According to the National Health Interview Survey, around eleven percent of all Americans suffer from chronic pain, putting the figure at around twenty-five million people. As a sufferer, you will already know that the experience of chronic pain is much different from that of acute pain, which is what most people will have at intervals throughout their lives. Dealing with chronic pain is difficult and can sometimes feel like an insurmountable task due to its persistence and the irritating why it doesn’t have a clear-cut cause, but there are things you can do and put in place to make coping with it an easier process. In this article, you will get some ideas of how you can start taking back control of your life and not letting pain rule over you.
Understanding chronic pain
The first thing you can do that will benefit you is to learn how to describe your chronic pain accurately. This, you may be thinking, is something you can already do but what you must remember is that people who have never had chronic pain will find it hard to understand just what you are going through and may underestimate your struggles or downplay your plight. If you are able to not only communicate your personal experience but are able to articulate some of the medical knowledge behind it, you will start to see those around you getting to grips with your illness faster. Being about to talk confidently about your chronic pain is vitally important so that those around you can offer meaningful support through understanding the full extent of the pain you are suffering from.
What can you do, starting today?
There are lots of tips on how to cope with pain on an everyday basis that can benefit you by not only offering a distraction from the pain but actual relief, in conjunction with any prescribed medication you may be on already. For example, learning how to meditate and do deep breathing exercises on a regular basis will decrease your stress levels which can contribute to the intensification of chronic pain. Another idea is to do some gentle exercise every day because the endorphins released will lessen the pain on a temporary basis.
Trying something different
Trying something new to help cope will help you find new methods to be able to combat pain management. One option is CBD oil, produced by manufacturers such as Highland Pharms. CBD oil is also known as Hemp oil and contains extracted cannabidiol that has been scientifically proven to reduce pain. Taken from the cannabis plant, CBD oil has proven to have a variety of positive out effects, such as reducing depression and anxiety and even helping with skin problems such as acne. A natural method of pain management such as this is worth a try as there are many testimonials that agree it has specifically helped with chronic pain.
Living with chronic pain is not easy but with the right coping methods can be manageable.