The External Factors of Pain
- Kim Bryan
- Aug 25, 2020
- 4 min read
I define what I call the "internal factors" of pain as things that are controllable. So, my daily medications and my spinal cord stimulator. They can be regulated, modified and there are quantifiable studies. The "external factors" are where things get muddy. To me, these are the psychological, nutritional, and random environmental things that cannot be regulated, and vary in extreme degrees from one person to the next.
Let's start with nutritional factors. I have tried SO many different diets to reduce pain: Atkins, South Beach, Isagenix, Arbonne, Vegetarian, Vegan, IIFIYM, Blood Type, DNA-based, Anti-inflammatory, and even just giving in to cravings to see if that meant something (it didn't). And, none of these helped. Some helped my clothes fit better or helped my stomach be more flat, but not with the pain.
For me, the ONE thing that affects my pain significantly is WATER intake. If I do not drink enough water, my pain rises. It might have to do with circulating my meds better throughout my system or just general wellness. I am currently subscribing to WW (formerly Weight Watchers) solely in an effort to get my BMI down after gaining 100 lbs since being injured. I've lost 25 lbs in a month, so it's working!
Some other factors that I have learned affect my pain are sleep and anxiety. I mention them both together, because they affect each other. Lack of sleep spikes my pain and anxiety spikes my pain. It forms a Catch-22 situation because then, as the pain gets worse, the sleep and anxiety also get worse. Working with a pain psychologist has helped me learn tools that help calm my mind and my body. He has helped me to identify thoughts that create emotion, which has helped me in a very profound way to gain control of my emotions. I wish I had learned that particular tool when I was twelve!
The weather affects my pain. Hot and cold both can elevate my pain in different ways. My body likes a nice temperate environment! Cold, rainy days gives my bones a deep, deep ache. Being in extreme heat without the ability to cool down wears hard on my body, as if I physically exerted myself for way too long, when all I did was sit in the heat.
My pain levels have been pretty decent lately. Waking up around a 4, then once I get out of bed around 5 or 6 for most days. This has been huge improvement from the steady 7-9 I have been sitting at for the last couple years. So why did I wake up at a 7 today? Why am I struggling to even move around the house? Why has it taken me 6 hours to fold a load of laundry?
My internal factors are steady. I haven't changed my programming lately. I have been charging daily. My meds are the same as always. It's the external factors. And that's what sucks because they are so effing hard to fix.
Today is Day 2 of Distance Learning with my kids. Let me start by saying that my kids have been amazing! They hardly need me at all. However, the anxiety of prepping for school on Sunday was growing strong. The sleep changes to help the kids get ready and logged in on time has messed with me. Nutritionally, I am still tracking and doing my thing. A few days ago, I sat outside for a few hours. I think that royally contributed to this flare. It needed a few days to recover and I didn't get to do that.
So here I am. Hurting. I have to tell myself that without the meds and without the spinal cord stimulator, I would be even worse off than I am right now. And that thought is comforting for a minute, until I need to move again.
Thankfully, my kids are being total rock stars at this distance learning thing and have needed me for a total of five minutes for both days. They are allowing my body to rest a little more and calm itself a little more.
Hopefully, by the weekend, I can seriously calm the pain down and start next week at a better level and get more done! I hate feeling so useless when I'm hurting.
It sucks because I don't look like I hurt. Not that I would ever want to look like this kind of pain. Oh, that would be horrible. It's just hard because friends and family don't see what I feel. They can't even begin to comprehend the levels I experience daily. And that's what will get me to push myself too far. I hate letting people down. I'm the person that said yes to everyone. And that itself is a stress that will escalate my pain.
Learning to say no is a hard skill for me to master. But if I have learned one thing through all of this, it's that my health is important. Not just for me, but for my family. I'm not being selfish by taking care of myself, so I examine my external factors and try to develop ways to limit their affect on my pain levels.
I feel like I should add: Please keep in mind that these external factors could help you, but they might not at all. Everyone responds so differently. It's always a good idea to check in with your doctor before changing anything that could affect your health.
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