Chronic Pain
When you experience pain
Particularly chronic pain
You experience a lot more than just a pain signal in the brain
You also experience distress: fear, anxiety and tension
Mixed in with that distress
Are memories, habits, patterns of behavior
And automatic thoughts, like:
Fear that the pain will never go away
Anxiety that activities will always cause more pain
Worrying thoughts about the future
Beliefs that you cannot cope
And this in turn produces:
More tension in the body
More stress
More anxiety
And more fear
Which affects:
Sleep
Work
Relationships
And for some, this contributes to:
Pain related disability
Social isolation
And feeling low –
Particularly if people do not understand you or believe you
Pain and distress
Are experienced at the same time
And this is what makes the pain so overwhelming
An important part of pain management
Is understanding the difference
Between pain
And distress
Because sometimes wishing and yearning for the pain to go away
Can elevate your distress
Elevate your experience of the pain
When you take the time
To carefully consider
All the elements of your experience
You can work out what things
You can and cannot control
With the right help
You can make your worst 9/10 pain day
Feel like a 3/10 pain day
Giving you the confidence you need
To get back to doing some of the things you love