Dealing with Chronic Pain

OMG! I can't believe how long it has been since I have written on this blog! I am so, so sorry! Believe me, it is not because nothing has been going on! So much has happened since my last post which was around my last foot surgery, about a year ago!

I have had a total knee replacement (I will post about that soon), another hydrodystension of my bladder, a blood transfusion, 4 Remikade infusions and I have been diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis and I may have Chron's disease (I have an endoscopy and colonoscopy planned in July).

Most recently I have started taking chronic pain management classes. I was taking two classes and one has already ended. The second class is an ten week course and I just finished up week seven! We have been working through a book called, Cognitive Therapy for Chronic Pain" by Beverly E. Thorn.

We have been learning about the connections between pain and stress and how to change our thought patterns to help us alleviate stress and pain. The class is taught by two incredible women who also deal with chronic pain, so they completely understand what we are going through. We have kind of developed a familial relationship amongst the group which makes it easy to relate to one another. One of the first things we discussed was how other people perceive us as "normal" because we may look "normal" while inside we may be suffering terribly physically and/or emotionally. It is so nice to know that you are not alone! If you are reading this and you are also suffering, please leave me a comment. YOU ARE NOT ALONE EITHER!

Every class we fill out a chart, to show what our current pain and stress levels are. We use a 0-10 scale for each feeling. The pain scale is...

0 No pain, no limitations (None)
.5 Barely noticeable pain
1-2 Pain is there but is low in intensity and is manageable; no observable
limitation (Mild)
3 Functionally disabling resulting in more breaks being required; slowed
work rates, slow/altered movements, lean on nearby surfaces, increased
limp (Moderate)
4 Between 3 and 5
5 Needing to stop the activity you are currently performing; unable to
maintain current body position; very restricted movements (Strong)
6 More painful than 5 but not yet a 7
7 Tearful, needing to lie down, needing to take extra medications,
difficulty engaging in conversation (Severe)
8 Between 7 and 10
9 Between 7 and 10 with more intensity than 8
10+ Immediate emergency hospitilization, unable to speak, icapacitated,
worst imaginable pain (Maximal)

The stress scale is called the SUDS scale (subjective units of distress)
It is also a 0-10 scale with 0 Completely Relaxed and 10 Panic Attack

I created magnets with each pain scale 0-10 on them. I gave them to each member in our class so that they could take them home and teach the scale to their friends and family. It is a visual aid for others to "see" how we are feeling, so that they might understand our reactions to things that are happening around us. If you would like a set of these magnets, please leave me a comment and/or email me ssauve7@aol.com so that I can get your address privately to get them to you. Please come back soon, and I will share more of what I have learned about managing chronic pain. Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by! Shellie