So many new folks around lately raising questions of how to cope with Chronic Pain and work and daily living, many regulars raising the same questions.

Just thought I'd toss out my .02 cents worth.

Living life with Chronic Pain that lasts 24/7 and is usually caused by multiple illnesses, injuries, post-surgical issues is daunting, just the thought is daunting. Trying to figure out how to do things, normal every day things that "normies" tend to take for granted, caring for your child, cleaning your home, going to college or trying to keep a job. Just the thought of how to do these things when your body is constantly against you and causing you incessant pain for most people is just mind blowing. You can't just sit and write down a list at each attack to fix it or rationalize a plan of attack on the spot, over and over again, the brain tends to get bogged down when dealing with pain non-stop and the onslaught of multiple medications controlling different body systems.....and bogged down brains do not produce problem solving skills.

A very, very good friend and past Psychiatrist of mine gave me some advice that helped me to be able to live my life in spite of the pain that never stopped, the 30 odd surgeries that occurred over a 16 or so year span....I had the added fun of battling BiPolar Depression also and his advice worked well for both problems.

When living with a thing like Chronic Pain that affects every single thing you do each and every day it helps to look at it as a "way of life", an integrated part of your daily life, just like being blind, or living in Alaska or any one of a million other things that affect a person's daily life and creates a situation the requires a life adjustment. If you can acclimate yourself to the fact that the pain is there and it's not going anywhere and not try to constantly fight it, it lowers the Psychological reactions like Stress, Depression and Anxiety. Lowering your Psychological reactions help lower your pain.

Making a plan for how CP affects your daily life and what you need to do to treat it, manage it and get it to as stable a point as possible and weaving that plan into your daily existence helps you to handle your pain and keeps you in a "control" mode as opposed to constantly being in a "panic" mode trying to figure out how you'll do each thing each day with the pain. No you can't be prepared for every single flare or new issue that comes up, as it is with life there are surprises that we're never completely prepared for. But having your "normal CP" causing issues in mind and how you can minimize those with various modalities of therapies, medications, and coping skills worked out and looked at as j"this is my life", it helps keep things calmer and less landmines in the fields to worry about as you traverse your days.

Working out strategies ahead of time like how to handle joint pain each day, or knowing which weather patterns or seasonal allergens affect your migraines, or having food plans worked out in advance for stomach issues, etc. Treating your CP and the things that cause it as just part the life you live makes for more stability and less surprises and that's always a good thing.

The biggest part of achieving this is accepting that CP is a part of your life, it's a way of life and needs to be woven into the fabric of your days so that the life you have now can be the best that it can be.

Wishing the best to all of the many friends I've met here through the years and the new ones to be made.

Kat