Managing Chronic Pain: 10 Steps from Patient to Person
Making the journey from patient to person takes time. The isolation and fear that can overwhelm a person with chronic pain grows over time. And the return to a fuller, more rewarding life also takes time.
It’s a journey with many phases. The ACPA describes these phases as Ten Steps.
The ACPA’s Ten Steps For Moving From Patient To Person.
STEP 1: Accept the Pain
Learn all you can about your physical condition. Understand that there may be no current cure and accept that you will need to deal with the fact of pain in your life.
STEP 2: Get Involved
Take an active role in your own recovery. Follow your doctor's advice and ask what you can do to move from a passive role into one of partnership in your own health care.
STEP 3: Learn to Set Priorities
Look beyond your pain to the things that are important in your life. List the things that you would like to do. Setting priorities can help you find a starting point to lead you back into a more active life.
STEP 4: Set Realistic Goals
We all walk before we run. Set goals that are within your power to accomplish or break a larger goal down into manageable steps. And take time to enjoy your successes.
STEP 5: Know Your Basic Rights
We all have basic rights. Among these are the right to be treated with respect, to say no without guilt, to do less than humanly possible, to make mistakes, and to not need to justify your decisions, with words or pain.
STEP 6: Recognize Emotions
Our bodies and minds are one. Emotions directly affect physical well being. By acknowledging and dealing with your feelings, you can reduce stress and decrease the pain you feel.
STEP 7: Learn to Relax
Pain increases in times of stress. Relaxation exercises are one way of reclaiming control of your body. Deep breathing, visualization, and other relaxation techniques can help you to better manage the pain you live with.
STEP 8: Exercise
Most people with chronic pain fear exercise. But unused muscles feel more pain than toned flexible ones. With your doctor, identify a modest exercise program that you can do safely. As you build strength, your pain can decrease. You'll feel better about yourself, too.
STEP 9: See the Total Picture
As you learn to set priorities, reach goals, assert your basic rights, deal with your feelings, relax, and regain control of your body, you will see that pain does not need to be the center of your life. You can choose to focus on your abilities, not your disabilities. You will grow stronger in your belief that you can live a normal life in spite of chronic pain.
STEP 10: Reach Out
It is estimated that one person in three suffers with some form of chronic pain. Once you have begun to find ways to manage your chronic pain problem, reach out and share what you know. Living with chronic pain is an ongoing learning experience. We all support and learn from each other.
It’s a journey with many phases. The ACPA describes these phases as Ten Steps.
The ACPA’s Ten Steps For Moving From Patient To Person.
STEP 1: Accept the Pain
Learn all you can about your physical condition. Understand that there may be no current cure and accept that you will need to deal with the fact of pain in your life.
STEP 2: Get Involved
Take an active role in your own recovery. Follow your doctor's advice and ask what you can do to move from a passive role into one of partnership in your own health care.
STEP 3: Learn to Set Priorities
Look beyond your pain to the things that are important in your life. List the things that you would like to do. Setting priorities can help you find a starting point to lead you back into a more active life.
STEP 4: Set Realistic Goals
We all walk before we run. Set goals that are within your power to accomplish or break a larger goal down into manageable steps. And take time to enjoy your successes.
STEP 5: Know Your Basic Rights
We all have basic rights. Among these are the right to be treated with respect, to say no without guilt, to do less than humanly possible, to make mistakes, and to not need to justify your decisions, with words or pain.
STEP 6: Recognize Emotions
Our bodies and minds are one. Emotions directly affect physical well being. By acknowledging and dealing with your feelings, you can reduce stress and decrease the pain you feel.
STEP 7: Learn to Relax
Pain increases in times of stress. Relaxation exercises are one way of reclaiming control of your body. Deep breathing, visualization, and other relaxation techniques can help you to better manage the pain you live with.
STEP 8: Exercise
Most people with chronic pain fear exercise. But unused muscles feel more pain than toned flexible ones. With your doctor, identify a modest exercise program that you can do safely. As you build strength, your pain can decrease. You'll feel better about yourself, too.
STEP 9: See the Total Picture
As you learn to set priorities, reach goals, assert your basic rights, deal with your feelings, relax, and regain control of your body, you will see that pain does not need to be the center of your life. You can choose to focus on your abilities, not your disabilities. You will grow stronger in your belief that you can live a normal life in spite of chronic pain.
STEP 10: Reach Out
It is estimated that one person in three suffers with some form of chronic pain. Once you have begun to find ways to manage your chronic pain problem, reach out and share what you know. Living with chronic pain is an ongoing learning experience. We all support and learn from each other.
1 comments:
Patient to Patient, is my response to what you shared. In my opinion there are endless amounts of steps to take when you are the one suffering. There seems to be no end when you are the one suffering and no one can help you. My dear friend suffers from several physical ailments and I went with her to the doctor and all the doctor did was sit there and nod his head while she read off her list of problems. She was a smart patient bringing in a list because so many times, we the patients will forget more times than not and we walk away feeling even more miserable; however back to this doctor's visit. It just blew my mind that at no given time, did he tell her that she needs to see a specialist for certain health problems. If you hurt a bone, you are going to see an Orthopedist not a neurologist, right? Well that is what troubled me the most and if I have said it once, I will say it a thousand times, the health care system has become such a "money making business, that I am second guessing what doctors are saying and doing. When my husband was in the hospital, they charged him $5.00 for an asprin. I just feel for you and all of us who are not getting the medical care they need and as far as the ten listed comments you shared, having a support system is the primary factor for me and for those that get diagnosed, please always get a second opinion before you are loaded up with drugs to take, physical theray sessions to go to; it all costs money. Sadly, we have to protect ourselves from the men/women who wear the white coats and if you notice, many doctor's do not even do that anymore and it you notice the scrubs that the nurses wear, one might think there is a fashion contest going on. In one of my doctor's office, the nurses have to wear a different scrub everyday of the week so if Monday is purple day, all of the nurses have to wear their purple scrubs. Personally, I like the scrubs that have the hearts on them. Don't give up on the system that has failed you to date, keep at it. It can work and for those that use the lawyers who assist with Social Security Disability, please be careful because they too make lots of money from those that apply. Just be careful.
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