Health care providers – Register for the RSDSA Annual conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, March 28.  “New Perspectives on CRPS: Research, Diagnosis and Treatment“

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Each Monday this series of articles will feature pain management techniques to help you decrease and cope with pain.  It’s your at-home pain management class!

Many readers have been participating in this series about changing habits, in particular, learning pain management techniques and using them regularly.  Today we’ll look at 1 reader’s experience and what we can all learn from her.

Our reader is Karin, who writes:

My pain is very tied to anxiety.  So one of the best habits I have gone in and out of for the past 6 months is practicing biofeedback, i.e. belly breathing, active relaxation, and hand-warming techniques with visualization.  Don’t ask me why, but my favorite visualization is someone pouring thick, very warm cream through my head, neck, down my shoulders, and into my back.   I also like to imagine the breath going to where it hurts and opening it up.

My goal has been practicing deep breathing every half-hour for a few moments.  I’m struggling, though, because when I’m very, very anxious and in pain, the last thing I want to do is to try relaxing!  So, I need to try and head this off at the pass by focusing even more on my breath when triggering events are happening around me.

Thanks for this – it keeps me mindful practicing these habits.

Karen is in the “action stage” of habit change, which is trying new skills and figuring out what works and what doesn’t.  What Karin is doing well:

• Karin has identified what makes her pain worse – worry.  This is common for many people.  So she’s on track in trying to figure out how to decrease anxiety, which will in turn make her more comfortable.
• She has a number of different relaxation techniques which she knows work well.  She’s also individualized her relaxation exercise – what a wonderful image of nice, warm cream spreading out.
• Practicing for just a few moments, but very regularly, is often good at preventing anxiety – nipping it in the bud before it builds up.  So focusing on her breath every 1/2 hour is great.
• Her goal is measurable – very specific and concrete – a few breaths every 1/2 hour.  Being specific about your goal will better help you succeed.

Suggestions:

• As anxiety seems to be an issue, Karin might experiment using images related more to relaxation than pain relief.  An example might be a lake of rough water gradually becoming calm.  Individualizing images is important, so they make sense to you.
• Karin’s right that using techniques at the start of anxiety will probably be more effective than waiting until she’s quite anxious.  She might work to identify what the “early warning signs of anxiety” are for her.  Shallow breathing?  Worrying about the future?  Biting nails?  Then practice noticing these signs and immediately use a relaxation technique.
• Her goal of a few moments of relaxation every 1/2 hour is good for maintaining relaxation.  For times she’s beginning to feel anxious or already quite anxious, taking longer might be needed.  Decide ahead of time what skill you’re going to use, then do, let’s say, 3-5 minutes of it.  This greater amount of time may be needed to bring anxiety back down.
• Karen can keep track over a few days or weeks of when she usually gets anxious and what causes it.  Then work backwards to prevent anxiety.  For example, if every Monday you notice more anxiety when you return to work after a weekend, think through what you might do to prevent this.  Brainstorm!  Might clearing your desk Friday make coming in Monday more peaceful?  Can you arrive 10 minutes earlier Monday morning to have time for warm tea?  If from 9am – 10am you hear all the problems that you need to tackle that week, can you shut your door from 10am – 10:30 to re-group and plan what needs to be handled first?  You get the idea… figure out what patterns you notice in your days and weeks, and address them creatively.

So that’s a look at how 1 reader is tackling changing habits.  You can share how you’re doing here, and I’ll choose a couple more readers’ experiences in a few weeks.  Thanks to Karin for contributing her experience!

Other articles in this series:

• How to change a habit, part 1
• How to change a habit, part 2
• Breathing exercises, part 1
• Relaxation exercise, part 1
• Breathing exercises, part 2
• Websites that help you stick with your new habit
• How are you doing with your new habit?
• Try 1/2 a habit
• Visualization
• Feedback on changing habits, part 1
• Feedback on changing habits, part 2
• Guided imagery, part 1
• Guided imagery, part 2
• Stress management, part 1
• Stress management, part 2