If Pain Could Kill

If pain could kill…it’s a morbid title indeed. The truth is, pain does actually kill. Many people don’t learn how to deal with and manage their chronic pain and they give up. I named this post the way I did because my pain, among many other things in my life, took me to a very dark place a few years back. Since those very dark days, I have learned to manage my pain and make my life a little brighter. I am hoping to pass on information to help you do the same.

Back in those days, my pain was severe, and it was daily. I couldn’t sleep without waking up feeling like my hips had been in a vice grip all night. I had a hard time communicating my pain to people. People in my own family didn’t believe me, after all how could you be fine one minute and in pain the next, right? Thank you for that Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome…you made me doubt my own sanity. My daughter also suffers from bouts of pain because of Ehler’s Danlos. Just for a little visual, I gathered up all the braces we have used, and I am sure I missed some. For my daughter, there are knee braces…3 different types, a tennis elbow strap that was actually used to hold her tibiofibular joint in place, an ace bandage, of which we both have used many, a vacuum bell used to pull her sternum off her heart, and her current scoliosis brace. We shared the arm sling for various things. The belt is mine…it stabilizes my SI joint.

So how did I manage? How do WE manage? Well, I didn’t at first, I just got really good at hiding my pain. You’d be surprised how well a person can hide chronic pain. I started slipping into a depression, but I hid it well. People with depression are really good at making everyone around them think their lives are just fine. But deep inside, the pain, and other things in my life, were slowly killing me.

I did start exercising, but it wasn’t until I started weightlifting that my pain slowly started to improve. Muscle is very important in Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, it turns out, as the muscle helps to support the joints where the ligaments and tendons fail. With the lifting, my painful SI joint started to stabilize and I started having more pain free days. I started waking up with less hip pain. My terrible bulging and degenerating discs started to feel better and I started to have less attacks of sciatic pain. Now, when I say pain free days, that is a misleading statement because I am never ever totally pain free. I always have some level of pain, but I am used to the pain, and it is decreasing dramatically. My base level of pain is manageable.

Yes, I still have really bad days, although the time between bad days is getting longer and longer. I can deadlift like a beast one day and not hurt myself, and then turn wrong to shave my legs in the shower the next day and throw my back out in two seconds….true story! So I will go over how I manage the pain.

I really really don’t like to take medications, even ibuprofen. So when I have my back out, or tendonitis in my wrist, or my ankle is tweaked, or my shoulder hurts or my hips decide to feel like they are being squeezed by a giant, I need a way to help get me through it.

One of my favorite treatments is going to my Chiropractic Sports Physician and Chiropractic Extremity Practitioner, Nancy. This lady is a genius when it comes to getting my body back into tip top shape! She can adjust anything from my back to my toes and makes my body function like a well oiled machine. I feel like she puts Humpty Dumpty back together! She is in high demand and is booked solid, so she asked me not to advertise her. If you really want to see her, you will have to contact me privately for her information.

Next, I like to go to acupuncture. I see my friend at Turquoise Trail Acupuncture and Wellness. I have everything from straight up acupuncture to LED/ Near Infrared treatments, cupping and herbal supplementation. The treatments can really help when I am having a severe attack of pain. I also use her treatments to treat any illness that I don’t quite fight off with my positive thinking….not kidding, I will discuss this in a future post.

One of the things I try to do daily is hang on my Yogabody Yoga Swing. It is amazing to decompress the spine! I have included a picture below with a link to amazon if you are interested in purchasing it. I absolutely depend on mine daily! There is no better feeling than the instant relief from pressure being taken off your spine.

Nutrition is also important in managing pain. Keeping inflammation in the body down is an amazing way to ease any type of pain. I do this by eating a paleo diet and taking supplements. I take an athletic vitamin, vitamin D, fish oil, L-Arginine, and I spray magnesium oil on my skin every night. I also take extra vitamin C if I feel like I might be getting a bug.

I also like to use CBD cream. This stuff is amazing and feels oh so good on the skin! The one I get is THC free, but still works really well. I had one meet, shortly after I herniated a disc, that I only got through because of my CBD cream. That stuff is worth it’s weight in gold.

The big question is….do I rest when I have pain. Well, the answer to that is no, I don’t. I will adjust my workout to work around the pain. If I stopped working out every time I was in pain, well, I would never work out! So I just change things. Right now, for instance, I have tendonitis in my wrist. Doing curls with the easy curl bar really irritates it, so I do different bicep exercises instead. When I herniated my back disc, I didn’t stop deadlifting, I simply lowered the weight. I also stopped doing the regular leg press and started doing one where I lay flat on my back instead. You work through the pain, and around the pain. And I use my chiropractor and acupuncturist to keep me going.

I also try to not let my mind go to that dark place that my pain can take me. It’s lonely, and it makes me question my entire reason for living. I struggle to keep myself positive when I am having a bout of severe pain, but I do it. My workout partner also suffers from chronic back pain, and we work really hard to lift each others spirits, and keep each other from getting into a negative mind set. I have to stay positive……I feel I will fall off the cliff if I let myself get to close to the edge, and I fear not being able to survive the fall.

Some days, I have to give in and take something, so I take ibuprofen because I refuse to take anything else. I hate doing it, but sometimes I just have to, but I never take it for long, usually only one day. And if it’s nerve pain I am having, it doesn’t work anyway. Pain is something that is part of my life, but I am learning how to drastically decrease my pain. Some days I find myself forgetting about it completely at times. To me this is a major accomplishment, and I hope I can help you get to that happy place as well!