Posted by:
popolvuh
(
)
Date: April 03, 2013 05:12PM
Nerve pain sucks you-fill-in-the-blank-with-the-grossest-thing-you-can-imagine. About 6 years ago I discovered I had a stenosis that pinches a nerve high up in my spine when I experienced the most terrifying pain of my life, had no use of my arm, and faced the prospect of risky surgery to scrape open the foramen. The pain eventually wore off but I spent a year doped up and with limited use of my arm and the whole thing could come back at any time. At some point I may have to decide on the surgery or just pain management.
I am currently experiencing a lesser sort of nerve pain that moves around my back/shoulder/ribs and have to go in this week to explore it further. I'm better prepared this time. Management for me now includes all and everything that works, mixing it up so I don't rely on just one thing. Drugs are a big part of that, and perhaps the most frustrating part because you constantly have to deal with skepticism and being treated like a junkie. Lorazepam, vicodin, naproxen, ganja, these all help in different ways and can be used without actually becoming a junkie, you just have to space them out so you have some on hand and can still get a refill on the prescriptions without being humiliated beyond your tolerance (you will still be humiliated and treated badly, but you want it to be as minimal as possible).
Massage, lots and lots of stretching and actual working out with weights, rolling on balls and foam tubes, movements of all kind seem to help me a lot. The pain is often worst when I am sitting, or reading, or laying in bed, and sometimes just walking (that really sucks as I do that all the time). Luckily the spouse has been to massage school and is pretty fantastic at it and always available and free:)
The whole interference thing works too, making sure that I'm actually concentrating on other things disperses the pain and puts it in the background, even though its still there. But to focus on it as the main thing on your mind will make you crazy, its just something to get used to and relegate firmly to the background. It is possible to adapt to a rather shocking amount of regular pain, but only with a sort of mindset that sternly places it as just among other sensory activations going on. Luckily, the body really does constantly get flooded with sensation and with meditation and concentration it does seem to be possible to focus on some of those other perceptions, which keeps pain it a manageable place.
It really does seem to be very individual, so just be patient with yourself as you work out a mangement strategy that is flexible and adaptive and allows for the rest of your life. And sometimes it also just helps to cry about it because it really sucks like almost nothing else. Good luck:)