Category: Guest Blogger for RSDSA

Written by Guest Blogger Stephanie Umlor for the RSDSA blog.

While we live with CRPS daily and can let it take over our thoughts, we often don’t realize how our loved ones are affected. This is a reminder that every caregiver and loved one can be affected by this CRPS “monster” as well.

A reality of anger, hurt, and pain rages havoc on our bodies and minds CRPS is a methodical monster. Convincing us that we are helpless, worthless, a burden, as well as unable to to love someone the same way as we did before. Leaving us in an atmosphere so overwhelming we might as well stay. I call this “ CRPS Pain Limbo;” I know most medical professionals refer to it as “ The 5 Stages of Grief.” I think with CRPS sufferers we tend to stay in the anger and bargaining stage more than any other one that’s why I call it CRPS pain limbo.

What happens if one day you stop and wonder if maybe my spouse may feel the same as I do? Impossible right? Not at all, CRPS may not impact the ones we love with constant pain or fatigue but it does impact them psychologically. They feel Helpless, Worthless, maybe as a burden, and they feel isolated or alone which are a lot of the same feelings we feel. I realized this year from a situation due to CRPS how my wife (Valarie) was feeling as devastated as I had been through the last 7 years. I have accepted that CRPS is a part of me and the perception I believed was reality became an obstacle I had to go through to be where I am now.

Reality is a hard pill to swallow and I had my dose from Vascular test results that were given to me June of this year. When the Vascular specialist came into the room to talk to me I figured he would be like the rest of every doctor, I will admit it he wasn’t. When he first started talking he sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher speaking, then it started to make sense he was telling me I have bilateral Peripheral Artery Disease(PAD)! He continued by telling me that it was completely neurological and there was nothing he could do, but then he said,” This is CRPS at it’s finest! I mean This is what CRPS can do in its truest form.” I know most people probably took that as a crude statement, when I told Valarie she did but I didn’t. He explained that he had extreme concerns about possible wounds that could develop on my feet and not heal which would or could cause an amputation. I let it sink in and then said, “ So I could possibly lose a toe or my foot, that’s what you’re saying?” The look on his face was unforgettable along with the words that followed that look, “ That would not be the case in your situation! Due to the constriction in your legs the amputation would happen either right below the knee or above it.” My heart sank and continued sinking as I was heading back to my car. I got into my car thinking I was going to throw but the end result was me bursting into tears and a quick phone call to my wife.

When Valarie got home from work, I met her at the back door; her eyes along with the way she wrapped her arms around explained everything I have ever thought or wondered. Still to this day I have no idea why or how the so called CRPS pain limbo melted away to let me see how she was feeling through all of this. For many years I never could understand why my wife was so quiet about certain aspects of CRPS, then becoming frustrated. I imagined it was because I wasn’t who I use to be physically and I was just a burden in her life now, how wrong I was! In that split moment of that hug all of those times flipped through my mind like a photo album and then I said, “ I understand now and I am sorry.” I went on to explain that during the years I never contemplated how she was handling everything. She told me she, too, felt helpless not being able to take the pain away, she felt worthless because I always refused her help, she never wanted to say was in pain due to how could it even compare to what I feel on a daily basis, and she felt alone because she wanted to understand how I felt but I just wouldn’t let her in.

Like I said earlier reality is a hard pill to swallow and CRPS is an intelligent monster causing catastrophic effects to the ones we love and the ones suffering from painful sensations. I would definitely go through it all again to be able to feel the calming relief I felt that day and continue to feel. Learning that communication, involving the people closest to you, and realizing my wife may not be able to fully understand my pain but she can relate to the emotions endured with CRPS has created a very stress free life.I feel strongly that if a CRPS sufferer feels alone and misunderstood their spouse, partner, or girlfriend/boyfriend [or other caregiver] probably feels the same way. So, please try to communicate with them because they are our biggest cheerleaders .

Written by Dr. Terri A. Lewis

What is palliative care and what does it mean for people with complex pain syndromes? Dr. Lewis sheds light on this topic for people that are curious about it and would like to know more.

What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv) is specialized medical care for people with serious illness. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines palliative care according to the following criteria –

Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual. Palliative care:

• provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;
• affirms life and regards dying as a normal process;
• intends neither to hasten or postpone death;
• integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care;
• offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death;
• offers a support system to help the family cope during the patients illness and in their own bereavement;
• uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families, including bereavement counseling, if indicated;
• will enhance quality of life, and may also positively influence the course of illness;
• is applicable early in the course of illness, in conjunction with other therapies that are intended to prolong life, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and includes those investigations needed to better understand and manage distressing clinical complications.

WHO Definition of Palliative Care for Children

Palliative care for children represents a special, albeit closely related field to adult palliative care. WHO’s definition of palliative care appropriate for children and their families is as follows; the principles apply to other pediatric chronic disorders (WHO; 1998a):

• Palliative care for children is the active total care of the child’s body, mind and spirit, and also involves giving support to the family.
• It begins when illness is diagnosed, and continues regardless of whether or not a child receives treatment directed at the disease.
• Health providers must evaluate and alleviate a child’s physical, psychological, and social distress.
• Effective palliative care requires a broad multidisciplinary approach that includes the family and makes use of available community resources; it can be successfully implemented even if resources are limited.
• It can be provided in tertiary care facilities, in community health centers and even in children’s homes.

What Services Are Coordinated by a Program of Palliative Care?

Palliative care is specialized medical care coordinated with community supports designed to focus on providing relief from the symptoms and stressors imposed by serious illness. The following features characterize palliative care philosophy and delivery:

• Care is provided and services are coordinated by an interdisciplinary team;
• Patients, families, palliative and non-palliative health care providers collaborate and communicate about care needs;
• Services are available concurrently with or independent of curative or life-prolonging care;
• Patient and family hopes for peace and dignity are supported throughout the course of illness, during the dying process, and after death

Services address life planning, community care specialties, referrals and program eligibility management, insurance coordination, nursing, occupational or physical therapies, pain management, social supports, psychological and mental health supports, spiritual supports, diet, nutrition, and disease management education, assistive technology and home modifications. These include-

Physical problems. (the symptoms or side effects)

• Pain
• Trouble sleeping
• Shortness of breath
• Loss of appetite, and feeling sick to the stomach

Treatments may include:

• Medicine
• Nutritional guidance
• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Integrative therapies

Emotional, social, and coping problems. Patients and their families face stress during illness that can lead to fear, anxiety, hopelessness, or depression. Family members may take on care giving, even if they also have jobs and other duties.

Treatments may include:

• Counseling
• Support groups
• Family meetings
• Referrals to mental health providers

Practical problems. Some of the problems brought on by illness are practical, such as money- or job-related problems, insurance questions, and legal issues. A palliative care team may:

• Explain complex medical forms or help families understand treatment choices
• Provide or refer families to financial counseling
• Help connect you to resources for transportation or housing

Spiritual issues. When people are challenged by illness, they may look for meaning or question their faith. A palliative care team may help patients and families explore their beliefs and values so they can move toward acceptance and peace.

What is the Difference Between Palliative Care and Hospice?

Palliative medicine is a medical subspecialty provided by doctors who offer palliative care for people who are seriously ill. Palliative care relieves suffering and improves quality of life for people of any age and at any stage in a serious illness, whether that illness is curable, chronic, or life-threatening.  It is not necessary to be at the end stage of illness (3-6 mos prior to impending death) to receive or benefit from palliative care services.

Who Should Receive Palliative Care Supports?

Patients panic when they hear “palliative care” and think it means they are dying. But palliative isn’t only for people who are chronically or terminally ill, and it is not the same as hospice care. Palliative care may be offered for people with illnesses, such as, but not limited to:

• Cancer
• Heart, lung, or kidney diseases
• Dementia or Alzheimers
• HIV/AIDS or cancer
• Neuromotor diseases such as Parkinson’s, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Muscular dystrophy, or Multiple sclerosis.
• Injuries that arise from trauma or medical harms
• Any chronic disease that results in the need for long term coordinated care of medical and community supports for an extended period.

When Should Palliative Care Begin?

Palliative care should be considered whenever a determination is made that the a disease or injury is present that requires multiple services coordinated over a long period of time in order to optimize care, treatment and quality of  life.  The goal of palliative care is to place the right resources at the disposal of the patient and the care team to ensure that services delivered optimize targeted treatment goals and outcomes while helping the individual and family to remain as independent as possible in the care that is provided.

For the chronic pain patient, this may mean beginning care when treatment and pain management require intensive supports through a combination of modalities that require risk management and coordinated inputs from multiple specialty providers working in concert to assure that patient’s desires and outcomes are monitored.

Palliative Care and the Person with Chronic Pain Generating Diseases

Palliative care in America is not uniformly available or consistently provided to eligible individuals. This is a function of state regulatory implementation, insurer limitations, and access to trained and knowledgeable medical professionals and carers.  To investigate the availability and implementation of palliative care services in your state, look to these links-

https://www.nhpco.org/sites/default/files/public/palliativecare/corporate-practice-of-medicine-50-state-summary.pdf

Palliative care: The legal and regulatory environments parts I & II

https://www.nhpco.org/sites/default/files/public/palliativecare/legal_regulatory_part1.pdf

https://www.nhpco.org/sites/default/files/public/palliativecare/legal_regulatorypart2.pdf

Click here to look for qualified provider organizations and practitioners

What Are the Limitations and Access Issues Associated with Palliative Care in the USA?

Palliative care is an important service for persons with chronic illness. It not only improves patient outcomes but it prevents secondary and tertiary harms from poor handoffs between specialty treatment providers.  It also prevents duplication of services and helps to control costs of care. But it is not uniformly available.  As an essential service it is plagued by uneven regulation and resource allocations across the states.  Some states do not have enough trained medical providers, and some states have lost providers due to reimbursement by insurers for the services provided.  On the whole, insurers limit provider choices through narrow networks which may in turn result in capitation or rationing of care to fewer people than the number that actually need the service.

What is certain is that the population is aging and needs are greater than ever. Not only is medical education a critical need but so is opening of regulatory process to allow eligible persons access across the lifespan as their care needs change. Persons with chronic pain generating syndromes often find themselves dealing with multiple diagnoses that will benefit for multidisciplinary approaches including palliative care.

For more information visit:

• Medline
• National hospice and palliative care organization
• Guide to Palliative and End-of-Life Care

Written by Guest Blogger Sara

We love to post uplifting stories about people living with CRPS/RSD. But, what about the moments where it is nearly impossible to be positive? Do we let that go unnoticed, or should we reach a point of acceptance that RSD comes with a range of emotions. Sara covers her feelings on RSD and how it is like an angry ocean.

Each day, I face the endless ocean, scanning the horizon, tipping my head to the sky searching for signs of storms.  Will the currents be calm, allowing me to drift easily under a sunny sky with my aching and ancient bones; or will the storms clouds gather, thunder booming, lightning splitting the horizon with the surf threatening to pull me under?  Navigating life with RSD is a lot like diving into the vast ocean.  It’s nearly impossible to comprehend the depth, vastness and magnitude of it; and it’s practically alive.  One day calm and “background”, other days it’s a Category 5 Hurricane, tearing apart cities and wiping entire towns off maps.

The days I find the hardest are the days I wake up angry.  On the surface, all appears calm.  There is nothing that screams out “BE ANGRY,” and yet, I am.  I’ll try to shake off the feeling, the same way I try to shrug off the buzzy hands, the stiff joints, the swollen limbs and yet, it won’t go away.  I open my browser and as I scroll through my various feeds – Facebook, Instagram, blogs; that angry itch grows.  So many people doing things that I miss being able to do, writing about accomplishing x, y, and z while having an autoimmune and loving life.  I’m left feeling like a failure.  I’m struggling to keep up with the basics.  I’m frustrated and angry. I’m angry that I’m angry; I’m guilty that I’m angry.  I’ve got a list a mile long and for that, yes, I again feel guilty.  While others lead off with, “So grateful to my autoimmune- it’s forced me to slow down and now I smell the roses, enjoy time to knit, learn coding and Chinese, and am grateful to watch each sunset as I haven’t let this stop me or take my happy away!” I’m left feeling frustrated and sad as my list goes more like: “Struggling to find a doctor locally to work with my main RSD doctor, depressed by the amount of medications I have to take, angry and depressed from my Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) and the pain and discomfort it causes me, the isolation and loneliness I experience, hearing “but you look fine,” trying to make my body listen to me and like a stubborn child it ignores my command, my treatment is less effective every year, the punishment I get from my body when I push too hard and do too much, the length of time to recover when I do push too hard and do too much, feeling like I’m sitting on the sidelines of life rather than being fully engaged as I once was, being bone tired, yet sleep evades me due to the pain, there is no cure, there is no cure, there is no cure.”

As you can see, my list is less than cheery.  I’ve struggled with feeling like a failure as a result.  Feeling as though I wasn’t dealing with my disease properly.  I spent so much extra energy, time, and stress trying to push my feelings of anger down, away, anywhere really, except express it.  Finally, on a trip to the beach, with the sun beating blissfully down and warming my sore bones, the answer came to me.  As I idly read the beach signs, a thought occurred to me.  Anger is much like a rip current.  The ocean may look calm but you can still get caught in the undertow.  They are powerful and not to be ignored.  If you struggle against a rip, you can tire yourself out and drown, which is how I was feeling trying to bury my feelings of anger and frustration.  Instead, go with it.  Eventually you will get out of the rip and make your way to shore again.  Isn’t that what we are all trying to do?  Make our way home.  On the days that I’m experiencing anger, hurt, frustration, I let those feelings out.  This fall will be 19 years since RSD walked into my life and shattered any sense of normalcy.  After nearly 20 years you would think that I would be accustom to this beast.  After all, I’ve had it for more than half of my life.  The answer is a resounding NO!!!  I still rail against it, go back to the day and rewind it in my mind as if I could make it stop, think of the years lost as my ortho told me that the surgery went great and all was fine as I fell apart.  Some days, I can put those feelings in a box and on a high shelf, other days they spill out and I have to deal with them.  My advice: be angry, be mad, let it out.  RSD is so difficult to deal with and it’s a wily beast.  It takes every ounce I have and nearly all of my spoons to get through my day.  Why waste any of those precious spoons or energy pushing away a completely valid feeling?  It would be the same as experiencing a very sad event in your life and doing the old “stiff upper lip, buck up buttercup” approach.  Hardly helpful and certainly not doing an ounce of good.  When you are angry, I say let yourself be angry.  If you wake up 1 week in or 40 years in from your diagnosis and you are mad that you have RSD and you have to deal with the pain and problems associated – be mad!  Let yourself be angry!  My children have a book that talks about their emotions, how they can be happy, sad, mad, excited.  “If you are mad or sad, that’s ok, it won’t last forever.”  I love that book.  It acknowledges that you can have the less than happy emotions, while saying that it’s ok, and that they won’t last forever.

While seeking out the good vibe blogs is a wonderful thing and I do love a silly animal video, I also think that reading raw, real blog accounts is equally important.  Life is hard enough, before throwing in something like RSD.  Be kind, and let yourself feel the entire range of emotions.  If you’re mad, be mad however that is to you, whether that’s screaming, breaking something, writing something, whatever you need to do to channel your anger.  Let it out, don’t swallow it down, in my experience that will only create another current to swim against.  Go with the flow of your emotion, and when the feelings subside, make your way back to the beach.

Cheers to being angry!

To read more of Sara’s writing, please visit her blog by clicking here!

Written by Guest Blogger Sylvia Miller

Being diagnosed with RSD CRPS can cause people to go through a range of emotions: denial, frustration, confusion, sadness, incompleteness, etc. Sylvia writes about what it was like trying to find an answer that wasn’t RSD/CRPS. What happens after the RSD diagnosis? How can you impact your life regardless of the pain?

3 years ago, I suffered a fall and fractured my ribs.  From that point forward, it seemed to be that I reached out to any doctor to [try to] understand the pain I encountered.   A physician diagnosed me as having RSD, but I thought, surely, this doctor is wrong.  So, I continued to research and search for any understanding about RSD and locate any physician to tell me I did not have RSD.  The news I dreaded hearing confirmed I was diagnosed with RSD. There is no cure, so, where do you go from the point of diagnosis and what do you do after the diagnosis?   Searching countless and excessive research to help me stop the insanity of the pain became a full-time job.  Having family and friends get a glimpse and understanding what I was dealing with was a full-time job.

I was placed out of work and my new full-time job became searching for answers and searching for doctors to help me.  From injections to consults with no relief.  Grasping out to every newspaper, government official and talk show host to spread awareness and no response.  Feeling alone and trying to get family members, friends, acquaintances to understand this disease.   This truly is a full-time job.   I believe unless you experience something yourself, you can truly never understand the depth.

Cancelling plans with friends and family has been consistent as the pain permits me from participating in activities. Finding new ways to do simple household chores has become a challenge but you reinvent a new way to handle. Anxiety has now become an issue. From physical therapy to Yoga to walking, trying anything to keep me occupied in hopes the pain will come to a halt.  Feeling alone has become the new reality.

For now, my search continues, but confirmation is that I get through every day and know somewhere there is an answer that will give life back, stop the insanity, and remind myself daily to never ever give up and positivity is a strong force.

Written by Guest Blogger Roberta Hierath

This blog about CRPS being a wailing, screaming alarm that never shuts off was originally featured on The Mighty. We were given permission to post it as a part of #TheTuesdayBurn, especially since it explains the overwhelming feelings that CRPS can bring on.

One thing I’ve learned in seven years of living with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is that there is almost no one in the regular course of my life who truly understands what constant, unwavering and intense pain really feels like. I am glad for that fact as I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, but it does make it harder for people to relate to my daily experience. So I am going to try to do my best to explain.

First, it may be helpful to explain, in very generalized fashion, what CRPS is at its core. Now remember, I am a patient, not a doctor, and nothing I am explaining should be considered medical advice or opinion. Basically, complex regional pain syndrome is a malfunction of the autonomic and central nervous system. The autonomic nervous system regulates fight-or-flight along with body temperature and other systemic functions. In CRPS this system gets activated and cannot be turned off, resulting in a feedback loop of pain signals.

The example my pain doctor gave me when I was diagnosed was to think of the big, initial flare of pain you get when you burn your finger or stub your toe, something everyone can relate to. Now imagine some crossed wires in your body become unable to turn off that warning system. That initial pain flare, enough to cause you to jerk your hand away from the flame, or jump around cursing your stubbed toe, never goes away. That warning system has now gone into overdrive – warning you of an injury that no longer exists. And it never stops trying to warn you. Ever.

One of the ways I like to explain it is that it is like a car alarm that malfunctions and can’t be stopped. It wails and screams its warnings and nobody has the code to turn it off. How long would it be before you felt yourself getting annoyed? Frustrated? Distracted? Overwhelmed? Angry? You can maybe close the window, or put earplugs in to try and lower the volume, or turn on the stereo or TV to try and drown it out, but you just can’t escape that wailing, screaming warning. You’ve been to the mechanic, many mechanics actually, and there’s nothing wrong with the car that they can find. They’ve run every test, tried everything they can think of to try to disrupt it, but the car just won’t stop sounding the alarm.

Now imagine you have to keep this malfunctioning car for the rest of your life and it is always within ear shot. You can’t walk away from it. It follows you everywhere. And the alarm never stops. Screaming, wailing, warning of an emergency that isn’t there… Warning!!! Danger!!! Warning!!! Danger!!! Warning!!! Danger!!! Warning!!! Danger!!! Warning!!! Danger!!! Feeling any stress or anxiety yet? That is CRPS in a nutshell. We can takes medication to help manage the pain or help us sleep, but it really can only serve to dampen the “noise,” if you are lucky.

Now I know any rational person would get as far away from that car as humanly possible, but that isn’t an option for me. That screaming, wailing warning is constantly in my head and in my shoulder, neck and back in the form of pain. Burning pain, stabbing pain, aching pain, stinging pain, crushing pain, simultaneously red hot and ice cold. And very, very, loud. There are other symptoms, too, but pain is the big one. And it’s intense. The most intense pain known to man according to the McGill Pain Index, a scientific measurement for pain created by McGill University in 1971.

For most people there is an inciting event such as an injury, broken bone, sprain or surgery, like me. In many cases it can spread to the opposite limb, up or down the arm, leg or spine, and can even spread throughout the entire body and internal organs. It can cause changes in skin color and temperature, excessive sweating, swelling, weakness, muscle spasms, altered hair and/or nail growth, muscle atrophy, short-term memory issues, depression, anxiety and the list goes on. Not everyone has every symptom and some symptoms come and go, but the pain never wavers. There is currently no cure. There are many treatments intended to help reduce pain and in some cases allow for full or partial remission, often temporary. But mostly treatment is aimed at managing pain and keeping or restoring as much function as possible.

It isn’t always easy dealing with the pain, weakness and disability that comes along with a CRPS life, but I do have my ways of getting by and enjoying some quality of life. I hope this helps people understand a little better what complex regional pain syndrome is and what it’s like to live with this horrible disease.

Take a moment to read this story on The Mighty.

Written by Guest Blogger Kelly Hodgkins

This blog was originally posted on Moonglotexas. Click here to view the original post. This post, entitled “7 Things I Can Do When The Pain Is Too Much” was posted with permission and offers great insight into things that you can do, or try to do, when your CRPS/RSD pain feels like too much.

My CRPS has a habit of flaring up on days I’ve made plans to do fun things that rejuvenate my soul. Snuggled up under my duvet, I visualize the landscape before me trotting along on my horse. I rearrange flower beds, trim branches and try out that great idea from a book. Coffee in hand, I catch up with a friend at the local bakery. It’s all before me and I’m ready to go until I step out of bed!

The nausea rises, the room rotates slowly to the left, a throbbing fills the joints of my hand and a bone-deep fatigue makes the walk to the couch a challenge. A whole day’s plan goes out the window, it’s just not possible. One of the biggest lessons CPRS has taught me is to take each day on its merits and work out, based on how I’m feeling, what can I do today. I still feel the disappointment, particularly about seeing my horse, but working out what I can do has helped make those long days bearable and mostly still fun!

So, here are the seven things I can do when I’m in too much pain to leave the house but not so much that I’m bedridden:

1. Take a garden gander – still in my PJs, I pull on my gum boots (they are bright pink and clash beautifully with my outfit – quite the sight for the neighbours) and follow my two exhuberant German Shepherds out the front door. My mom has made me my favorite brew and we breathe in the fresh air and the beauty around us. The garden is full of small changes, tiny incremental shifts which I find so encouraging. Spotting that centimeter of new growth, the bright shine to a new leaf or a bud about to bloom but not quite yet, makes it a gentle adventure. Dancing about chasing bugs and following birds, Bessie and Teddy always make me chuckle. Some days, at the end of the front garden tour, I’m too tired to continue so, cuddled up on my verandah chair, I just sit and listen to the sounds of croaking frogs and birds in song.
2. Bake a sweet treat –  I read research that said just the smell of freshly baked goods eases pain and I’m all for that, though consuming it is a favorite part too. I have several simple recipes that don’t take long or take much work and that, combined with a Kenwood mixer and my mom, make it possible. Today was a chocolate cake: all the ingredients in a bowl, mix, bake, scoff!
3. Read a great novel – well-crafted books pull me into a new world, surround me with new friends and take me on adventures, all from the comfort of my couch (hot water bottle and blankie required). One of the reasons this blog focuses on books is because of the immense joy they bring me when I’m in pain. I’ve come to appreciate so many different genres as I’ve read more and now enjoy a good Christian romance as much as a historic who-dun-it. Some days the migraines or the tired eyes take exception to reading so then I rely on audible books and now even prefer them for some of my stories. Barbara Rosenblat reading Amelia Peabody’s adventures is a treat and you can’t go wrong with Juliet Stevenson and a classic like Austen.
4. Connect with friends – being confined to home can feel isolating but the world we live in allows us to reach out. On tough days, a conversation via WhatsApp with a friend, a chat on a Facebook post or sharing an article from Twitter allows me to be a part of their day and breaks up mine.
5. Exercise – I’m not talking about the sweat-breaking, heart racing type but rather the slow movements that release muscles, relieve aches and fight inflammation. I asked my biokineticist for a routine of migraine and neck pain relief exercises which takes 5 minutes to complete but regularly prevents me from needing to take more pain medication.
6. Rewatch a great series – whether it’s Downton Abbey, Miss Fisher’s Mysteries or Emma, certain TV shows just feel like home and make me sigh with comfort. Familiar scenes and favourite lines relax and engage my mind for a few hours. I like movies but they always leave me trying to think what to watch next (exception made for epics like Harry Potter and Fast and the Furious of course) whereas a series promises hours and hours of endless diversion.
7. Prayer and meditation – when the lows of the day hit, when the pain peaks or distraction fails, quiet time with God soothes my soul best. I have a 20 minute guided meditation on my phone and Summer Gross’ videos on YouTube are great too, headphones in, I focus on the words. Sometimes, the silence and darkness is just right too.

When these days happen, for those of you who suffer from chronic pain, I hope this inspires you! For those of you who don’t, but read this, I hope this explains a little about our rough days and where you can help.

Don’t forget to check out Moonglotexas by clicking here. More great articles in her blog!