How much time should you spend paying attention to your persistent pain?
Persistent or chronic pain can become all encompassing and how much time you actually spend paying attention to your chronic pain, and getting positive results, is a balancing act. Persistent pain management is like managing your blood pressure or managing how much time you spend watching the news. With all of these, you want to put some energy into it to be informed but you don’t want it to become your primary focus or it can make things worse. Too much time tracking your blood pressure can make you more anxious and make your blood pressure increase. Too much time watching the news may send you into depression or anger. And, too much time focusing on pain can be counterproductive.
Compassionate care for persistent pain involves so many aspects that it can be overwhelming. If the focus is on all the time you’ve lost and on the all the negatives associated with the pain, it can be draining. This drain on your resilience tank can make the pain worse and make the persistent pain seem even more daunting to manage.
Mindfulness as a way to pay attention to persistent pain
Have you heard the phrase, “You have to measure it to manage it.”? How can you monitor something without it becoming your focus? Can you have an awareness of the issue, in this case the issue is your pain, and also have an awareness of the bigger picture? The practices of mindful meditation and mindfulness help you to skillfully play with your attention.
Mindfulness gives you the ability to focus in on an area (let’s say pain) or expand your focus. You can take in more of what is around you (see, hear, smell, sense sensations that may be pleasant or neutral). With mindful practice you may develop a more intimate understanding of the pain. And, You will notice when the pain gets bigger or smaller, harder or softer, warmer or cooler, contracted or expanded. You will notice that the pain does change. As a result, as you skillfully notice the subtle changes, you can skillfully monitor the pain. Then, perhaps giving more clear insight into how to manage it.
With mindful practice, you will also be aware of all the sensations and happenings around you. Then you can put the pain in perspective.
Paying skillful attention to persistent pain
When you have a skillful awareness of persistent or chronic pain and how it subtly changes, you can skillfully decide what you and your body need.
Here are 10 things you can do to manage your pain:
- Understand persistent or chronic pain. You can use a mindful practice or learn how chronic pain acts in general.
- Address any sleep issues. Simple sleep hygiene adjustments can have a big impact on getting better sleep.
- Have fun with nutrition and explore ways to add anti-inflammatory foods to your meals. Eating to help decrease pain can be delicious and simple.
- Play with different types of movement that are enjoyable. There are so many ways to move. Take a walk, take a swim, dance, do yoga, try a new activity or sport, learn to scuba dive, bounce on a trampoline, lift weights, toss a ball with someone, play corn hole, play badminton, put on music and clean the house, learn a martial art, plant and tend a garden, explore your local museum or zoo, have sex. Get creative with exercise. The best exercise is the one you enjoy the most.
- Find a support group that is right for you. Is the group supportive of where you are and supportive of you moving through your process? A support group should be a place where people can share personal stories, express emotions, and be heard in an atmosphere of acceptance, understanding, and encouragement. By helping others, sharing information and resources, people in a support group strengthen and empower themselves.
- Enroll others in helping you manage your pain. You may want to partner with an acupuncturist, a chiropractor, an exercise physiologist, a massage therapist, an energy work practitioner, a physical therapist, or a yoga professional. Remember you are unique and so is the way the pain will react to different treatment modalities. Most importantly, something that is beneficial to someone else may not work for you.
- Practice self-compassion. Be willing to sit with the pain with kindness and bring into awareness the knowing that suffering is a part of life.
- Explore and spend time on hobbies that you enjoy. A hobby can serve as a distraction from chronic pain, it can help with stress management, and it can increase joy.
- Use medication when needed.
- Have a gratitude practice. Consider doing a gratitude log.
Be cautious with the balance of your PAINTTENTION. The right amount and kind of attention to your pain can help balance your life and manage your chronic pain.
Explore more ways to manage persistent or chronic pain by exploring C.R.U.S.H. the pain