Learning To Live With Pain

These days I’m learning to live with pain. If I’m standing or walking, it’s more likely than not that I’m in some degree of pain.

I’ve found that when I walk with the rollator, I’m able to walk with less pain. So I use it most of the time. I’m so grateful for an easier way to walk.

I can still manage to visit the neighbors that live close to me.

Maybe this situation won’t be permanent. But if it is, I’m preparing myself for it.

Seek Joy:

I love seeing the neighbors. I’ve got wonderful neighbors. We help one another in this little circle of apartments. And we share with one another.

Like I share my baked cakes with the neighbors. I’m going to try to sit on the rollator and bake a strawberry cake later today or tomorrow.

It’s hard to plan things these days because I don’t know what pain level I will be experiencing. That’s changed how I look at planning.

Which means that plans often get changed.

“Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” —Michael J. Fox

I managed to sit on my rollator and make pasta salad and baked beans the other day. Oh, I love baked beans.

I added sliced grapes to the pasta salad and it was so good paired with a ham sandwich.

“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.” -Martina Navratilova

Learning How To Prepare Meals:

There are many people out there who make delicious home-cooked meals in spite of their disability. They look for aids that will make cooking easier for them.

Even if you’re hurting, you still have to eat. There are tools that will help you in the kitchen. Get online and Google them.

• Look into adaptive equipment
• Simplify your kitchen set-up
• Invest in the right kitchen tools
• Prepare more than one meal and freeze the rest
• Sit on a rollator while cooking
• Use a crock pot to make meals
• Buy pre-chopped vegetables.
• Choose easy to make recipes with fewer steps

I look forward to having home cooked meals. So I’m going to try to cook more often. I’ll meal prep when the pain is less debilitating.

If I’m in pain, then I’m in pain. At least I will have something to show for it if I cook for myself.

When you look to your future and know that pain is probably always going to be on the horizon, try not to panic. It won’t help your situation.

Quality Of Life:

You can still have quality of life with chronic pain. But you have to make changes. Physically and emotionally.

Be realistic and let go of self pity because of the things you can no longer do. Learn to look forward to what you can do.

“Some people think that to be strong is to never feel pain. In reality, the strongest people are the ones who feel it, understand it, and accept it.” —Unknown

Face It & Learn To Pace It:

I’m not going to tell you to smile your way through it. That’s ridiculous. Of course it’s terrible that what happened has happened. You feel that your life is no longer within your control.

But in fact you are in control. You’re more in control than ever before. For instance you must learn restraint, which was probably the hardest thing for me to do.

I have learned that I must pace myself. And I hate it, because I’ve always been very active. I can’t get things done rapidly anymore, if I can do them at all.

But I know I pushed myself and my body too hard over the years. And I am paying for it now, I think.

If only I’d learned to pace myself.

Stay Busy With Hobbies & Other Activities:

If you liked to put puzzles together in the past, then that’s something you can still do if you have the ability to use your hands. Or maybe you like doing crossword puzzles.

I still find ways to decorate my home and plant a garden. It isn’t easy, but it is doable. I choose things to surround myself with that bring me joy.

Reading is a wonderful activity to engage it, whether you like printed books or like to listen to audio books.

I keep telling myself I’m going to listen to podcasts I’ve learned about. I’ll get around to it. It seems I’m always too busy! One I’ve read that is quite popular is Serial.

I’m not much for watching TV more than an hour or so a day, but I love to watch certain YouTube channels.

YouTube Channels I Enjoy:

• XO Macenna
• Lone Fox
• White Cottage Company
• Jenna Pierce
• Alexandra Gater
• Kristen McGowan

These are decorating and DIY blogs. Some showcase how to decorate a rental home.

Try Not To Over Do:

I have to do what I can manage and then put my foot up to elevate it. It’s a step in my day that I’ve accepted and will make room for.

You will have to learn to not overdo.

“I’m not an early bird or a night owl, I’m a permanently exhausted pigeon.” —Unknown

It’s like being stranded on an island and you can’t get back to land. Because when you’re in chronic pain you have to cease what you’re doing until you can get a grip on it and it lessens.

I don’t take pain pills except when I’ve had surgery. I take Tylenol Arthritis, and I’m back on Gabapentin trying to lessen the nerve pain.

Yes, there are side effects to Gabapentin. You can experience dizziness. I will just have to be careful and not stand up too quickly.

Unfortunately now I also have nerve pain in my left ankle. It’s near the same area where I feel nerve pain in my right ankle.

Maybe it’s due to a pinched nerve. Or maybe because I’ve relied on the left leg and foot for 12 years.

My left leg and foot might be telling me that I’m older now. And the left side of me has been overused, and it’s tired.

So I must stop and think when I’m up and walking. I must be kind to my left leg because it has taken the brunt of what has occurred in the past years.

I’ve been too dependent on left leg. I’m going to have to be more careful with it.

Your World May Feel Smaller:

If you’re in my situation, or a similar one, it seems like your world just gets smaller and smaller. Until you feel like you’re in this bubble by yourself.

Coping Mechanisms:

No one can learn coping mechanisms for you. You have to get through it by learning how to cope by yourself.

It’s only you who can do what needs to be done to keep your body going with less pain.

“It’s not about getting over things, it’s about making room for them. It’s about painting the picture with contrast.” —Brianna Wiest

When I feel discouraged, I try to look around me and think about what I’m grateful for. What do I look forward to doing?

I plan TV shows to watch in my one hour window of TV watching at night. That’s as much TV as I desire.

I look forward to reading books and looking at photos on Pinterest. There are YouTube channels I enjoy that involves decorating.

What’s Inside Your Bubble:

These things are within your control. They are inside your bubble.

You may no longer have the ability to go out to stores unless someone accompanies you who can lift equipment.

But what is so wonderful these days is that you can sit in your chair and order pretty much anything you want online. And then have it delivered in a timely manner right to your door.

The evening I made pasta salad and baked beans was a doozy. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t eat the supper I’d prepared. So I sat in my chair with my foot elevated for two hours.

I didn’t get to eat supper until 8:30. I’m an early evening meal eater, so it was certainly not within my normal routine.

After having my foot elevated for a couple of hours, I could tolerate walking to the kitchen to put food on my plate. I spent that time online working on this blog and perusing Pinterest. Being busy.

You have to eat. And if you live alone, you have to figure out a way to prepare meals for yourself.

Now I’m thinking about maybe making meatloaf. I’ll have to include what I need on my next order with Walmart.

Take Advantage Of Ordering Online:

Luckily you can add groceries to an online list Walmart provides. You can add groceries whenever you want on this list for your next order. And it’s the same with Amazon and most online stores.

“You can’t go through life allowing pain to dictate how you behave. It’s easy to sit here in your bedroom and wallow in your hurt feelings. It’s hard to rise above it.” —Adam Braverman

I’ll probably be in pain sitting there with my foot down while I make the meatloaf. But I’ll have something good to eat for more than one meal.

I’m going to have to start preparing meals by the meal prepping method. I don’t know why I’ve put off doing that.

I’ve written a post about meal prep for seniors. Now I have to start implementing that method.

Learning Tolerance:

You can get really depressed when you become disabled. I look at people around me that are older and see that they’re still active.

Where I go for laser treatment and chiropractic care is a full rehab with lots of physical therapists and machines.

I look at them and feel sad that I can’t engage in those physical activities that could make me stronger. I’m just not there yet. Maybe I’ll never be.

However I also see people around me that are in the same boat I am.

Chronic health problems along with chronic pain is difficult to live with. And there isn’t a pain pill in the world that will make it completely disappear.

You have to come to terms with that. Acknowledge it and move on.

You have to find things to do to keep busy. Being busy is a distraction.

You must learn to really appreciate those times when you aren’t in pain. If I can lie in bed without pain and read a book, then I’m grateful for that. Because I don’t have that every night.

“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically.” -Stephen Hawking

We are not hard-wired to hurt every day. But you can still live a full life.

Humans are hardwired to avoid and escape pain, I read. It’s there to help us survive, signaling an imminent threat that we need to evade.

But when pain becomes chronic, those danger signals don’t stop ringing.

Managing The Pain:

Chronic pain has a close relationship to the mind-body connection. We worry about our pain returning at any time, and sometimes we become hypervigilant. We are literally waiting for it because we’ve learned to do so.

But this causes the brain to intensify the physical symptoms. When we experience pain, our fear and anxiety are heightened. And then we find ourselves stuck in a fear-pain cycle.

Studies have found a strong correlation between positive thinking and stress reduction.

Don’t let yourself feel like pain is beating you. It can’t beat you if you don’t let it. Mind over body. There are ways to manage pain. Find out what they are. That’s easy with the internet in nearly every home.

Engage in activities and hobbies that give you joy. Sit with friends and family and enjoy their company. Cook a tasty meal. Do what you love.

No one can take that away from you. Not even chronic pain.