Do you live with chronic pain? Does pain seem to infiltrate every area of your life, to the point that it is affecting your quality of life? If so, you are not alone.
In this article, I will discuss some of the most important aspects of understanding chronic pain—its complex condition and how it works. In a subsequent post, I will present a “Chronic Pain Toolbox” that will equip you with essential self-management skills, so that you can be empowered to regain the quality of life you deserve.
Living with Chronic Pain
For millions of people, living with pain and physical discomfort has become a way of life. Chronic pain is now one of the most common problems plaguing adults, with 1 in 3 people being affected by it. Indeed, it is more prevalent than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined.
With chronic pain, living a full and active life may seem out of reach. But it doesn’t have to be this way! On the contrary, it is possible to improve both your level of functioning and quality of life while reducing your pain symptoms.
The key is to have an effective approach, along with the right skills and support. But in order to take control of chronic pain, it is necessary to understand how it works and how it affects us. This is what I will focus on today.
Understanding the Chronic Pain Experience
Chronic pain (regardless of cause) is a complex experience—something that is influenced by physical, psychological, and even environmental factors. Things like lack of sleep, stress, and feelings of anxiety, depression, fear or frustration can all play a considerable role in your symptoms. As I will discuss in a subsequent post, by addressing the many factors affecting your pain, you can better manage and control your chronic pain symptoms both safely and naturally.
Factors that Contribute to Chronic Pain
The Vicious Cycle of Chronic Pain
For people with chronic pain, what determines the day-to-day level of pain has very much to do with the way your mind and body respond to it. For example, whenever a part of your body is hurting, the brain automatically attempts to limit the movement of that area. This leads to stiffness and muscle tension, which in turn cause even more pain.
As a result, when someone suffers from chronic pain, what happens is that their overall activity level diminishes and their muscles becomes weak and deconditioned, often to the point that even the slightest activity hurts.
On top of that, pain often leads to feelings of anxiety, frustration, sadness, or depression—emotions that further exacerbate the sensation of pain by increasing your body’s sensitivity to it.
Endorphins: The Natural Painkiller
The good news in all of this is that you do not need to be helpless in your pain. This is because your brain plays an immense role in chronic pain; it acts as the gatekeeper with the ability to allow you to feel pain as well as block the sensation of pain.
What does this mean for you? It means that your mindset—what you think and how you feel—makes a huge difference in the actual degree of physical pain that you feel.
To be clear, this is not to say that your symptoms are “all in your head.” On the contrary, it is now known that most if not all chronic pain–even those that don’t have a specific diagnosis–come from some physical cause, such as damaged or inflamed nerves, blood vessels, muscles, or other tissues.
Rather, the point is that your brain has the remarkable ability to secrete natural painkillers (called endorphins) that work very similarly to powerful pain medications you might take in the form of a pill.
One of the keys to effectively controlling chronic pain symptoms, therefore, is to take advantage of this process by incorporating certain activities into your day that encourage the release of endorphins. In my next post, I will expound more on this by presenting practical ways in which you can manage your chronic pain and minimize the effect it has on your daily life.
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Categories: Chronic Conditions, Chronic pain, Health & Wellness
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Thank you, Phoebe. I live in chronic pain due to the disease process in my body. Laughter, a positive attitude, and chocolate help relieve the pain. Without my friends who encourage me, it would be difficult to make it through the day.
This series Is enlightening and fascinating. I especially liked the post I read about on diabetes because I have Diabetes Two as well. I just got out of the hospital on Friday after nine months stay. Now on dealing with a stage 4 wound that openedto the bone. I’ve had six surgeries on it after a bout with osteomyelitis. The flap is healing but there’s the wound below it. My seventh surgery will be next Wednesday. My plastic surgeon will be doing a graft to heal the wound completely.
I know proteins and good nutrition are necessary to help heal this but wondered if you had any other comments regarding this kind of issue. Thank you and bless you for all you pour out in your blog for us.
Hi Nancy. You certainly have gone through a lot. You are right; protein is essential for wound healing. In addition to eating a protein-rich diet (which will also help your sugars), you may want to consider some sort of a sugar-free protein supplement (such as whey protein). To make sure that you are not lacking in any nutrients, a multivitamin may also be beneficial. In addition, there are actually supplement blends that are specifically FOR wound healing. Here is an article about a particular one called InflammEnz and how it has been shown to speed up wound healing after surgery:
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20040708/supplement-speeds-wound-healing#1
I hope this helps. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you ever have any questions about anything!
Thank you again, Phoebe, for this information. Going to visit the link now. You’re the best!
Anytime, Nancy! 🙂
What hard thing to deal with. I understand well having a serious illness and years long recouperation. I am mostly on the other side, but the effects of aging on top still surface. But the positive side, my appreciation for being alive would not what it is had I not experienced it, as well as increased compassion for other people. I learned not waste my days, or even hours, and fill them with something of value for me. Too many people cave or complain and their illness defines them. I hope your surgeries are successful and will bring a new positive change in your life in how you deal with new obstacles. I have thought – since I have overcome this, I can overcome anything!
Thank you SonniQ. I am 66 years old now and thank God for all I’ve gotten through. It has increased my compassion for others as well. I wrote a memoir and have a website called slavery shatters lives in the hopes I might help others. I’m happy to hear you’re on the upside and I pray you continue to do well regardless of our aging process. 🙂
Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Wonderful post, did not know about the strength of endorphins.
Thank you for reading! 🙂
Amazing information shared my friend. I have pain when I don’t exercise. The human body need movement.
Totally agree. Thanks for reading, John! 🙂
Great information here… thank-you for sharing! I agree totally about endorphins being a great natural pain killer!
My pleasure. Thank you for reading! 🙂
Your posts are so amazing… great information on something people are not so aware of in detail…great content 😊👌
Thank you for reading! 🙂