Wednesday, September 23, 2009

How To Manage Pain

By Andrejs Levi

Irrespective of whether you're currently suffering from a severe illness or disability, or whether you're busy recovering from a serious injury, you'll no doubt have discovered to what extent pain can affect your life. Even though pain is an integral part of human existence in that it lets us know when something is wrong, it's still crucial that we learn how to cope with it. There is no getting away from the fact that pain management can be almost impossible to learn, but of course, learning to do so is essential. Irrespective of whether or not you're experiencing permanent pain or temporary pain, you need to know that there are in fact numerous things you can do in order to be able to cope with it.

The first thing that you need to do is to educate yourself on your pain. What is happening in your body when the pain occurs and why is this happening? Is there anything you can do to lessen it or to prevent it from happening? The more you know about the pain, the more in control of it you are going to be, and this can help immensely. Many people, even if they know the general cause of the pain, don't follow the question of what the pain means and why it is caused to its logical conclusion. Sometimes simply knowing what steps you can take to mitigate the pain can help a great deal.

When you are dealing with pain on a regular basis, it is important to form a cooperative relationship with your primary care physician. This person is someone who is going to be working with you to help make you well and to help make sure that you are going to be able move forward. Make sure that you discuss any medications that they suggest. The important part of learning to manage pain is understanding that your physician is going to help you, but that they cannot do it without your input. Take some time and make sure that you explain your situation to them and remember that you should always think about how the treatment that they are proposing will affect you.

Though we hear a lot of about the way that people who are in pain need to breathe, the truth is that this is something that you should take seriously. When you are in pain, there is a strong tendency for your body to seize up. If your body seizes up, you can feel as though you are short of breath and this in turn can lead to a panic response. When you start concentrating on your breath, you are bringing your body back under your control. This can go a long way towards helping you manage your pain and to getting through the worst of it. Concentrate on your breathing and remember to take it slowly.

One of the key things that you need to think about when you are looking at managing pain is that it is not going to get better overnight. Some people expect the pain go away immediately, whether they are healing a broken bone or dealing with a chronic issue and chances are good that it will not. Patience for yourself and for the condition is essential.

The best advice anyone could give you regarding pain management is that you take a little time out to consider how to manage it, and to what extent it can affect your life.

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