Am I the only pain patient who seems to go a bit balmy when the pain spirals out of control?
There's a gigantic low pressure sweeping in across the Swedish forests today and my back is feeling every ounce of it. It's a classic pain flare.
I really find it hard to concentrate when I'm above 7-8 on the pain scale, and what's worse is that I forget from flare to flare how it works and what I need to do. Lucky for me I have this amazing blog with all of 245 pain free tips, huh? ;)
I haven't got my flare kit with me, so a studded mat, a hot bath, some pain relieving ointment and medicinal yoga have been my techniques so far to get through the flare, but I realized I could do myself a big favor by monitoring how these things work and recording it for next time. So far I can record that when it comes to my barometric pressure pain:
the hot bath = -3 pain for about 90 minutes
studded mat = no effect
pain relieving ointment = no effect
yoga was the ultimate winner leaving me pain-free for almost an hour
Now of course my memory isn't what it used to be, and chances are I'll be back at square one next time, doing the exact same scrabble for pain control...unless....I write these results down and store it as an immediate help list for future flares of a similar kind! If I do this for the different sorts of pain flares I experience (neck pain, headaches, arthritis pain, back pain) I can write an immediate help list with strategies for each different type of flare and post them where I will see them next time... like the inside of the medicine cabinet perhaps?
Yogayogayoga! Just so you remember. And when you forget: Call me! :) The most fantastic thing about yoga (as you well know, Anna, but I keep repeating myself and I hope that all of your blog friends also will discover this) is how you learn to control your breath, and how that makes all of your muscles relax even through pain, and brings a kind of acceptance and stillnes to your mind. Last night I was practicing my yoga, and unlike the day before (which was fenomenal), I wasn't able to concentrate, and my back was really hurting. I could feel how it protested throughout the series of postures. At first I was angry and tried to force myself, but then I remembered: Yoga is also about acceptance of where your body are today, and starting to listen to yourself, starting to get in touch with yourself and every tiny bit of your body. And suddenly I was very thankful to my body, I stopped pushing, I just went through the movements like a slow wave, pausing when I needed to, and had a lot less pain the rest of the evening. And I felt extremely happy. Both because of my discovery of how the acceptance of my weakness made me stronger and helped me through the work out; but also, simply, because I could move, and struggling to do my yoga, at all! (Sounds like a 80 year old woman, I know, haha). But trying and thankfulness is a lot better than not trying. So I hope all of you out there will try yoga to understand your body and control your pain.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your blog, Anna, you're my hero!