Surrender or Suffer with Chronic Pain Management
I’ve been living with my chronic pain condition for over 26 years and still have periodic episodes of pain flare ups where I need to practice what I preach. Today is such a day. In this blog I want to discuss the importance of making peace or surrendering to a chronic pain condition. In essence I ask my patients to do what I found necessary for me to move on with my life—make my pain my friend.
When I share this many of my patients look at me like I’ve lost my mind and tell me so; sometimes using very strong language. But nevertheless it is the truth. I believe that an important part of effective chronic pain management is learning all you can about pain and how to intervene in an appropriate way that continually improves your quality of life. Whenever you are experiencing pain, it is always appropriate to ask: “What is my pain trying to tell me?” Remember, the pain is trying to tell you that something is wrong, that you should find out exactly what is wrong, and find a way to make it better.
Our pain system is a crucial component of our make up and essential to our ongoing survival. Could you imagine how bad it could get if we didn’t have pain receptors and kept putting ourselves in situations that could seriously damage our body? One example I like to use is to imagine that you’re in the kitchen talking on the phone and you put your hand down on a hot burner on the stove. Without pain receptors your first indication that something was wrong would be when you smelled meat cooking—and even worse if you’re a vegetarian.
Unfortunately, sometimes we can get to the point where if we aren’t careful we can start suffering. To learn more about the difference between pain and suffering you can read my article Pain Versus Suffering that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.
If you want to learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System please check out our website at www.addiction-free.com. To learn more about how to develop an effective chronic pain management plan please go to our Publications page and check out my book the Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide: Managing Pain and Medication in Recovery. To look for my upcoming trainings please go to our Calendar page.
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