When your pain hits peaks, what do you do?

@plum I think this is important for us to realize. When I take pain killers, rest, use an ice pack and have a drink, my anxiety goes down a lot! When anxiety goes down, the pain follows. I think sometimes we push ourselves through pain and act like everything is fine, going about our days but it is the very pressure to act like we are ok that creates tension and pain. Despite knowing you have TMS, you need to retreat and take care of yourself instead of pushing through the pain.

 

@Jeather " trying so hard to hide my discomfort from them and act normal" this basically sums it up!

 

Thank you for your responses... I guess I'm trying to figure out how to take it easy... and I know that's my job. The pain levels are so high especially when I try to lie down or sit, so I spend most of the day on my feet, leaning on furniture. Night brings only a few hours of broken sleep. And the cycle continues each day. Trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B. I try to hide my pain because my 16yo son is dealing with back pain and sciatica now too... I feel like mine will only aggravate his. We're in a rough spot.

 

@Jeather what helps me the most is to stop wishing to be somewhere else/feeling a different way. That puts me in the victim mode aka why me, why now, when will this end, noone should suffer this much etc. We could go on and on... If you are thinking this way it's detrimental. You need to accept that this is how it is for now but it is TEMPORARY. Just like you slipped into this dark tunnel, you will gradually see the light. But it will be very gradual!

On the other hand, it's time to stop pretending and act tough for someone else. I tried that for my fiance because he is so stressed out at work - I don't want to be a burden. But it never helped! It made everything worse and it just made me have more frequent bouts of crying. Put yourself first - it is really time to do just that!

 

Okay, lots of good things to think about here - thank you <3