Most of the time I feel like I'm in an emotional/physical spiral! Before my back problems I was already diagnosed as bipolar. The pain makes my moods worse, which makes the pain worse...& so on! I've been feeling terrible most of the time lately.

oh absolutely!! we are complex beings. physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. and when one part of the 'being' hurts it affects the others.

i know that because i have chronic back pain, i tend to become irritable, etc. not an excuse, and i'm working on it...

feel exhausted all the time, sick of the pain all the time.
Chronic pain cycles are horrible, one minute your okay with the pain and the next minute it's tired of the pain and the next minute is what would i be doing if i wasnt in pain.

I understand exactly where you guys are coming from, I stay in pain from old injuries. Very arthritic all over. The older and colder the worse it gets.

I certainly feel you! It's so hard to be up in spirits if you can't get up off the couch! I'm certainly going through my rounds of depression, guilt, & stress and I blame it on the pain. If the pain wasn't there I wouldn't feel this way emotionally. It's such a rollercoaster!

I believe that so much of how we handle pain is mental. For example, if I am bored and watching tv with nothing of interest going on, pain is much more obvious. If I am at work and am really busy and distracted I handle it better. That goes for anything, a headache, back pain, whatever. So, if you are in a lot of pain and it gets to you, then your mental state degrades which makes you even more aware and more affected by the pain. It is a vicious cycle. Similar to how a car ride makes you have to pee cuz you're trapped and that's all you can think about. But if we are at work and really busy we could seriously have to pee for hours and still not go.

For me, sitting is the hardest, most painful thing to deal with. I often try to get up and do things just to literally get off my butt. The distraction helps, too. I will go clean the bathroom, do dishes, start laundry, whatever it takes to get me moving and distract me.

You aren't alone. Chronic pain can affect your sleep, which in turn leads to being tired, which in turn increases pain levels and a vicious cycle is born. (That is something along the lines of what my pain doc explained long ago. He really stresses sleep is a must)

The longer the cycle continues the more your emotional/mental state suffer.

there's even a commercial that goes "depression hurts" talks about the physical pain symptoms of anxiety and depression.

I go through this every day because of a disorder that causes pain and weakness,and I am tired of the pain but nothing can be done about it.Plus the fact that I wrecked my back in and auto accident and have pain from that also.I am constantly up tight or depressed about not having a job or being able to get one because of the disability.This is probably because I was(am)a work aholic.