Day 18 Pain moving but still severe.

[GemmaLeanne]

Day 18. Pain has started moving, still in my eyes but of course it is because I find myself wishing it was anywhere else in my body so my brain is doing its job I suppose.

Now one hour it can feel like a sandy burny feeling in both eyes and the next hour my left eye feels mostly normal and my right eye aches like I've been punched and it keeps flitting between the two like that. Trying to not be frustrated that it's not easing and just using this as further proof. When my left eye feels mostly normal I say to myself SEE it can't be structural or my left eye would still hurt.

One thing I wasn't sure on was that I have an 'avoidance technique' one that I've been using a lot and starting to think it might be hindering my recovery. If I eat, whether its a meal, chewing gum or sucking mints 90% of my pain is gone. Obviously we all want to be out of pain which is why we are here, but I'm finding I'm using this technique almost non stop because I simply can't bare the pain.
But if I'm not experiencing the pain there's no opportunity to prove to my brain it's not in danger? Or does it not matter?

 

[Cactusflower]

You are in the early stages of doing the work. A bit of distraction is OK, you’ll begin to get the feeling that you can manage just fine without needing to have distractions soon. Not necessarily because you have fewer symptoms, but you will attach less importance to the symptoms and feel you don’t need to avoid them. You’ll be ok by just letting them be.