Life with Chronic Pain Blog

The truth about life with arthritis

Those who are familiar with the issue, know that there are over a hundred different types of arthritis. You can have one type or a combination of them, such as mixed connective tissue disease. Life with arthritis is- let me say- based on different rules than normal life. Today, I’d like to share what I came up with- the truth about life with arthritis. So what is the truth and how is it like to have such life? Just go on reading.

Most days it’s like riding a wet horse, bareback in the rain. You try to hang on but you fear you could fall off. And it’s not that you are afraid of the fall itself. You are afraid of the consequences…you have enough pain and additional portion might be simply too much…

Very often you could swear that it is flu what you are going through, cause symptoms are exactly the same. But you quickly realize that you couldn’t have flu so often. So you need to function with the symptoms and accept and face whatever life brings. You won’t take a two week break and go to bed like others, you will continue to function. Read the rest of this entry

Endure the battle called life

I have already wrote here in this blog, and I guess I did it many times that people suffering from chronic pain tend to pay greater attention to nature. It’s just like…when we have “normal” life- without pain, it goes so fast that we don’t even have time to stop and look around. And what is around is exactly what we need to feel better. I think nature could be a great source of inner strength not only for people coping with constant pain, but for every single person in the world. You know why I think so? Because it has an incredible ability to reborn and it’s amazingly stubborn when it comes to staying alive. What I’m trying to say is that nature does not stop the growing process even when given the wrong conditions and just keep on moving, it is wise and is searching for what she needs, and doesn’t give up.
And again, one event was enough for me to come up with this conclusion, although many things like that happen around us, but we don’t look… It was that the other day I was down in our basement taking out the trash. Much to my surprise I was smacked in the face by a very long branch from a rosebush. It was about six feet in length, pale yellow with only a hint of green, yet still very thorny. It was so intriguing. Seems that very old, extremely tall climbing pale golden rose that grows on the side of our house, had found its way through two boards on the side of the house. There is was, tiny leaves intact as it sought space, air and sunlight which it was definitely not going to find in a usually dark basement. Read the rest of this entry

Pessimism as the worst enemy of chronic pain sufferers

We are all different- that’s true. It’s hard to judge and make an opinion quickly- that’s also truth. Yet, it really doesn’t take much time to realize that there are only two kinds of people living in this place called earth. The first kind takes as a life rule- to expect the worst. The second kind- to expect the good. Pessimists versus optimists. That’s a never ending battle in this world. Why do I call it a battle? Because just too often it turns out that you need to fight for your safe space, for your nice atmosphere, for the pleasant surrounding, for a good mood. Yes- it is not so easy to maintain it. Why? Well, just look around. Your surrounding, your atmosphere, your space and your mood are in danger. The enemy called pessimism may come up suddenly from any side and if you don’t take effective action against it, you may be taken by it. Do you want that? I don’t. And I won’t! A couple of people in my life are very negative and one of them in particular can turn my day around by throwing so much negative energy that I feel the only way out is to fall to the ground and cover my head with my arms. Isn’t it exactly what we have learned? Protect your head! From the physical point of view, it can really save your life sometimes. But covering your head may also have a metaphorical meaning. What I’m trying to say is that sometimes you can’t do anything else but to prevent all these negative words you hear to get into your head. Read the rest of this entry

Just a bit of carefulness may save you from fall

If I were to place thing called life in some literary genre it would be a drama, specifically something between the comedy and tragedy, none of these at one time, just something between. It is co complicated sometimes. It has both– laughter and cry, smile and tears, anger and peace. One thing that is certain- life is difficult enough and adding unnecessary suffering to it is not a good idea.
I know that those who feel pain in their body are more careful when it comes to preventing anything that could lead to another injury. We care about our bodies more than those who are lucky and don’t share our fate. We swallow  handfuls of pills; give ourselves shots, stretch screaming muscles and search for new solutions that could make our stuff a bit easier. We try to protect ourselves from additional suffering and I think it is very important. I would like to focus on one thing now- falls. Naturally, when these occur, there is a probability that additional suffering will come. Consequences may be unpleasant and serious, so I think it is a good idea to take some safety measures to prevent that happening. Why am I writing about this? Well, several times within the last few weeks I have tripped over our smaller dog Jake, a 15 pound Mini-Schnauzer. What can I say? He’s insecure and has to be as close to me as possible. Read the rest of this entry

Chronic fatigue symptoms

Those who are regular guests at his blog are most probably familiar with certain expressions which reflect symptom called “rheumatoid fatigue”, “fibro fatigue”, etc. We know what’s it about. It’s about chronic fatigue which is an inseparable part of life among people suffering from chronic pain resulting from disease or injury. Why and when does it come? We could give as many reasons as people who feel it. Sometimes it may be a symptom accompanying particular illness. Sometimes it may be the side effect of the drug we use. Sometimes it may be a result of too high level of stress or too much physical exercise- this can be overdosed just like medicines. On the other hand, it may also be result of not exercising at all. You see- no extreme is good. And finally,  it may come when we feel simply not enough to cope with everyday duties.
You know, I have learned an important lesson in life- when something seems to be too much- laugh at this. What else you can do? At least, you will be facing your challenge in a good mood. I came up with some symptoms which may signalize that we are in this condition of chronic fatigue. If any phrase below will make you smile- great- I achieved my aim. Read the rest of this entry

Expect the unexpected, you can never be relaxed with chronic pain

How are you feeling today? Oh, you’re quite fine I see. But I’d recommend you take a bat and be alerted. Why? Because there’s another fast ball coming at you, and it’s better to be ready. Of course, you don’t have push yourself, but you’ll be sorry later. Whenever you meet new people, it is hard to explain the situation you’re in. After some situations like that you just get tired of explaining your problems all over again, you should do it, but you think there’s no point. That is one of the reasons people don’t understand what we’re going through. I also met with people who just did not believe us. Maybe the life we’re picturing is too scary to imagine and they don’t want to believe something like that could happen. It’s like we’re scaring them with our explanations.
I’ve been sick for more than 20 years already, and I can’t even count the times I wanted to vanish off the earth or hide in a place no one would find me. When I mention it, I remember an old movie about a boy in a bubble. I’d love to run away, but I can’t see it happening. There is no way I could get rid of my problems by running, they lie in my body and I can’t just leave my body, can I? We should be with other people, share our lives, but there are some times that we should reconsider it. Read the rest of this entry

Changes in Health Care

We are patients, so everything that changes and might affect us is interesting. There are lots of speeches, trends and hall meetings held every day. Many shown in the news. We get new things shown every day, some are promising. And we patiently wait for a life changing announcement appear just for us.
It is hard to find all the most important things in the loads of information we get every day. I talked with an old friend I know from nursing school. We conducted a really heated discussion about politics. I try to keep in touch with my friend, we phone each other every few weeks and talk for a while. Meeting is somewhat problematic because she lives in another state. Anyway, she was talking about a new books she started reading. It would all be fine, except it was a political book and we had really opposing views on politics. After a while, I realized that we should stop our conversation because it could have a really negative effect on our friendship. I value our friendship too much to just ruin it over a simple book.
Our country changed a lot in the latest years. A lot of things changed for the worse, we can see neighbors arguing with other neighbors, families are divided because of the economy, health care and the leaders. When I hear about such Read the rest of this entry

10 questions I usually get when asked about chronic pain

1.  WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME?
I know that we’re not evil and want other people suffer, but you have to admit that you probably wondered about it once. Illness doesn’t choose, it strikes randomly no matter if you’re good or bad, rich or poor. You can be sure that it isn’t any kind of divine judgment.
2.  HOW AM I GOING TO MANAGE LIVING WITH IT EVERY DAY FROM NOW?
It is a hard one. There is probably no good answer besides, you’ll just have to somehow. There is no other choice for you. You won’t be able to quit it like it was some job. You have to keep going and hope for a change for the better. See what you can do about improving you situation and try getting the best of what you have now.
3.  WHY ARE OTHER’S SO MEAN AND DON’T UNDERSTAND US?
It is best to say they have no idea as to what it is really. Being in pain at all times is so much worse than any kind of pain they might ever felt. The just can’t know, I don’t blame them and surely I don’t want them to feel such kind of pain. In many cases you become a burden to the family, they would like to carry on with their pain-free, happy lives, Read the rest of this entry

What can you tell me about your life?

Would you know what to tell someone who asked you of your life story? What would your story tell us about you? The Australian aborigines believe that your story is the only thing you really own. It is a true thing when you think about it.
Our life is our story, and stays our no matter if we’re healthy or in pain. We are the masters of the story, you have to remember that the story should be about you. Not your pain, and not sickness or suffering or any other problems you might have. You have to answer yourself, who am I really? You have to understand who you really are under the layer of the problems.
Did you hear about Fannie Hurst? She wrote many novels such as Imitation of Life and Backstreet, one time she even wrote admiration for her husband who was an artist. She inquired him as to why would he always be mindful of other people. He also never lived with regret. To that question, his answer was, „I suppose it’s because I have to live with myself.” Read the rest of this entry

How is your flexibility doing?

Flexibility is a very important thing for us all. Most people don’t even notice all of it, you can only notice and tell what flexibility is once you lose it. I can recall the time when I was still flexible and supple. I miss those times, I also miss other things that changed over the years. I remember being slim and having only one chin. I also know how it was to have energy to go through the whole day with ease. Waking up, stretching and being happy because nothing hurts you is another good memory. All those things have gone away just like cloths that aren’t fashionable anymore. But maybe just as the clothes might be popular again so will our health come back. Who knows, everything is possible.
Tell me, is it just me, or life throws you obstacles on your way every time you think you have got your life sorted out. You have to adapt to the new situation and the and when you finally do, than another obstacle appears and the cycle goes on and on. This whole adapting process is very energy consuming for me. And I don’t have much energy in me. Life with chronic pain is like finding yourself on the top of a mountain, you can’t be careless or you’ll fall. You have to watch every step you take so you won’t hurt yourself. You can’t go back to your life like it was once, it is different now and you can’t change that. You can only make it less of a pain and burden. You have to develop emotional flexibility to be able to stay on the mountain called life. Read the rest of this entry