Taking control

Diagnosis and understanding your condition

We know that long term pain from a variety of causes affects at least 1 in 5 people. Sometimes there isn’t a test that gives us answers. Sometimes normal tests or treatments are not effective.  The medical model of treatment often doesn’t help with long term pain. This is when a more holistic approach is helpful.  

Learning more about your condition is often the first step and can help you take back control of your condition.

Understanding pain in less than 5 minutes

Watch this video explainer on understanding pain. 

How life changes with chronic pain  

Doing the same things differently or doing different things

Living with persistent pain can be very difficult. Pain can affect all areas of your life. It can make it harder to do everyday tasks, and over time you might notice that you are able to do less and less. You might not be able to do the things you used to do, including working, completing jobs around the house, engaging in hobbies or socialising. It might also affect your relationships with other people. Stress, worry, anxiety and tension can also become more of a problem, which in turn can make the pain feel worse. You might start to feel as if pain has taken over your life.

Chronic pain can become a vicious circle for some people.

Taking control means that instead of being a constant battle, life will become easier and you will feel that you are once again in the driving seat.

Acceptance and moving forwards

Acceptance

Acceptance is a difficult word for many people. It can make us think of giving up or allowing pain to take over our life. What we mean however, when we talk about acceptance, is about letting go of trying to get rid of pain. It is about learning and understanding how persistent pain works within your own body. It is about thinking about what is important to you in your life and working towards ways of having as many of these things in your life, alongside the pain.

Moving forwards 

Most of us have grown up with the understanding that pain is something that we need to get rid of. When we experience pain, we need to do something about it, whether that be resting or getting medical help. Unfortunately, persistent pain does not fit well with this way of thinking about pain. We know that persistent pain often does not mean that there is any on-going damage or harm in our bodies, even though it feels like it. In fact, persistent pain is often related to an increased sensitivity of the nervous system. We know once we have had pain for a while it is unlikely that this will simply go. 

What's important to me?

As we have seen, pain can get in the way of many activities in our lives. We might stop doing things because we are worried that they will make our pain worse. Or we might find that we no longer have time for things that are important to us because we are doing things that we hope will get rid of our pain instead. This can mean that over time your life feels like it has been taken over by pain. But doing things that are meaningful to us and which make us the people that we want to be, is important to our wellbeing and mental health. Spending time doing things that we really enjoy boosts our mood, and releases endorphins.

Sometimes, when we are living with pain, it can be hard to keep doing the things that we used to enjoy in exactly the way we used to. However, if we choose to, we can adapt the way we do things or find different ways of engaging in activities. We can still enjoy the things that matter to us. 

When facing chronic pain and considering self management it can be helpful to work out what’s most important to you.

Consider:

• What brings me joy in life?
• Are there activities that I used to enjoy that I no longer do?
• What would I like to do more of?
• Are there ways that I could perhaps adapt things that I used to do?

Where to find the right help

The importance of having a good relationship with your GP or other healthcare professionals cannot be exaggerated as their support is invaluable. However, equally important, if not more important, is to link in with people and services around you that can help you with all aspects of your life impacted by pain. This might be your physical and mental health but might also be help with other stressors that make your pain worse including financial, work or housing worries. How you get support really matters and it can be useful to identify your full support network. See also Communication in What’s right for you?