I was wondering if there are any tips & tricks for dealing with excruciating pain in one’s day to day life.
Earlier this year I had a major surgical procedure done and it involves a lot of postoperative maintenance. Without going into any detail, I have to pretty much fight my body’s healing process, and in recent months it has become extremely painful. At its worst it is a couple magnitudes more intense than a bad toothache, and often I’ll lay on my back with a pillow over my face so I can yell and scream.
I know I’m being a serious wimp because I hear about people all the time who give birth or break limbs or have chronic conditions, etc. I’m tired of snacking on vicodins all the time, and as soon as I can find work it’ll be necessary to put on a calm face the whole day anyway. Surely there are ways to deal with this kind of extreme hurt? Anyone here know of some good coping strategies?
Well, I haven’t passed a kidney stone, but two of my girlfriends say it’s worse than childbirth. I’ve been in some severe pain though and that vicodin stuff didn’t help.
I used to imagine allowing the waves of pain to exit my body through hands and feet - good old mind over matter stuff.
Sorry, I have no advice. (Fighting your body’s healing process made me go WTF? but I understand wanting to keep your medical stuff private.) Have you asked your doc?
Can you afford to get a massage, if it’s allowed post-surgery? That might help relax you, at least …
I am not a doctor, but I have heard that long-term use of painkillers like Vicodin can actually make things like back pain much, much worse. I’m told that the answer is actually getting OFF of Vicodin, most likely with the help of a medical professional.
Go speak with your pain management specialist. If you don’t have one, ask to be referred.
Sometimes you just need a better medication, and topups if you have breakthrough pain.
Also, don’t be afraid to take pain medication! I know some people are concerned that they will get addicted to it, but if you do have pain, then it’s perfectly okay to take the medication you were prescribed.
If you are in so much pain you scream from it, it sounds to me that you are either skimping on your pain relievers or you just aren’t using the right medication to treat it.
I do hope you get help, because no one should live with pain for that long
Not every painkiller works equally well for everyone. I had teeth yanked, was in a fair bit of pain for a couple of days on Vicodin and was reluctant to stop taking it because, my god, how much would this hurt WITHOUT it? The answer was “a heckuva lot less” when I switched to plain old vanilla Advil. Vicodin apparently does nothing for me except make me dopey.
I wouldn’t suggest you switch to Advil yourself not knowing anything about your medical issues but there’s no reason you should be screaming daily from the pain. Tell your doctors the pain medication regimen you’re on is not working, and ask if you can try something else.
A second or third cousin of mine was involved in an industrial accident which crushed his left leg and hip. He had a morphine pump to help with the excruciating pain during recovery and after wards for a time. He is no longer on the morphine pump, but still takes a decent amount of painkillers due to the damage he sustained and the accompanying pain. Each step of the pain management process was very controlled by his doctors and they found what worked and what didn’t work for him.
Following surgery to immobilize the ankle joint, I was left with severe nerve damage in my right foot. It’s not quite as bad as yours I’m guessing, but there is occasional screaming and yelling. Anything that puts pressure on my foot hurts, it kinda feels like walking on a sprained ankle. It hurts all the time, and gets worse the more I use it. I’ve had some really bad days, days spent looking up artificial feet & custom peg legs online
My doctor gives me Tramadol for it, which helps it from getting in the way when I need to go shopping or something, but doesn’t really get rid of it. The best thing I’ve found for it is distraction, total immersion in something you enjoy, like a video game or a book. When I’m deep in a gaming trance, or painting minis, or just too damn busy doing something to realize I’m in pain, that’s the only time I really don’t feel it.
I’m not afraid of taking pain medication, although I’m sure a person can become dependent on it. Mostly I don’t want to be full of painkillers all the time. My last GP prescribed me two meds, vicodin and tramadol, and I found they worked best if I only took one of them for a couple weeks or so and then switched to the other for a while. It felt like I was developing a tolerance to them.
Finding a pain center here does sound like a good idea, though it may have to wait. I’m out of work and can’t get a straight answer on whether I’m covered by the state insurance.
Mainly I’m hoping for ways to put the pain out of my mind or make it seem not bothersome.
Did this work well? How severe was the pain? I may try that, thanks for the suggestion!
Didn’t see your post until after submitting mine. I think I’ve noticed the same thing with not feeling pain while absorbed in something fun, though I wonder how effective it can be at high pain levels.
I read once that there are psychologists/therapists that specialize in pain management. I don’t know how you find one, but if you are going to a pain clinic or seeing a pain specialist, perhaps they can refer you. I mention it because it seems you are looking for a bio-feedback, mind over matter option beyond drugs. I’d look into this.
It’s very effective, the problem is getting there. I’ve had pain bad enough that I just couldn’t into a game deep enough to stop feeling it. Also, I get some kind of painful nerve twitch, feels like someone jamming a needle into foot but just for a few seconds. Even if I’ve managed to get past the normal background pain, one of those can drag me out of a game. That’s one of the things the tramadol, a fairly mild painkiller I’ve heard is available OTC in some countries, helps with. It doesn’t get rid of the pain, but it helps me not mind it, and it helps lower the threshold required to immerse myself in something.
Jon Kabat-Zinn has had good results with his pain program at UMass Medical. If insurance is an issue, you probably can’t go to UMass or one of his retreats, but his books might get you started on your own and give you back some control. If your pain is going to be chronic, this is probably something that will help at least a little in the long term.
I hope you feel better. Pain and fear of pain can really change your life.
I’ve battled migraine headaches in the past and now have a handle on them which was the end result of chasing down the cause and figuring out what worked.
In the ops case, finding a pain management doctor should be job 1. Get the pain under control and then seek a solution.
I spent 3 years with intermittent pain that was so bad the first two episodes ended up with me in ER. The worst part for me was the 2.9 years of not knowing why, or worse thinking we had figured it out only to have it return.
Since I’m fairly sure at least half the doctors I saw during this period thought it was all in my head they were pretty stingy with the pain killers so I developed a LOT of non drug related coping techniques. For me, alternating heat and cold worked fairly well. Oddly enough heat on one part of my body with cold on another worked very well. My pain was abdominal and a hot bath with a frozen face cloth over my forehead was one of the best ways of dealing with it.
I will second third and fourth the recommendation to find a pain management specialist and don’t stop until they have a solution that works for you. Being willing to focus on adding solutions to your tool kit that are not all drugs will help a lot too. Drugs are great for short term pain but as you’ve already found out your body very quickly finds a way to get a message through despite them. The other key is not waiting to feel the pain before you start dealing with it. Once it’s bad enough to feel, it’s a lot harder to get under control. The more ahead of the curve you can stay the better off you’ll be. Don’t talk yourself out of looking after yourself.
Good luck and I’m truly sorry. It’s a very hard thing to deal with and if it’s not visible you don’t get much sympathy for it
I shattered my heel 16 years ago. For the first 6 years or so I dealt with extreme pain on a daily basis. As in could barely walk at times.
Doctor refused to give me strong enough pain meds for what I experienced.
Two things helped me, the first was from a co-worker that had been in a horrible motorcycle accident that almost took his leg. He told me this Pain has two functions. When you are first injured, pain tells you to not do that so the body can heal. However when you are past that point, pain is a sign of weakness leaving the body. If you go to physical therapy, remember this and don’t forget the more it hurts in therapy the less it will hurt later.
Also what worked for me was a decision that I was not going to let pain run my life. I knew it hurt and hurt bad, but I was not going to let that limit what I did.
The refrain from the song Sunshine by Johnathon Edwards became my mantra when I was in pain. He can’t even run his own life, I’ll be damned if he’ll run mine.
Gradually I got better. I often go weeks without pain now.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel I promise.
Hi, I have been with chronic pain since a traffic accident in 1992 where a lady turned in front of me and rolled my truck 3 full rolls and my left foot slipped off clutch causing a LOT of permanent damage.
I now have “Plantar Fasciatis, Peroneal Tendon Sheath Syndrone, Metatarsalgia and now a Morton’s Neuroma”. Yes a mouth-full! I DO NOT TAKE MEDS from fear of addiction and also covering up pain to the point of doing more damage by re-injury.
I have on ocassions visited a “Healing Touch Therapist” and this was my God-Send! No drugs, No needles, just your Energy and His! Okay and maybe a little God involved too if you believe. Healing Touch Therapy usually doesn’t even have any contact, if you find a Healer with a strong energy this will help. A positive attitude is also a good thing.
This therapy is being used at Major Hospitals in the healing processes so it is worth trying at least once!
Try ANYTHING BEFORE MEDS!!!
When used appropriately, drugs are good. Stick with what’s been working even a little, while you try to find other solutions.
My mom does some meditation/self-hypnosis stuff with yoga. I wonder if that might help you with a non-medication route to work in tandem with meds if needed. She worked with a yogi one-on-one for a while in the 70’s, and learned these breathing/meditation methods that helped her through a lot of bad stuff back then. She was able to go through a series of spinal taps using these methods, and never needed sedation or felt pain. She uses the techniques sometimes today, too, but has never been able to teach me as well as the yogi did her, plus I haven’t really needed the help so haven’t been very motivated to learn.
So, I guess with all that, my suggestion if you can’t get in to see a Pain Management Specialist, is maybe you could seek out a yoga instructor who could see you one-on-one, perhaps for a reduced fee due to your circumstance. A really experienced yogi could probably get you hooked up in the community with herbalists and other alternative therapists who would want to help you through this!
