Chronic Pain: Creating Calm in the Eye of the Storm

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by Jackie Waters

If you’ve just been diagnosed with chronic pain, you can count yourself among the millions around the world who live with the all-too-common health problem. And while many people use prescriptions, physical therapy, and other medical interventions to help manage symptoms, there are steps you can take on your own to help tackle chronic pain.

Here are some suggestions to get you started.

Dealing with the diagnosis

A variety of conditions, including back injuries, persistent headaches, joint damage, and fibromyalgia can cause chronic pain. Some are devastated by the diagnosis and the idea that their pain may never completely go away. What’s more, chronic pain can often lead to high levels of anxiety and depression, and anxiety and depression can also exacerbate pain. 

That’s why minding your mental and emotional health is just as important as managing the pain on a physical level. To address your mental well-being, the American Psychological Association recommends managing your stress by getting enough sleep, eating right, and taking part in approved physical activity. It’s also important to think positively about the progress you are making and seek support groups where you can share your struggles. Finally, you may want to speak to a mental health professional if you feel so overwhelmed by the physical and psychological aspects of your chronic pain that it holds you back from your daily routine. 

Managing Symptoms

Although it isn’t the easiest prescription for people with chronic pain, experts recommend staying active, because losing strength and flexibility can make matters worse. Exercise can also help improve your gut health, which can cause problems when bacteria gets out of balance. Start with gentle activities, like yoga, walking, or swimming, and split sessions up to make them more manageable. 

Incorporate massage and acupuncture treatments to help restore your overall health. Stretching, strength training, and everyday activities including gardening and house cleaning can also help reduce symptoms of chronic pain, according to Prevention Magazine. 

You should also track how you feel during exercise and other activities for a few weeks. Keeping an activity log and recording how much pain you felt during everything from a trip to the grocery store to a two-hour work session at your computer can help you make adjustments that help manage and minimize pain. For example, if sitting at a computer for extended periods of time causes your pain level to spike to an eight out of 10, consider taking periodic breaks to complete tasks that require some movement.   

Creating a Healthy Home Environment

Clearing clutter a little at a time can be an excellent way to break up sedentary stretches. A clutter-free environment also helps reduce stress and increase focus. And creating a serene space can be especially important if you want a place to practice yoga or meditation, which studies have shown can help deal with the effects of chronic pain.

As with any other activity, start slow when paring down possessions and cleaning. Donate or discard items you really don’t use and find homes for everything else so organizing will be easier going forward. Getting rid of unnecessary items might help you create a space dedicated to yoga, meditation, or other practices that help you manage pain. If that’s the case, consider introducing a plant or two, investing in an oil diffuser or other aromatherapy tools, and otherwise personalizing your reclaimed relaxation zone. 

While you’re organizing, pay special attention to your bedroom. A sound night’s sleep is critical to managing pain, but research shows people with cluttered sleeping spaces tend to have a hard time falling asleep and experience more sleep disturbances that study subjects with tidy bedrooms. So cleaning up your act can help you control chronic pain in more ways than one.

If your chronic pain symptoms are more severe, you may have to make some modifications around your home to limit your pain and keep you safe. These changes can include adding grab bars and handrails and securing carpeting. If you need more extensive adaptations, such as relocating your bedroom downstairs or a bathroom modification, these projects can be costly. Consider paying for this work through a cash out refinance from lenders like PennyMac. Before choosing to refinance, make sure you have enough equity in your home to make it worthwhile. 

So you don’t have to feel helpless and hopeless if you have a condition that causes persistent pain. Nor do you have to rely solely on doctors’ interventions to manage symptoms. Consider taking some of these steps to control chronic pain rather than letting it control you.