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 it.

Our reader is Professor S., who writes about a different goal – eating better:

I’m trying to eat better.  I didn’t really have a choice with a recent diabetes diagnosis.  That was my wake-up call.  I’m actually doing pretty well.  Blood glucose numbers are finally within a normal range for the past week, and I’ve lost 7 pounds.  I have 4 more weeks until my doctor visit, and she wanted me to lose 10 pounds.  So I’m pretty sure I’ll meet that goal.

What helps me is making lists and lists and more lists.  I can’t remember stuff if it’s not written down.  I use my lists on a daily basis and that’s what’s kept me on track.

What’s getting in the way of being successful with my habit was having an emergency tooth extraction.  So I couldn’t eat what I’d planned to eat.  It was challenging to make all new lists of safe foods that were mushy.  But I’ve been able to eat some regular food the past couple of days.

Another challenge was when I got a very bad cold.  I felt horrible and wanted nothing to eat but crackers and nothing to drink but coke.  But I never touched either one.  My partner had stuck all that junk food downstairs in the basement, where I wouldn’t have to look at it and he fixed my meals.

Thanks for writing this series.  I’ve enjoyed it and am learning a lot.

Professor S. is in the “action stage” of habit change (again, that’s trying new skills and figuring out what works and what doesn’t).  What Prof S. is doing well:

• It’s great to use a “wake-up call” to motivate yourself to make a needed change in habit.  Take advantage of the added outside push.
• Prof S has also chosen 2 specific, measurable goals – blood glucose numbers and weight.  It’s easier to know how you’re doing if your goals are specific.
• Begin to plan how you’re going to handle “off” days, emergencies, or when your motivation is low.
• Calling in your supports when you have a challenge is a wise choice.  Getting your partner involved and helping out means you’re not doing it alone.  If your supports know you’re working hard on a goal, they won’t (hopefully) set you back – like offering you banana cream pie.

Suggestions:

• Prof S. doesn’t say what kinds of lists.  While lists can be helpful, especially initially, the more your change becomes “automatic,” the easier it will be to keep on track.  How can eating better become automatic?  Don’t buy junk food.  Have a variety of good-for-you choices.  Re-route your ride home if you usually stop by McDonalds.  Changes such as these can make choosing healthy a decision you don’t have to think too hard about.
• Diabetes will probably be a life-long medical condition, so an ongoing challenge is how you stick with your new habit.  In addition to paying attention to numbers like weight, also pay attention to other things that might motivate you.  For example, how you feel and what you can do when you eat well and your blood sugar is in a good range.  Or put a picture of your kids or grandkids in the booklet you use to record blood sugars.  Knowing that if you take care of yourself, you’ll have more years to spend with them.  These are positive motivators, rather than just trying to hit a target number.
• Begin to keep track of when it’s hardest for you to eat well.  Then come up with some strategies to help yourself overcome those times.

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

Reminder:  Send in your submissions for our March Pain-Blog Carnival by this Friday, 3/20.