Saturday, January 26, 2008

Awoken by Pain

I am awoken by pain this morning. My pain is like a ball crammed into my right lower back muscles, a most unwelcome visitor. My pain is like a parasite that distracts my attention, sometimes limiting my ability to be present, or worse, shortening my fuse.

I try to not allow my pain to limit what I do, but I have to admit that it already has. Cross-country skiing? Forget it. Sitting comfortably for more than an hour? Generally not possible. Waking from sleep without discomfort? A rare occurrence. And even swimming, that form of exercise that seems the most low-impact? Aches nonetheless.

So what does one do with pain which seems to want to stick around and be a constant companion? I've tried ignoring it. I've tried catering to it. I've talked to it and rejected it. For now, it seems that I'll simply continue to try to live my life as if it weren't there.

4 comments:

am said...

Sending kind thoughts your way. I found:

http://www.koshtra.blogspot.com

to be helpful today.

Anonymous said...

Pain sucks, but the only way I've found to really help my pain is to accept it and love it as an injured part of myself that needs compassion, not to ignore it away. Sometimes the pain even disappears when I'm able to do this, other times it transforms from "pain" to a different sensation, something that is there and sometimes speaks, but isn't overwhelmingly "painful". Hard to describe what pain feels like when it's not feeling like pain anymore - we don't have those words in this language.

Otherwise, homeopathic remedies like arnica and hypericum can be helpful, to take the edge off, or sometimes even completely eliminate it.

BTW, some chemical exposures often trigger major pain and fibromyalgia flares, that go away when the exposures wear off.

Anonymous said...

I just read your cafe story, and I'm guessing the cafe had WiFi technology?

There's a lot of research how wireless technology is creating health problems including cancers, and people are becoming hypersensitive to electromagnetic fields and the levels of radiation that WiFi and cellphones emit.

It's possible that your pain could be triggered by these fields too.
see www.bioinitiative.org

Keith "Nurse Keith" Carlson, RN, BSN, NC-BC said...

Thanks for the comments. I have heard the Wifi theories, and I also relate to the notion of giving the pain compassion rather than ignoring it. My relationship with pain has now been ongoing for some time, and I have tried many approaches. Thanks to you, I will revisit the avenue of compassion once again.