support

You are not alone!

All over the world millions of people suffer from chronic pain. Often this is also ‘unseen’ pain that makes people suffer in silence.

Chronic pain may be defined as pain that lasts beyond the usual course of the acute disease or expected time of healing. It may continue indefinitely. Pain that is not relieved despite appropriate treatment is referred to as intractable pain.

Chronic pain can occur for example through:

– Rheumatoid arthritis

– Neck & shoulder pain

– Headaches & migraines

– Cancer pain

– Fybromialgia 

And many many others.

Often people have pain without there being a diagnosis, which can be so frustrating

Acute pain can lead to chronic pain and this can lead to a series of physical and psychological changes in your life that can burden you even further. It is hard to adjust to these big changes.

Some examples of what can occur:

1. Wasting of muscles that are being used less and increasing loss of strength
2. Sleeping badly
3. Depression
4. Concentration problems’
5. Anxiety, fear
6. Bitterness

Therapy can’t take the pain away but it can help you deal with some of the side effects, and help you find a new balance in life.

Some social effects due to chronic pain can be:

1. Loss of money due to being unable to work or having to work less
2. Feeling like a burden on family and friends
3. Feeling less important

Here as well it is important to find a new balance. Pain doesn’t mean you are less of a person, continue to believe in yourself.

Please contact me to find out what I can do to support you.

Some of the above information comes from: Efic  Where you can find more information on chronic pain.

You can improve your quality of life!

I am not saying that we can take the pain away. But we can look at the way you interact with you pain. The way you view pain can make a big difference in your life. Living with pain can be a lonely road, yet you don’t have to do it alone. counselling/coaching offers you the following:

• Someone who will listen without judging
• Motivate you to keep going to work towards your goals
• Someone who will tell you on your dark days how far you have already come.
• Who will give you tools to work with to understand your body, learn to listen to your body
• Teach you how to stand up for yourself and set boundaries

It is important to be educated.

When you visit doctors it is important that you know your own body. You know what is normal for you and what is not. Some times you will even need to educate them and what better way to do this is to have evidence on paper.

It will also help you to get insights into your daily patterns.

Two great ways to do these are:

• A pain diary
• Using apps

We can use both these in therapy.

And depending on the devices that you use I will help you find useful apps to use. Some will work on laptops. Others on apple tablets/phones or android tablets/phones.

Below are two images of pain trackers I found online. With so many people building apps these days more and more are going to appear.

Some places I have found them:

Medhelp

NHS