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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Chronic Pain is a debilitating condition. It can occur in any part of the body, but often times it will manifest in multiple parts. While chronic pain can be a symptom of fibromyalgia, it can also be the symptom of a previous injury or illness. Sufferers of chronic pain can feel hopeless at times, but there are ways to manage and cope with the stress of this pain. Here are six things to consider if you suffer from chronic pain or fibromyalgia.
1. 1. Talk to your doctor about treatment options.
Medicines or surgery don’t always provide a permanent fix, but they can lessen the severity of pain. In the past few years, Fibromyalgia medications have been incredibly successful for many patients. For chronic migraine sufferers, Botox, anti-seizures, and antidepressants have been shown to manage pain. If your pain comes from an old injury, you might want to consider surgery, rehabilitation, or both. Rehabilitation has lessened the feelings of chronic pain in many patients. Rehabilitation centers canhelp you regain movement of the injured area. You build tone, learn how to move with pain or an injury and they even help you relax the muscles.
2. 2. Learn what actions or activities cause you pain.
One of the worst parts about chronic pain is that it limits our ability to enjoy our hobbies. Weightlifting, running, rock-climbing and horseback riding are all hobbies that are extremely difficult to have with many chronic pain disorders. While we should never give up our hobbies, we should always take the time to manage our pain before attempting them first so that we can avoid a major set-back. Understand what causes you pain. If lifting heavy objects causes the pain in your back to skyrocket, then ask for help in carrying your groceries. If your migraines are triggered by loud noises, avoid concerts or noisy neighbors. After sometime of coping with and treating your chronic pain, you should be able to return to your hobbies.
3. 3.Try light exercise daily.
While you may not feel like doing exercise, you should really attempt at least 10-20 minutes each day. Your body needs to stay in shape and while you might expect it to hurt, light exercise will relieve tension and pain. Simple yoga stretches are a great way to get in exercise. Because yoga is a series of stretches, it relieves a lot of the pressure that chronic pain puts on the body. Since yoga is such a large disciple, you can find yoga stretches for every part of your body. If yoga isn’t for you, you can lift light weights or use bands. You can also do simple stretches. Never overwork yourself. If you are managing chronic pain, you should be focused on keeping muscle tone, not gaining muscle or losing insane amounts of weight.
4. 4. Consider an elimination diet.
Elimination diets cut certain foods out of our diets to see if one is aggravating our bodies or if we are having a mild allergic reaction. Dairy, gluten, nuts and fruit can all impact the way our bodies feel. By going on the elimination diet, we can monitor our reactions to food and the pain levels we feel without them. You might be surprised—many people say that eliminating gluten and other products from their diet lessens their chronic pain.
5. 5. Know your limits.
Sometimes our stubbornness gets the better of ourselves. We want to do more than we’re able. We want to work out more. We want to stay out later. We want to walk farther than we know is good for ourselves. If you have chronic pain, you’ve probably been in a situation where you’ve woken up the next day regretting your decision to do so much the day before. We’re not invincible. Chronic pain is very real and while we should always try to do exciting things and enjoy a full life, we should never push ourselves too far.
When we’re not feeling well, we can be tempted to lay down all day. We can prefer to sit in bed and read or browse the internet, but you should never do that. Chronic pain doesn’t need to be rested. You need to move around to feel better. If you have a sedentary job, switch up your position throughout the day or try to get up frequently. If you have back pain especially, putting pressure on your tailbone by sitting or lying down constantly can do more harm than good.
Managing chronic pain is all about understanding and knowing your body. If you are new to chronic pain, the change in your body’s limits can be very sudden and jarring. Learning to cope can take months, but you will learn to cope and manage your pain. While the adjustment period can be rough, these six tips can guide you to learning how to better manage your symptoms of fibromyalgia or chronic pain.
Writer’s Bio:
Writing from Copenhagen, Denmark, Jane is an entrepreneur, and a full-time housewife. She spends most of her time on doing kitchen stuff reviews and owns several health and home sites such as gearweare, runnerclick, monicashealthmag, janeskitchenmiracles & nicershoes
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