If you suffer from chronic pain, you know only too well that your mental health can suffer as a result of your physical ailments. It’s not necessarily the pain that gets you down, it is the constant and unending nature of it. Acute pain can hurt, but it eventually dissipates. Chronic pain is that ongoing niggle that doesn’t go away. You may have visited the doctor tens of times with an aching back, a nerve problem or a tingling spine, only to be given no diagnosis but a handful of ever increasing painkillers.
The threat of opiate addiction is ever present for those people who suffer with chronic pain and are searching for any resolution to the issue. However, there are other ways to help manage your pain for the benefit of your mental health.
Mindfulness
While it may have you imagining dreadlocked hippies and incense sticks, mindfulness is not the realm of young laid back bedsit dwelling like individuals. Mindfulness is a great way of reprogramming your thought processes. By enrolling in a course, you’ll learn breathing, focus and thought techniques that will enable you to stay in the present rather than worrying about the future. Mindfulness will also help you to stop worrying about your pain. While it may still be there, you won’t be focusing all of your energy on it. Implementing mindfulness techniques will stop the pain from hurting so much. Some people even suggest that this non-drug option is better than even the strongest of painkillers.
Do Something You Enjoy
The chances are that you might prefer to stay indoors and curl up in bed when your pain is particularly severe. However, if you can find the willpower to get up, have a shower and do something new that you’ve always wanted to have a go at, your mental health will be improved. This doesn’t mean that you have to put your body through ridiculous amounts of stress by training for a marathon or taking up weight lifting. Instead, focus on something to stimulate your mind. Perhaps you fancy learning a new language. Or maybe you want to take up an instrument. Or perhaps you are keen to test out your cake decorating skills. Enrich your life by adding new interests and your pain will feel more bearable.
Exercise
While this may sound counterintuitive, doing a spot of light exercise can improve your mental well being and lessen the pain that you are suffering. You might be keen to go for a gentle jog, take a short stroll to the park or have a go at some pilates. Whatever it is that you choose, consider taking a pal to make the activity more sociable. Light exercise can help you tone up, maintain your weight and release endorphins into your bloodstream. It is these happy hormones that can make you feel brighter and suppress the pain that you are feeling.
Positive mental health can help make chronic pain easier to cope with. Follow this guide and be proactive in managing your pain and well being.
*contributed post*
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