Building a pain-free life

The most important discovery I've made so far in my struggle with chronic pain, is that I have lots of options for pain relief. If I see my goal of having a life unrestricted by pain as a building project rather than as a race, I am free to choose different building blocks and combine them in various ways in order to find a combination that I am happy with.

Personally I don't believe in miracle cures any more. My first few years as a chronic pain patient I was desparate to find a cure and willing to try just about anything. Always hoping that this treatment, this operation or this medicine is finally going to make it all go away... and being disappointed time and time again. But as the years go by, I've tried hundreds of techniques and treatments and have gone through both good and bad periods. Now I have finally come to accept that sometimes it hurts more, sometimes less, sometimes I understand it but quite often I don't.

It's not a magic miracle cure I need, it's a lifestyle that lets me enjoy life whether I have pain or not.

Taking care of my health by doing the right things in my daily life is my preferred cure for chronic pain today. Eating habits, sleeping habits, exercise... essentially everything I do and how I do it. Each choice and each action is one small but vital piece in the structure I am building. They all count towards my pain prevention and when put together they can result in long periods where I am well-functioning and pain-free. Completely without drugs or tiring and expensive treatment.

This building project is both empowering and enlightening. For every building block I find that helps me improve my health and well being and reduce my pain I regain some of the power and some of the freedom that my chronic illness has taken away.

The source of the pain may still be there, but it doesn't affect me as much anymore.

#53 Balance your blood sugar

This is a general mood-enhancing tip, not just a chronic pain tip. But hey, being in pain usually dampens our mood quite a bit, so we need all the help we can get!

Several years ago a doctor specialized in arthritis and nutrition told me that sugar in general provides extra fuel for inflammation and thus provokes auto immune diseases. I figured it would be worth a try to cut sugar completely, but never really managed to stick to it.

Last year I stumbled upon a book called "Potatoes not Prozac" while I was doing random research for my next book. It had a really interesting theory of how some peoples brains have more than average receptors for beta-endorphin, which make them sugar sensitive, prone to mood swings and more succeptible to addiction. After reading about this, and learning more from different sources, I tested a blood-sugar balancing diet for a few months, and wow, what an amazing difference it did to my mood and general productivity!

Usually, I'll have lots of energy in the morning, and always experience a severe dip in energy levels in the afternoon. My mood is generally unfathomably unstable, but when I started eating small meals every three hours and cut refined sugar from my diet it only took a few days before I was functioning at a level I've never experienced before. Big improvement is all I can say. Of course... I didn't manage to stick to it long term this time either... I think a stray cinnamon bun caught me off guard, and it went downhill from there... but maybe next time around?

This diet is apparently really good for steady and sustainable weight loss too. Which may be ok if you're not underfed and skinny. I'm quite happy being curvy, but good mood and stable energy reserve might just be worth the effort:)