Top 3 Skills I Use To Manage Chronic Pain
After participating in the pain rehab program at Cleveland Clinic, I have a set of mind-body-skills I use to manage my pain everyday. These techniques took a great amount of practice to learn, but they have allowed me to manage my pain and return to daily life. The top 3 techniques I use are distraction, pacing, and acceptance.
Distraction is a skill I use very frequently. Always doing something, even if it does not take a great amount of energy, provides a distraction so I do not focus on pain. However, I first had to learn pacing in order to use distraction as a pain-management skill.
Pacing took a lot of practice for me to learn. Before my chronic pain disorder, I never had to take breaks and would do everything with 100% energy. After I was diagnosed with NDPH, I realized that a lack of pacing is causing more harm than good. I accept that I need to live my life differently and conserve my energy, so I take small breaks during the day by going for short walks, doing a 10 minute meditation, or doing low concentration activities like cooking or watching a movie.
Acceptance was the hardest pain-management skill for me to learn. For the first 2 years of having NDPH, my family and I were very focused on finding a cure. I was put through dozens of medication regimes that caused more harm than good. In the end, I had to accept that I need to focus on regaining my life by finding ways to cope with pain. Acceptance allowed me to acknowledge the condition I live with and move on by not letting pain control my life. I took a one year break from trying new medications so I could learn to cope with pain, and am now open to trying new medications with minimal side effects.
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