Not focusing on pain

How do you NOT focus on pain when it's constant? I had little to no pain for 3 or 4 days. It flared at night, would wake me up, I would take a little kratom and go back to sleep sort of. My days were SO much better and I went for bike rides with my husband. Last night I felt like I crashed - pain, fatigue, tired, could barely stay awake around 8 PM, and was cold. Took kratom before bed, more when I woke up, and have been in pain all day. I have been trying to figure out what the emotional trigger was yesterday but I am not sure.

I am on day 8 of the SEP by the way. Not sure if it's normal to have an increase in symptoms at this point.

 

It is normal to have flare ups, especially because you have started to dig for psychological causes, so your brain loves to throw you off track in order to protect you.
Keep up the good work!

 

Thank you. So if I take a painkiller, am I prolonging the agony by giving in? Is it best to push through and just keep telling my brain to stop?

 

I don't think taking a painkiller is 'giving in', it is just self care. You are on the right track, and as such your brain will try harder to keep you preoccupied with the pain. Stay indifferent to it and have patience and it will go.

 

Thank you

 

It's okay to take a pain killer if you need it! Eventually, you may find you don't even want to take them. I was taking a lot of acetaminophen, multiple tablets every day. Some of it was to stave off pain I assumed was coming, but then I was constantly in pain, so I felt I needed it. I realized yesterday that I haven't even thought of taking it in more than a week, even though I have had some flare-ups (I'm in the early stages of TMS recovery).

It sounds like you're going the right way. It can be scary and frustrating but just stick with it. You're doing great!