctors can determine how much we catastrophize. For example, if your physician tells you that you have really degenerated discs in your lower back, you could respond by ruminating that this a “terrible” problem that will never go away and will likely lead you down a path of becoming wheelchair dependent. Or, you could choose to interpret this as a common diagnosis that happens as we get older and decide you are going to do whatever you can to minimize its impact so you can continue to lead an active and happy life. Two different mindsets to the same problem can lead to very different outcomes.

But if you are the person hurting and you don’t have a medical background, how do you know if what you are thinking is reasonable or catastrophizing? This is might be a good topic to bring up with your doctor, especially since research shows that catastrophizing is usually overlooked by most doctors. If you find yourself feeling very worried about anything related to your health, why not let your physician know how you feel and get their perspective on how realistic your fears might be. There is a good chance that your doctor has treated similar situations to yours many times in the past.

If you find yourself ruminating excessively, ask your physician for assistance in learning tools for quieting these thoughts and finding ways you can see your health in a more positive light. Studies show that decreasing levels of catastrophic thinking actually lead to better pain treatment outcomes. 
Associating Pain With Harm  
Pain and injury don’t go hand in hand when it comes to chronic pain. Granted, pain is the hallmark sign of an acute injury like a broken bone, and the disappearance of that acute pain is a notable sign of tissue healing and repair. Starting in childhood, our brains learn to equate pain with harm or injury that we carry into adulthood and use as a protective mechanism. But this typical learned behavior can pose a problem for those working to overcome a condition that is more chronic. When pain triggers this warning alarm, we go through a fight or flight response as a protective mechanism to either fight off or run from danger. But if we go through this type of fire drill every day, then we develop a dysfunctional behavior pattern where we keep our attention focused on a perceived threat that doesn’t really exist. This can leave us feeling agitated, anxious, and fearful, and prevents us from moving on with our day and engaging in otherwise meaningful activities. Consider the example of neck pain from a whiplash injury. The pain you feel right after getting rear-ended is related to acute tissue inflammation, but feeling neck pain a whole year later is a different matter. When pain is felt with moving chronically tight and sore muscles or joints, that doesn’t mean injury is taking place. Rather, it is a sign that your body has learned to resist such movements and needs to go through a careful process to recondition and retrain certain muscles, tendons, joints, and nerves to behave differently.But if you continue to avoid turning your neck for many months because of the negative feedback of the pain, then your neck will only get stiffer and hurt even more, and keep you from engaging in meaningful activities. Yes, pain can play wicked games on our minds and hold us back from getting better if we let it! Overcoming this tricky “pain – fear – avoidance” loop is not easy and may require assistance, but the first step is getting to a place where you understand the difference between experiencing pain versus doing something that is actually harmful or dangerous to your body.

With both catastrophizing and the misconception that chronic pain is a sign of further harm, we see ourselves misinterpreting our medical condition to the point of letting it disrupt our lives in very negative and lasting ways. Turning the tide on these two barriers to recovery might be just the thing that helps you find relief.

Article Provided By: WebMD

Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SC
If you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com
Back Pain Relief, Nerve Pain Relief, Neck Pain Relief, Nerve Pain Therapy

5 Ways to Manage Pain Flare-Ups

If you live with chronic pain, one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to learn how to manage pain flare-ups. A pain flare-up is a substantial increase in the intensity of an underlying chronic pain problem. While the change in pain level can be dramatic, it is not a new pain, but rather a significant exacerbation of a pain problem that already exists. Still, the sudden spike in pain can be so unsettling that you may worry that there is a new injury or problem, leading you to shift your attention from calming the flare-up to seeking a new diagnosis and new treatment for this “new pain” (which isn’t really a new pain at all). All of this misplaced effort allows pain to run amok.A pain flare-up is not to be confused with the term breakthrough pain, which originally came about to describe increases in cancer pain that were not adequately controlled by pain medications and needed an extra boost. Breakthrough pain eventually became a popular term for the pharmaceutical industry to promote the daily use of added pain painkillers during the day to try to bring down routine fluctuations in pain levels.

Pain flare-ups can be attributed to a whole host of causes, including these common culprits:

  • Physical Activity – A certain movement or task can set off a pain crisis. For example, something as simple as bending the wrong way or sitting too long in the car can be a trigger.
  • Stress – Whether it be emotional or physical stress, going into fight-or-flight mode seems to make us more sensitive to pain. We have a tendency to carry stress in our bodies right where we hurt the most.
  • Poor Sleep – Studies have shown that pain intensity can correlate with the quality of our sleep. Something as simple as staying up an extra hour later than normal can leave you feeling more pain sensitive and uncomfortable the next day.
  • Overdoing It – Trying to get too many things done in a day or participating in an activity for longer than what you can typically handle is a common cause of flare-ups.
  • Eating the wrong foods – Foods that cause inflammation, fluid retention, dehydration, or trigger headaches can play a role in aggravating an existing pain problem.
  • A Virus – Having the flu or a cold can leave muscles and joints feeling achy and can easily make a chronic pain problem feel that much worse.
  • ??? – It is worth pointing out that sometimes pain flare-ups occur from no particular cause; they just happen.
Whatever the trigger, it may be helpful to think of a flare-up as a situation where something has gone awry in the communication between the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system. The processing of information in the brain and the nerves that connect with your body are telling your muscles to react and tense up. Having a robust flare-up management game plan is an integral part to successfully managing chronic pain.Here are my tips to developing a winning flare-up management tool kit!

  • Pacing – Learning how to slow down and pace activities can be a critical part of living well with a chronic pain problem. If overdoing it causes you to crash for the next few days, then pacing will actually help you get more done in the long-run. Consider breaking up tasks into smaller jobs as opposed to trying to do them all at once.
  • Avoid Shutting Down – Sure, rest is an important part of recharging, but too much avoidance of activity can actually make the pain worse. Find the right balance between moving too much and aggravating the flare-up-up versus doing too little and causing the body to get tighter, stiffer, and sorer.
  • Don’t Panic – A bad pain flare-up can set off all kinds of alarms. But this mindset will only serve to make you tenser and hurt even more. Learn strategies to calm the nervous system and use them when you start to feel control slipping away.
  • Move – It may seem counter-intuitive, but the right movement strategies can be your best friend when it comes to managing a flare-up. Learn stretches to release tight muscles groups, or consider gentle yoga poses to connect the mind with the body in a calming way. And even doing some cardio or a nice walk can improve your mood and outlook enough to reduce the pain.
  • Pamper Yourself – This might be a good time to book a massage, check in with the chiropractor, or see an acupuncturist, if these practices have a proven track record with your particular condition. It helps to have an outside support team

Creating a successful flare-up-up tool kit will be well worth your time and energy, but it might mean thinking outside the box to get there.

Article Provided By: WebMD

Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SC
If you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment
process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com
Pain Management, Nerve pain Relief, Pain Therapy, Pain Relief

Enjoy Summer and Manage Chronic Pain

6 Ways to Manage Chronic Pain and Enjoy Summer

Don’t let chronic pain rule your summer! Plan ahead using these self-care warm weather tips.

Regardless of where you live, everyone looks forward to the summer months—the daily schedule is less hectic, leaving more time to just enjoy yourself. Hot weather can exacerbate pain symptoms, while changes to the household routine such as school breaks for the kids or family vacations can make wellness routines harder to maintain.

Enjoying the summer months and hopefully making some new memories along the way requires planning for chronic pain sufferers.

I start advising my patients in April they should be thinking of warmer months ahead and plan accordingly.

Self-care extends through all the seasons. Planning ahead for health-challenging roadblocks minimizes reliance on others, feeds your independence and keep you socially engaged.

Don’t let pain rule your summer by preparing for challenges—and enjoying the luxuries that only these few months offer:

1. Seek out your happy place—the water
Depending on your pain condition, water can be a wonderful respite from pain and you can find a pool or lake without looking too hard.

woman keeps cool in the pool

Make a point of accepting those pool party invitations and bring a cool drink into the water with you.

Don’t swim? Many pools are only four to five feet deep, so no worries. While you are in the surf or lake or pool, do some light stretching (so one can see you under the water).

Closer to home, a misting fan can be very relaxing and cold packs can be lifesavers during summer pain flares.

2. Avoid extreme heat
Unfortunately, you may be living every day with burning nerve pain. The last thing you want to expose yourself to is sunburn or prolong heat exposure. Changes in temperature and barometric pressure can also trigger joint pain.

Fortunately, many people who battle pain don’t also prefer to stay out of the heat, so it should not be hard to find some company.

Plan activities in the early morning or after the sun begins to set and put a hand-held fan in your bag whenever you venture out. Wear loose clothing and comfortable shoes. Grab a light hat to shield your face, also.

3. Prioritize proper seating
Summer activities always seem to include plenty of uncomfortable seating–tiny café chairs, bleachers at a ball game, outdoor concerts where you sit on the hard ground. Plan ahead—store a folding or travel chair that fits in the truck of your car. Add a couple of cushions to sit on or bolster your lower back.

4. Boost your immune system and eat fresh summer fare
Fruits and vegetables are not going to be better than they are right now. Enjoy them and boost your vitamin and mineral bank as well. Increase the quality of your food. You will feel so much better for it.

fresh vegetables

My favorite summer snack is the big red cherries available only for a few weeks in the market. I eat far too many, but the the health boost makes it acceptable–The USDA found that cherries contain pain-fighting and inflammation-reducing compounds that can help lessen pain, particularly arthritis.

5. Monitor the air quality
During the summer, it is especially important to pay attention to the air quality ratings before heading outdoors. Studies have shown urban air pollution increases inflammation, particularly for people with fibromyalgia, chronic pain syndrome, and MS. Before heading outside, check the Air Quality Index (AQI) at your outdoor destination.

6. Don’t put your healthcare on vacation

Don’t let summer vacations or road trips get in the way of your treatment plan. Check in with your doctor before you go and ask for help to navigate your adventure as painlessly as possible.

Be as self-sufficient as you can by planning ahead this summer. This will lessen stress and increase your independence.

Article Provided By: spineuniverse

Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SC
If you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment
process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com
Pain Therapy, Carolina Pain Scrambler Center, Greenville South Carolina

Parenting With Chronic Pain

Not long after her daughter was born in 1999, Sherrie Sisk began experiencing debilitating episodes of pain that left her feeling like she’d been run over by a truck.

“It was like the worst flu aches and pains you could ever imagine,” she says. A few months later, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition characterized by fatigue and pain, particularly focused around certain “tender points” in the body.

Ten years later, she’s learned to live with her condition — and her daughter has grown up with it. “I have days when I’m relatively functional — I hurt but it’s manageable. On those days, I can take her to the park and drive her around,” she says. “But on other days, I can’t get out of bed.”

How can you cope with chronic pain and still be the best parent you can be? First, it’s important to communicate with your child.

Talking with Your Child About Pain

Being a parent with chronic pain “reverses the family dynamic,” says Daniel Kantor, MD, president-elect of the Florida Society of Neurology (FSN) and medical director of Neurologique, an organization dedicated to patient care, research, and education. “The parent no longer feels like the person taking care of the child. Sometimes, it can feel like the child is taking care of the parent. It can be very stressful on that relationship.”

The best way to combat that stress is to talk opening about how you feel, Sisk says. “Kids want two things when it comes to chronic pain and parents: information and reassurance,” she says. So don’t hide your condition from your child. (Do you really think you can, anyway?) Instead, talk with them honestly about your pain and in an age-appropriate way.

  • Expect to have this talk more than once. In some ways, talking to your child about chronic pain is like talking about sex. You’ll have to reinforce your messages over and over again, and modify them as your child gets older and can understand more.
  • Keep it simple and honest. “Mommy hurts” is a good place to start with a younger child. “Explain to them that there are some things other parents can do that you can’t,” says Sisk. “Tell them what your condition is called and what it means.”
  • Reassure them. Your child needs to know that you aren’t going to die, and that chronic pain isn’t contagious — just because you have it doesn’t mean they’ll get it.
  • Let them help. Just bringing you a glass of water can make a child feel special and important. Just be careful that your child doesn’t turn into the caregiver. Kantor says he knows of 12-year-olds giving their parents their medication injections. “An adolescent shouldn’t act in the role of doctor or nurse.”
  • Listen to your child’s concerns. “Ask your child what it is about your condition that really bothers them,” says Maryann Lowry, a retired special education teacher who coaches families on parenting with chronic pain after her own decade-long battle with chronic pelvic pain. “But do it on their timetable. If they come to you upset or concerned, don’t just say ‘it’s OK’ — ask them what upsets them. For example, you son may feel like you got sicker because he begged you to take him to swim practice. You don’t want to leave a child with that thought.”

Parenting Through the Pain

While you keep the lines of communication open with your child, you also need to develop strategies that allow you to be as active a parent as possible while not pushing yourself so hard that the pain further debilitates you.

The most important thing to remember, Lowry says, is that your time and attention are more important than any activities you can do with your child.

“I felt terrible because I couldn’t take my sons to Disneyland for awhile,” she says. “But every day, I tried to shower, have makeup on, and look halfway decent when they got home. Even if I couldn’t go downstairs and sit on the couch, they could come upstairs and sit on the bed with me and talk to me about their day.”

Sisk, Lowry and other experts who’ve been there recommend a few strategies for making sure pain doesn’t interfere with your parenting:

  • Plan. If Sisk knew her daughter had a big dance recital coming up, she’d take it easy for several days ahead of time and asked the dance teacher to let Kayleigh leave the night-before rehearsal immediately after her number, so Sisk could rest. “Think of it like a bank: make deposits so you can be ready to make a withdrawal on a certain day,” she says.
  • Pre-medicate, if necessary. “If you know you’re going to need to be more active on a given day, take some medication ahead of time — don’t let the pain get too hot to cool down,” says David Rosenfeld, MD, a pain specialist with the Atlanta Pain Center. “There are also very good fast-acting medications out there for breakthrough pain.” Some are absorbed through the mucosa of your cheek and kick in much faster than even a ‘fast-acting’ pain pill.”
  • Focus on what you can do, rather than what you can’t. “I can’t go roller-skating and rock-climbing with my daughter, but I can go and watch her,” Sisk says. “I can walk the dog with her and swim, even though I can’t do it for very long.”
  • Look at what’s causing the pain and find strategies to alleviate it. “For instance, if your son plays basketball and by the end of two hours in the bleachers you’re in horrible pain, try little tricks to minimize it,” says David Kloth, MD, founder of Connecticut Pain Care in Danbury, Conn. “Alternate sitting and standing, or go out to the car at halftime and sit on a softer surface. Or only come for the second half of the game.”
  • Get some help. Don’t be afraid to ask for help — from your family, your friends, your church, your community groups. If you know other parents with chronic pain, trade days — you take the kids on a day when I feel lousy, and I’ll do the same for you.
“Depending on your income status, you may even be eligible for assistance with taking care of activities of daily living, like a home health aide a few hours a day or week to help with chores and let you spend more of your energy on your children,” says Sean O’Mahony, MD, medical director of the palliative careservice at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.“Chronic pain does interfere with the kind of parent I’d like to be,” Sisk says. “There are things other parents can do that I can’t. But what she really wants from me is to be with me — and that, I can do.”Article Provided By: WebMD

Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SC
If you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment
process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com
Back Pain Relief, Nerve Pain Treatment, Pain Relief, Perpipheral, Greenville, South Carolina

Adopting an Attitude that You’re Healthy

Adopting an Attitude that You’re Healthy despite having Chronic Pain: Coping with Pain Series

Chronic pain rehabilitation programs are a traditional and effective treatment for chronic pain. Such programs are based on cognitive-behavioral principles that aim to change how you experience pain. By doing so, chronic pain rehabilitation programs help you to a) reduce pain and b) return to meaningful life activities even though some level of pain may persist. In other words, by participating in chronic pain rehabilitation, you change your relationship to chronic pain. You no longer perceive pain as an alarming and disabling condition, but develop the know-how to understand your pain as a benign condition that no longer needs to disrupt or prevent your daily life activities.

Wouldn’t it be good to become so competent at dealing with persistent pain that you no longer are disabled by it?

Pain would continue to occur, of course, but it would now be occurring in the background of your day-to-day life. The reasonable activities of life, like work and family activities, would become what occupies your time and attention, not pain. Again, wouldn’t it be good to learn how to do it?

Everyday, people with moderate to severe chronic pain learn to do it in chronic pain rehabilitation programss across the world.

There are countless strategies for coping better with pain, which can be learned in chronic pain rehabilitation programs. One strategy, which has been taught ever since there have been such programs, is to adopt an attitude that you remain a healthy person even though you have chronic pain. By assuming this attitude, you come to change your understanding of how you should relate to chronic, or persistent, pain.

Do you remain a healthy person when having persistent pain?

Like many questions in life, the answer to the above question depends on whom you ask. There may or may not be a universally correct answer for all people across all conditions and all situations. Pragmatically, however, the answer is important because it can determine how well you cope with persistent pain.

Many people with persistent pain consider themselves injured or ill. It’s common, for instance, for those with chronic low back or neck pain to think of themselves as injured. Another possibility is that individuals with such pain might have been told they have degenerative disc disease and as such they consider themselves to have a disease of the spine. Still others might consider migraine headache (aka, “sick headache”) or fibromyalgia as an illness. In all these scenarios of thinking of pain as the result of injury or illness, the implication is that you are unhealthy.

Indeed, this way of understanding pain goes hand in hand with seeking healthcare for it. It’s what sick or injured people do. You go to the doctor in order to get better. In this light, pain medications are often thought of as “medicine”.

It can also lead those who conceptualize chronic pain in this manner to engage in other behaviors associated with injury or illness, such as stopping life activities, staying home from work, and resting. It’s what injured or sick people do to get healthier, right?

Together, these beliefs and behaviors make up what’s called the sick role. They are the normal ways of understanding yourself as injured or ill and therefore what you do when you think of yourself in this manner.

Is there really any other way of thinking about it?

For many, this way of relating to chronic pain doesn’t involve a choice. It’s just how they experience pain. The presence of pain is simply and necessarily a sign of injury or illness for which there is nothing you can do but stay home and remain inactive. It’s never questioned and when it is, such questioning is perceived as invalidating or stigmatizing the reality of the pain as it is experienced.

This way of experiencing pain is apparent when people express such beliefs as “I can’t work” or “I can’t go to my kids ball game this afternoon” or “I have to take pain medicines.” For them, the presence of pain requires certain behaviors like staying home and resting or taking pain medicines. Open discussion of other possible ways of reacting to pain is perceived with skepticism at best and as invalidating or stigmatizing at worst. “You just don’t understand,” they might say. There really is nothing else they might do in the presence of pain, for its very experience requires that one must stay home, rest or take pain medicines. It’s just how it is.

What we are trying to articulate is the underlying conceptual framework or categories through which people experience pain.

Or, more specifically, we’re trying to articulate the conceptual lens through which some people experience pain (see also, Jensen, et al, 1999).

Do all people experience persistent pain in this manner?

While the above noted ways of experiencing pain are common, they are not universal to all people with chronic pain. We know, for instance, from empirical research but also from everyday experience, that some people with moderate to severe pain don’t take opioid pain medicines or don’t perceive themselves as disabled and so remain at work (see, for example, this article here).

For them, the presence of pain doesn’t rise to any level of urgency that requires action. It’s experienced as inconvenient or bothersome, but largely normal. “It’s just what happens when you get old” or “My migraines are a barometer that tells me I’m not taking care of myself very well” or “I heard that back pain is just something we have because early humans stood up on two feet” or “Doesn’t everybody have back pain?” Notice the lack of alarm or urgency with which these people experience pain. They have pain, but there’s no need to do anything about it. They accept it as normal. They don’t enjoy it, of course, but neither are they distressed by it. Pain is something we have and it’s accepted as a bothersome fact of life that we put up with.

One way in which people experience pain in this manner is that they don’t understand pain as a health problem. In other words, pain lies outside of the conceptual categories of health or disease or injury. For them, knees and hips and backs and stomachs and necks and heads hurt because that’s how we’re made. It just comes with the territory of playing sports or getting older or getting stressed. It’s the given. It’s not abnormal. It’s normal.

This conceptual lens through which they perceive pain has for them no bearing on whether they are healthy or not. They might, for instance, consider themselves healthy even though they have to mind their persistent knee pain because of the sports they play. Indeed, the presence of chronic pain can sometimes serve as the cause of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. “I have a desk job and so when I sit all the time my back tends to hurt a lot and so it makes me insistent that I block my lunch hour so that I can walk everyday.” “I’m prone to migraines, almost everyone in my family gets them, and so I really have to stay on top of my stress and get regular exercise.”

Notice in these scenarios that pain isn’t understood as in itself an injury or illness. Rather, it’s due to playing sports or sitting too much or getting older or having too much stress. These ways of understanding pain don’t lead to illness behaviors such as staying home or resting or taking pain medicines. Indeed, it just might never occur to them that they should respond to their pain by staying home or taking pain medicine.

To learn to cope better, you have to be open to learning how

What we are trying to do in this discussion of contrasting experiences of pain is to articulate the underlying conceptual frameworks with which people understand pain. Pain is a complex subjective experience and we are attempting to make apparent the possible differences in the subjectivity of these experiences. Pain may be a universally human sensation, but it is subjectively experienced differently by different people in part because different people perceive pain through different conceptual frameworks.

For some, the sensation falls into the categories of injury or illness and poor health. From this way of understanding and perceiving pain, pain is an abnormal sensation that requires actions that sick or injured people do: seeking the advice of healthcare providers, getting tests and medical procedures, staying home from work, resting and taking medicines.

For still others, the sensation of pain falls into different conceptual categories, such as a sign of a hard fought sports game or getting really good work outs or getting older or sitting too much or having too much stress. From these ways of experiencing the sensation, there’s no sense of urgency to do something about it. It’s because they are understood as normal experiences.

The observation of these differences involves no intention to stigmatize. There are times, of course, when pain is due to injury or illness. Acute pain, for instance, is commonly the result of an acute injury or illness. So, it is not inherently wrong to conceptualize pain within the frameworks of injury or illness.

Not all pain, however, falls into these categories and it is sometimes in the best interest of those with chronic, or persistent, pain to begin to understand their pain differently.

It’s possible to learn how to experience pain differently. You have to be open to learning and it helps if you can learn from teachers or coaches within a non-judgmental or stigma-free environment. People with moderate to severe chronic pain learn everyday in chronic pain rehabilitation programs across the world.

Adopting an attitude that you remain healthy despite persistent pain

More often than not, if you see healthcare providers for chronic pain, they will encourage you to remain active, use the painful body part, exercise, manage your stress, stay at work, and try not to take opioid pain medications. Sound familiar? Despite these common recommendations, there’s often little instruction as to how to do these things when actually having pain. In fact, it almost seems impossible because the presence of pain seems to demand that you rest, guard or stay off the painful body part, stay home and take pain medicines. So impossible, it seems, that maybe they don’t really get how much pain you have or otherwise they wouldn’t recommend doing things that you know you can’t do.

With the discussion above, however, we can now begin to articulate how you might actually go about engaging in these recommendations, despite how impossible it might seem at first. It starts with adopting an attitude that you are healthy even though you have chronic pain.

Begin by reflecting on this essay. Consider the possibility that understanding your chronic pain as a long-lasting injury or illness leads naturally to behaviors that healthcare providers recommend against doing: staying home from work, resting, guarding the painful body part, taking pain medicines. This combination of beliefs, perceptions and behaviors lead to what we call identifying with the sick role. It puts you in a dependent role to your healthcare providers, on whom you rely to make you better. It also often puts you in a dependent role to family members, on whom you rely to take up the slack of what you can’t do. However, healthcare providers don’t have many effective ways to make you better, short of helping you to engage in the above recommendations. Reliance on family can foster guilt in you or increased stress and conflict with them. So, in all, experiencing pain through the lens of the sick role doesn’t typically amount to much improvement and sometimes it can even make your overall situation in life worse.

Maybe, then, it’s time to re-think how you think about pain.

Once you decide that it is in your interest to be open to learning new ways to respond to pain, then practice thinking of yourself as a healthy person with persistent pain. Recognize that healthy people have pain, even persistent, or chronic, pain. Low back pain, for instance, is by far the most common form of chronic pain and to manage it well you have to engage in behaviors that healthy people do – stay active, remain at work, use your back, get regular exercise, manage your stress, and maintain a healthy weight.

To adopt the attitude that you remain healthy despite having persistent pain, it helps to recognize that persistent pain is common. A third or more of the population has persistent pain. As we age, pain becomes increasingly more common (Fayaz, et al., 2016). It isn’t, therefore, abnormal to have chronic pain.

From this understanding, the occurrence of persistent back, neck, joint or head pain doesn’t have to be cause for alarm. It’s not signaling a state of urgency. Pain can be accepted as a fact of life. Many of us, as we get older, have a harder time keeping weight off. This biological condition isn’t a pathological condition of illness, but rather just something that is accepted. Most forms of chronic pain can be considered in a similar light – not something that is a pathological condition of illness or injury, but just something that tends to happen. It may occur because of sedentary lifestyles or sports activities or age or stress or maybe we don’t even question why because it happens to so many of us. From this way of understanding it, pain isn’t abnormal and it’s not alarming, but just bothersome.

This way of experiencing pain seems considerably more preferable than experiencing it as an abnormal and alarming event for which valued life activities must be given up. Rather, pain is something for which you stay active. Motion is lotion, as the old saying goes. Experiencing it this way, pain persists, but occurs in the background of daily life in which you stay active, remain at work, get regular exercise, manage your stress, maintain a healthy weight, and otherwise engage in the healthy behaviors of the healthy person you are.

Now that’s what really good pain management looks like.

Article Provided By: Institute for Chronic Pain

Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SC
If you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment
process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com
Pain Management, Chronic Pain, Nerve Pain Treatment, Pain Therapy, Chemotherapy, South Carolina

5 Ways to Boost Your Pain Management

Right about now there is a good chance that you have been thinking about ways you might “hit the refresh button” on your pain management approach in the coming year. As you’re thinking about what you’d like to change, make sure that whatever goal you’re shooting for is both impactful and sustainable.

And, as with starting anything new, try to set yourself up for success. First off, make it easy to do. Look for options that are not too time-consuming or taxing. Seek out strategies or therapies that you can ease yourself into, one step at a time. Also, keep your plan affordable and try to get as much value as possible out of the time and money that you spend. And try to make it fun. The more enjoyment, inspiration, and fulfillment that you get out of whatever you do, the more likely you are to make it a lasting part of your routine.

Now let’s look at some easy ways you can spruce up your approach toward making chronic pain more manageable and better controlled –

  • Unplug an hour earlier. Research has shown that when we sleep better at night, we experience less pain during the day. I also know that one of the most frequent complaints I hear from my patients is that they just don’t sleep well at all. While there are many strategies that can improve sleep, an easy one to try is to simply disconnect from your smart phone an hour earlier at night. Stopping whatever stimulation and agitation that you could get from looking at emails or social media well in advance of bedtime helps the mind and body wind down to fall asleep more easily.
  • Download a meditation app. Over the last several years, a number of studies have found that meditation can play an important role in pain relief. But finding the time and inclination for meditation in our busy and over-stimulated culture can be a real challenge. While attending an 8-week mindfulness course can have serious benefit, that is not something most folks can commit to. But downloading a meditation app, most of which are free or low cost, puts a daily 5-minute mediation at your fingertips, making it easier than ever.
  • Exercise smarter, not harder. While getting enough exercise is critical to both physical and mental health, this can be a real struggle for folks with challenging pain problems. In many cases, trying the typical gym exercises will only flare-up the pain even more, making the whole subject of exercise even more frustrating for patients. This is where looking outside the box can pay off by exploring other movement strategies, some of which, like tai chi and yoga, can even be done in a chair. When trying a new activity, go slow and gentle, and consider breaking it up into smaller sessions during the day instead of doing it all at once. Adding good music and making it social can boost the fun value of whatever you are doing.
  • Start event planning. Commit to doing at least one joyful activity each month. Spend some time planning to do something that is special and has meaning for you, and then book it on your calendar. It can be as simple as going to the movies or taking a walk in the park. The anticipation of having something fun coming your way can boost optimism, improve mood, and lower stress.
  • Take it outside. Make a habit of going outdoors and getting some fresh air in the middle of the day on a regular basis, even if it is for just a few minutes. Midday sunlight increases vitamin D levels, helps set our biological clocks, and can improve mood.

No matter what new, exciting, or different therapies or strategies that you explore this year, try not to fret about any hiccups or missteps that you encounter along the way. Appreciate each moment of the process as meaningful in some way. And if you can get through the first few months, there is a better chance that the new resolution will become a lasting habit.

Article Provided By: WebMD

Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SC
If you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment
process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com
Pain Therapy, Pain Relief, Nerve Pain Treatment, Nerve Pain Therapy, South Carolina

Can Your Gut Health Impact Your Pain?

Gut Health & Pain

You may have noticed that at any given moment your pain levels can fluctuate based on many different variables, including the weather, how much sleep you got the night before, and whether or not you are having a stressful day. But you may not have given much thought to the role that bacteria might be playing in how you feel. You have hundreds of different types of bacteria living inside the gut that make up what is referred to as the microbiome, and like a fingerprint, each person’s microbiome is a bit unique but swayed by factors like diet, the environment, and lifestyle habits. Research has shown that the composition of the gut bacteria in healthy people often differs from those with certain diseases, including obesity, heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and even depression.As we start to learn more about how our microbiome affects our overall health, we are also starting to see evidence that it can also play a role in how much we hurt. Consider a recent study published by researchers from the University of Rochester that looked at the effects of the microbiome on joint pain and swelling in mice. In comparing the gut bacteria of mice that had been plumped up on an unhealthy diet with mice kept on a healthy diet, they found that the obese mice’s gut bacteria was not only different than that of their slimmer counterparts, it also included inflammation-causing strains. These gut changes coincided with signs of inflammation throughout their bodies, including their joints. The researchers also found that when both sets of mice experienced cartilage damage to their knees, the obese mice with the inflammation-causing gut bacteria experienced a rapid deterioration of their joints compared to the other mice.In a short amount of time, these unfortunate mice developed advanced osteoarthritis of their knees. When the researchers treated the obese mice with a prebiotic (a food source for growing healthy bacteria in the gut), they were able to prevent the inflammation and arthritic deterioration in their knee joints, without changing their body composition.
This is very interesting research, but despite this and other evidence suggesting that the microbiome can directly impact the amount of inflammation, arthritis, and ultimately the amount of pain that we experience, it is still unclear how to take advantage of this information to treat pain in our everyday lives. Unfortunately, in humans we have not found that simply adding a prebiotic to our diet will make all of the pain and swelling magically disappear. There may be a number of reasons for that, including the wide variation in microbiomes from person to person, and the unique environments that we each live in. But, just because we don’t know exactly which foods might help improve gut health doesn’t mean we can’t give it try. I’ve personally made it a point to increase my intake of both prebiotics and probiotics (live, beneficial bacteria). Prebiotics can be found in fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, and you can get probiotics in foods like yogurt, kefir, kombucha, kimchi, and sauerkraut, or via supplements. As always, make sure to talk to your doctor before making any big changes or starting a supplement.
Article Provided By: WebMD

Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SC
If you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment
process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com
Nerve Pain Therapy, Peripheral, Carpal Tunnel, Pain Center, Pain Relief

Let People In With Chronic Pain

How to Let People In When You Have Chronic Pain

When someone is in pain, their whole family is impacted.

I was reminded of this truth recently as visitors approached my booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I was struck by how many people were stopping by my booth on behalf of somebody in their lives who was having a difficult time with chronic pain. The most memorable was when a brother and sister, probably about 5 and 6 years old, dragged their mom over to talk to me about their grandfather, who was struggling with neck pain. At their young age, they shared powerful insights about their grandfather’s condition, not to mention a strong sense of wanting to help.

Though you might feel isolated in the midst of a pain experience, those around you are likely deeply impacted by what you are going through – and there’s a good chance that they really want to be with you in this experience. They may just not know how to get in.

Here are a few ways you can share your pain experience with people who care about you:

  • Education: The better others understand your health challenges, the more helpful they can be. I recommend you share some of the books or articles that you have found helpful, and consider inviting them to join you at some of your doctor visits or physical therapy sessions.
  • Recreation: To build better bonds, try to have some fun together. If there are activities, sports, or hobbies that you no longer do, now is the time to find new pursuits that you can share with others. Whether it is going on walks together or hosting a movie night, plan activities that are joyful for everyone. Try to use this as an opportunity for growth.
  • Communication: It is easy to feel closed-off from others and to not want to engage when you don’t feel well, but it’s important to make an effort to create dialogue between you and your family. If you feel a strong instinct toward isolation, you may need to create a deliberate plan to combat it – consider scheduling a specific time to chat. Of course, it’s reasonable to spend some of the time talking about your own challenges, but to truly connect with others, you’ll want to talk about things going on with other members of your circle as well.
  • Expression: Nonverbal communication plays an important role in how we connect with others, especially when we are in pain. Facial expressions and grimacing can say a lot without uttering a word, and how we say things, or the tone that we use, also influences how others receive our message. I am not recommending that you try to hide how you feel or present yourself in a way that is false, but it might be worth taking stock of your nonverbal communication patterns to see if any subtle changes might make it clearer to the people around you that you are open to  connecting with them. Eye contact can boost connectivity during a conversation, and a smile can go a long way to letting someone know how much you appreciate them.

Hopefully, adding a few of these strategies can help open the door to connection, and possibly even strengthen your relationships.

Article Provided By: WebMD

Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SC
If you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment
process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com
Chronic Pain, Neuropathy Treatment, Pain Relief, Pain Therapy, Pheripheral Neuropathy

When It Hurts to Be Touched

Our sense of touch is a fundamental part of the human experience. Being touched by others a powerful tool of communication, whether it is through a handshake, a hug, or a pat on the back, and it can also boost a sense of general well-being.Unfortunately, living with chronic pain can interfere with your ability to touch, feel, hold, or be held by others. One of the most challenging examples of this occurs when we develop extreme sensitivities to touch from things that aren’t usually painful. The medical term for this is allodynia, and it means that something is painful from a non-painful stimulus. Imagine lightly brushing the back of your hand with a cotton ball. That should not hurt in the least, but now suppose doing so is all of a sudden associated with the feeling of intense pain in the hand.This type of extreme sensitivity to touch can have a dramatic effect on a person’s life. They may completely avoid using an affected body part, like a hand in our example, or they may avoid even leaving the house out of fear that being around others may risk contact with the sensitive body part.One of the most common types of pain that can lead to something like allodynia is nerve pain, also known as neuropathic pain. One nerve pain syndrome, in particular, that is often associated with cantankerous forms of allodynia is complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS. CRPS can be a debilitating pain problem that usually involves an extremity, like an arm or leg, after some type of tissue injury has taken place.Allodynia can be associated with other types of chronic pain problems, as well, including fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, TMJ, painful surgical scars, and skin damage from ultraviolet radiation. In fact, migraine sufferers have been reported to have pain with hair combing, shaving, and putting in contact lenses.Researchers believe that allodynia is a result of the amplification of pain signals going on in the brain – a problem called “central sensitization” – though it is still unclear what causes it.

Fortunately, allodynia can be successfully treated under the right circumstances, so it is important to find health care providers who understand this problem and can help. Desensitization techniques are one way of reducing the hypersensitivity of the skin or tissues, and you can even learn how to do some of this at home on your own. For example, placing a sensitive hand or foot into a bowl of uncooked rice or lentils is one tool we use with some of our patients. Other topical treatments include things like contrast baths, paraffin wax, and clay. Because desensitization can be a painful process to start, it helps to have as much support and guidance from your treatment team as you can get.So, if you are struggling with hypersensitivities and it is interfering with your quality of life, ask your health care team for help.
Article Provided By: WebMD
Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SC
If you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment
process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com
Back Pain Relief, Pain Relief, Nerve Pain Relief, Pain Therapy, south carolina

Traveling with Chronic Pain

Traveling With Chronic Pain? Tips From a Spoonie

I love to travel. My favorite way to deal with stress is to plan my next adventure. My husband and I go on getaways whenever we have the chance. So, I didn’t think it was a big deal when I applied for a graduate school program that would require me to fly across the continental U.S. on a monthly basis.Then, last January, I had a terrible flare of what I soon learned was psoriatic arthritis. I had to learn how to travel across the country by myself with an uncontrolled autoimmune disorder. I had to adjust my daily life to being a spoonie. (“Spoons” are finite units of measurement that those of us with chronic illnesses use to budget our energy throughout the day – more explanation here.)  But how could I adjust my travel plans?I researched bloggers, I asked Twitter, and I reached out to family and friends who had traveled on a low-spoon budget. After a few trial weekend trips with my husband, I had to travel across the country alone. All told, I’ve traveled 47 days this year, including 2 camping trips, and 2 trips that were over 2 weeks long.Here are some spoon-saving strategies I’ve learned (so far):

Airports Are Big. Flights Are Long. Plan Ahead.

• Purchase your tickets well in advance so you can select your seat – and buy as much comfort as you can afford. Take Business class if you can swing it. If you’re in economy, try to get a seat with extra legroom. And take the window seat. If I can avoid basic economy center seats for the rest of my life, I will.

• Get to the airport early and check your luggage. Even if it’s a carry-on size roller-bag. When I fly by myself, I only carry on the backpack that I can put under the seat in front of me. Managing extra luggage just means additional pain for my hands and wrists.

• Use a wheelchair. When I asked for traveling with chronic pain tips, one of the things my friends and family repeatedly advised was “swallow your pride.” I have a hard time with this. I want to muscle through. But, even in small airports, I find it’s a mistake to think I can muscle through and go without a wheelchair. (And even if I can, I’ve then spent a spoon or two that I might want to save for after I land at my destination!)

You can reserve a free wheelchair service when you buy your ticket. But whether you reserved it ahead of time or not, when you arrive at the ticketing counter to check that luggage, let the agent know that you need a wheelchair. Usually, someone wheels a chair out for me to sit in while they dispatch a “pusher” out to me. Again, planning well in advance is necessary, because this can take a while if it’s a smaller airline and has a shared pool of wheelchair attendants. The service is always free, but it is customary to tip your wheelchair attendants. They are so nice and friendly, it’s hard not to overflow with gratitude. The wheelchair attendant will scan your boarding pass – this is very important, because for some airlines, that’s the only way to ensure you’ll have one waiting on the ramp upon arrival at your destination. (Yes, you added it to your ticket when you bought it, but that doesn’t guarantee someone will be waiting. Also, just because you added it to your ticket doesn’t mean anyone will notice until you say something at check-in.)Using a wheelchair, for me, isn’t so much about saving me from walking – my body seems to be okay with a slow walk. I can shuffle along terminals all day. But what my body hates is standing still. You know what involves a lot of standing still? TSA lines. I’ve learned the hard way that TSA lines become a struggle for me if there are even 5 or 6 people in front of me, let alone 500 or 600.• Consider getting TSA Pre-check. The $ 85, 5-year membership doesn’t guarantee you’ll be able to avoid lines entirely, but it does guarantee that you won’t have to take off your shoes or unpack liquids or electronics from your bags. For me, that’s worth the extra expense.

The All-Important Carry-on

•  Carry on all of your meds. All of them. The drug companies that make my various injectables always have a free travel kit to transport syringes. I’ve never been stopped about my prefilled syringes or my autoinjectors, but I carry a doctor’s note with them just in case. I’ve also never had anyone ask me about my loose supplements, so my favorite way to pack meds is an extra-large pill organizer with everything already counted out and sorted. All of these things have to be in my carry on, because once I had a 24-hour delay between flights and didn’t have access to my pain relievers. I’m never checking them again.

•  Bring an empty, reusable water bottle. I use a massive Nalgene. Most airports have bottle-filling stations at the drinking fountains along the terminal. This is not just economical and good for the environment, it also ensures I get more than a Dixie cup of hydration along those long flights.•  Treat yourself with stick-on, disposable heating pads. I keep a “lower back” sized one in my backpack, because it can provide the warmth and relief of a heating pad without needing batteries or a plug, and I can just put one on in the restroom when I really need it.• Don’t forget a jacket. You’re probably dressing in layers if you’re traveling with chronic pain between climates anyway, but keep in mind that planes can get chilly. I am almost never fine without my jacket. And even if I don’t need it, it makes a nice pillow against the window. What do they say? Get warm and stay warm? I curl up inside my poncho every flight.• Pack snacks. Depending on the airline you fly, the free snacks (or even the costly ones!) might not be what you need for your health. (Many airlines still don’t worry about gluten – ugh.) I usually pack nuts, because I feel like I need protein on long flights.

• Try other travel tricks. There are lots of gadgets and do-dads that may or may not make your flights more pleasant. Personally, I am on the fence about my neck pillow. When I’m in the middle seat, I love it. It’s the only way I can sleep. When I’ve been able to plan ahead and get a better seat, then I don’t need it. I prefer to lean against the window with my jacket, and the neck pillow takes up so much room in my carry on, I almost resent it.

I’m also up in the air about compression socks. Some people swear by them. They are uncomfortable to me, and the compression doesn’t help my pain. It’s worth experimenting with, though.

What to Pack in Your Suitcase• Take everything you need to sleep comfortably. Because I am traveling with chronic pain across the country every month, I have adapted this plan according to the hotels where I know I’ll be staying.• Take care of all 5 of your senses. For me, this means packing chamomile tea bags, a small candle and a lighter (which I put in my checked luggage without a problem), essential oils, electric blanket, knee pillow, eye pillow, sunglasses, earplugs, headphones, fuzzy socks. All of these things are a waxing and waning part of my list, depending upon how I feel. My destination hotel often has enough pillows I can forgo the knee pillow. Sometimes, I can skip the headphones. But think about your senses when you pack – aim to make comfort portable.• Pack 2 pairs of shoes. Minimum. You can pack more than that, but I don’t recommend packing fewer. If one pair gives you a blister, without a second pair as backup, you are in for a miserable time.

• Don’t forget bath supplies. A long, warm bath is sometimes the best thing for me after traveling with chronic pain.

Once You Get There, Rest.

• If possible, take a full day to rest after you arrive at your destination and again when you return home. When I fly from Atlanta to California, I leave in the morning and make no plans until the following day. It makes me more patient about flight delays, for one thing. But more importantly, the only thing I need to do when I arrive is check in at my hotel and get comfy. I give myself that whole evening to just relax. I order room service. I take a bath. I change into pajamas at 5:30 PM. I go to sleep at 8. It makes me better able to face the next day!

On the other end of the trip, I almost always end up crashing for nearly 24 hours after I get home. At this point, it’s lower stress to just plan for it and let it happen. I feel better afterwards, anyway.

During Your Trip, Think of Every Stop as a Rest Stop.• Rest whenever you can. As an adult, I’ve learned that if the opportunity arises to go to the bathroom, I’m going to try to pee on principle. I’ve cultivated the same rule when it comes to people standing around and stopping for any reason. If we stop, I sit. Period. And on my next sightseeing trip, I plan on trying a new energy-saving trick — I just learned that scooters are able to be rented in most major cities, so you can ride while others walk. Most of these rental companies will drop the scooter off at your hotel, and pick it up from there at the end of the trip.Traveling with chronic pain or not, traveling is overwhelming and exhausting – even for people who aren’t spoonies. I find it helps to keep that in mind. Be gentle with yourself.Article Provided By: WebMD

Carolina Pain Scrambler Logo, Chronic Pain, Greenville, SCIf you would like to discuss what Carolina Pain Scrambler do to help relieve your chronic pain symptoms or receive more information on our treatment process, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-520-5011 or you can email us at info@carolinapainscrambler.com

1 14 15 16 17 18