Coping
Hurdling Painful Flare-ups
How do you stay calm when the pain is so great that it is just about ready to push you over the edge of sanity? The moment that you sense your pain is starting to intensify, here are a few suggestions that might help you hurdle your next flare-up and, hopefully, ease its impact.
- Schedule more sleeping time. Either go to bed earlier or arrange to sleep in. If you are having increased difficulties sleeping, you might call your physician's office for advice about medications that your doctor can prescribe to help in the short-term.
- Increase the number and length of relaxation breaks you take. In other words, treat your body with as much TLC as you can.
- Avoid confrontations and stress (both physically and emotionally). If possible, put family and work problems on the back burner. You can solve them, along with the world's woes, at some later date when you are feeling better. However, if a problem is beginning to fester inside of you, let it out. Talk to a spouse or friend whom you can trust. Some people find that venting their problems on paper helps them rationalize the situation and gain a better perspective on what is eating away at them.
- Ease up a bit on your weekly exercise routine (if you have one), but don’t totally abandon it because it will be too difficult to crank up the old routine again when you are feeling better.
- If you or a close friend/neighbor has a hot tub, try to spend some time relaxing in it each day. Otherwise, take frequent, long hot showers. Warm water can be soothing to painful muscles. Depending on your past experience, massages and other types of hands-on therapies may bring you relief as well.
- Try to engage in activities that help take your mind off the pain. Also try doing things that give you a sense of gratification; this type of positive reinforcement will help you be more optimistic about your future. Some people put things aside to do for rainy days; you might want to consider putting things aside for your painful days!
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