Send in your entry for the “Write Something to Share” contest.  The deadline is May 31st.

One of my long-awaited goals for How to Cope with Pain has been to record the exercises I include on this website so you can listen to them directly.  Well, that day has come!  Yea!

Today the “Basic Relaxation Exercise” is available for you to listen to.  In the coming weeks, I’ll record all the exercises for you.  Enjoy!!!

Basic Relaxation Exercise Audio

More information about these exercises is available here.

 Send in your entry for the “Write Something to Share” contest.  The deadline is May 31st.

This is a guest post from Dr. Aaron Wolfson, who leads Rehabilitation Psychology Associates (RPA).  Dr. Wolfson is a lecensed psychologist who specializes in the unique needs of individuals with medical and physical challenges.

For those afflicted with chronic pain, leaving the house for therapy can be taxing on a good day and unbearable on another.  There is, however, a new technology that makes it possible for patients to login to interactive group sessions with a medical professional from the comfort of their own homes.

I have been selected by Powhow.com as their first wellness instructor because of my specilization in stress management and chronic pain treatment.

Powhow and I would like to offer you the opportunity to attend our first live webcam class free of charge.  Readers can sign up here.  Each class participant will receive a free 20 minute relaxation mp3.

Powhow allows participants to see and talk directly with their instructors and other students, so you can interact with your teachers and other members of the class in real time.  If you’d rather be anonymous, you can also watch the class without a webcam.

This is not pain management therapy or treatment, but an opportunity to share with you the experience I’ve gained from treating hundreds of patients suffering with chronic pain.

To learn more about Powhow, you can visit us at Powhow.com and Facebook.com/powhow.

It’s contest time!!!

We’ve had giving to others in February, gratitude in March, and fun in April.  So how about a contest for May?  Your contributions that you send to How to Cope with Pain are one of my favorite things to read.  And readers love to hear from each other.  So May will be “Write Something To Share” month.

Here are the guidelines:

1. Write something for How to Cope with Pain to share with other readers.  This can be anything related to pain that has NOT been published elsewhere (sorry, it can’t be a link to another website).  Topics can include:

• your own pain condition
• what you’ve learned from coping with pain
• what your best coping techniques are
• an inspirational quote, video or photo
• any format – an article, poem, photo, artwork, etc

2.  Send in your submission here.  Be sure to mark your submission “For the contest.”  You have 1 month – the deadline is Thursday, May 31.

3.  There will be 4 random winners, and I’ll publish all the submissions over the next few months.  You can send in as many submissions as you’d like.

4.  Winners will choose one of these prizes:

• a Glitzee Glee “Hope” vegetable-wax candle 
• a 1-year subscription to Fibromyalgia Coalition International’s magazine
• the book Paintracking (my review)
• the book Chocolate and Vicodin (my review)

Remember, the deadline is Thursday, May 31.  Good luck, and I look forward to your submissions!

This is a comment from Sandy that I wanted to share about doing something fun despite the barriers of pain and disability.

When I was diagnosed with RSD/CRPS, I thought I would never have fun or enjoy doing anything again.  I tried a lot of things (well, as much as one can do while sitting, often with one leg up).  I taught myself to knit, and I had pleasure from giving away hats to newborns and cancer patients.  I taught myself to digital scrapbook, and I had pleasure from being complemented and from making beautiful layouts.  I taught myself to scrapbook and to make cards – and every day that I sit down to play with paper and stamps, I can spend hours doing it.  I am distracted from the pain.  It still hurts for sure, but I’m focused on something else for a little while.  I am one of those that say – it’s going to hurt no matter what I do, so I might as well do something I enjoy.  I’ve learned quite a bit in the past 5 or so years, and one of them is that distraction is a wonderful pain management tool in my arsenal I have against pain!

Thanks, Sandy, for sharing how you include an enjoyable activity despite limitations.  In honor of Sandy, here is a link to a site about covering things in nature with knitting, called Yarn Bombing.  These pictures definitely will bring a smile!  If you’d like to share what activity you’re doing to add fun and enjoyment, despite pain, add it here.

From "YarnBombing.com"

This is a comment from Marty that I wanted to share about doing something fun despite the barriers of pain and disability.  Inspiring!

It is very challenging for me to have fun when I am sapped by the physical drain and emotional drain of chronic pain and disability.  I have some fun each day by listening to Pandora radio or my IPod and making up playlists of happy reggae or oldies music.  I dance lying on my bed moving any body part that I can move with limited pain that day.  Feeling the spirit of the music and moving, singing, and simulating piano play with that spirit  inside me shows me I am still capable of feeling joy in the midst of considerable discomfort.  I make it a point now to listen to at least an hour of music, resting, lying down each day.  My nourishment.  Marty

Thanks, Marty, for sharing how you include an enjoyable activity despite limitations.  In honor of Marty, I’ve included a link to a favorite reggae piece of mine for everyone to enjoy, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, as well as a list of 100 Best Reggae Songs.

Your first response to the title Paintracking might be, “Gee, I don’t want to track my pain.  I try to run the other way!”  But hold on.  What you’ll find is a wonderful book on creating your own plan for more comfort and better living.  My thanks to Deborah Barrett for writing this excellent resource!

Deborah developed pain when she was working on her PhD in Sociology at Stanford.  She experienced the common difficulty many of us have had to reach a diagnosis, which was finally fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndromes.  Although an answer to what was wrong was helpful, it still left her struggling to figure out how to handle her chronic pain.

This book is how she did just that.  Deborah shares her own story of how she both improved her pain and was able to live more fully.

Paintracking is divided into 2 main sections, “Pain-Treating” and “Pain-Living.”  Pain-Treating reviews issues such as:

• what health professionals will help you
• psychological skills to reduce and cope with pain
• ways to relax your body
• how to pace activities
• how to improve sleep

Pain-Living reviews issues such as:

• changes to make to your home to function better and easier
• suggestions for traveling
• changes to make to your work space and work life
• issues to address in relationships

The information reviewed in the book is comprehensive.  She gives specific guidance, including worksheets and charts.  This enables you to individualize the information provided in the book, and it encourages you to actively use the information.  The writing is clear, and Deborah is positive and encouraging.

I’d strongly recommend this book to newly diagnosed patients as an excellent guide to understanding chronic pain and living well despite it.  I also think that even patients who have dealt with pain for a while would learn something new and helpful in its pages.

My only small quibble with the book is its title, and phrases such as “pain-living,” which to me suggest too much of a focus on pain.  These could be turnoffs for potential readers who might otherwise really be helped.

I think what Deborah has created is instead a “living well” guide, one that I hope you read and work through.

Here’s a link to other excellent books I recommend.

In response to one of my posts last week sharing some of the pictures of flowers I did as part of my invitation to have fun every day, Jerry wrote:

“Looking at flowers does not stop the pain.”

 I wanted to share my response to Jerry and invite your comments too.

Jerry, you’re definitely right.  Doing something enjoyable – looking at my pictures of flowers, or my taking them – doesn’t change our underlying pain illnesses.  It doesn’t permanently stop chronic pain.

But that’s not the point in doing something enjoyable.

I do believe that doing something enjoyable can temporarily distract us from pain.  But that’s not all.

I also think there’s 2 general ways to improve situations – lessen the bad, or increase the good.  For many people with pain, there aren’t a lot of options to decrease pain, or they don’t work well.

However, doing something enjoyable can increase your mood.  You can have a good time with friends or family, despite pain.  Taking pictures gives me something pretty to look at in the future, and reminds me of a fun activity.  I feel better doing a positive activity.  Many people say, “I have pain whether I do something fun or not, so I might as well do the fun activity.”

Jerry, I’d invite you to try something fun each day for a week and reflect on the experience.  You may experience a benefit, or you may not.  But you could try.  Let us know!

Readers, what are your thoughts on this subject?

 Are you enjoying April’s challenge to have fun every day?

Soula, who writes at Pudendal Nerve, says that even though it’s difficult at times, she makes the most of “relief time” to have fun and release pain and frustration through blogging, drawing, and photography.  Here are a couple of her works.

“Birdcage” represents a sense of frustration.  Her dog ”makes me laugh.”  And she describes friends coming for a picnic as “a happy moment that still makes me feel that life is great.”

"Birdcage 02"

"This bath business kills me."

"Friends Coming for Lunch"

Thanks to Soula for sharing how she adds funs to every day.  Please let me know how you’re enjoying April’s invitation to do something fun every day so I can share it with others.

 Are you enjoying April’s challenge to have fun every day?

What are you doing for your daily dose of fun?  Here are some signs of Spring from my daily photography: