ChronicPain My Journey

When someone says disability what jumps to your mind? You may picture someone in a wheelchair, motorised cart, overweight , older?  Who knows however I imagine it could be along this line. Many adds we see these days use these types of people , so I don't blame people for jumping to these conclusions. I strongly feel a newer campaign needs to be started. I'd love to be the face of pain. Why.....well I'm youngish and whilst just glancing at me you can't always see my disability. Society needs a much more effective advertisement of  people living with invisible diseases. It can be impossible to know when looking at people, when they're young, in good shape and smiling. I've been in pain for so long now it's just become a part of my life. It definitely doesn't make things easy however I'm not going to walk around disheveled, in torn clothes, shoeless with a dark cloud over my head shouting "I'm in pain......ohhhhhhhh I'm in pain everyo

Pacing.....anyone with chronic pain will probably be sick of hearing it ,however it's one of the most important words when you have chronic pain. I've pulled back heaps since I got injured, and you know what I reckon I need to pull back even more. Having a routine is so important. Making sure you find the right balance of resting and moving about is crucial. For me a typical day looks like this: Wake up, put dishes away, take my meds, feed dogs , make my breakfast and rest. Normally starting to flare at this point so I turn on my heat blanket and chill. Next I get showered, dressed, put my make up on, this causes a flare up so rest time it is. Off to work I go.  I work part time hours. Work can be tricky however the mental stimulation and interaction is important. I have a mat at work where I stretch if I need to. Often I'll do reduced hours, get to work and not be able to finish however other times I do my best at pushing through. Listening to my body is the most

It's now been 4 years and 7 months that I've been living with chronic pain- complex pain syndrome.  My pain specialist, whom I'm so grateful for, even saw my change during my last visit just a couple of weeks ago. I get it now and have accepted my disability. It's nice to have something to feel proud of these days as I haven't felt proud of much since being injured.  I have a much better idea of what my limitations are and accept them. I'm proud of myself when I reach my 18 hours at work. I rarely achieve this goal however I have to remind myself I have chronic pain. For someone who has chronic pain 18 hours is full time. I work with the most incredible group of people. They accept and understand my limitations. We all help one another out. They make me smile, unload, laugh and learn. I'm happy that I have opportunity to grow in my role so am pretty excited about that. I'm looking forward to presenting seminars to the music teachers and review how the