The Ways I Stay Active with Chronic Pain

Lifestyle

Jun 24

Oh the joys of being me. Let’s discuss pain. First off, I could write a thesis on pain. Maybe I will one day for a doctorate. I’ve been wanting to write about it again for awhile but after this past weekend, I’m back on it.

If you are just starting to follow me, welcome and you are way behind. 26 years in a high impact fitness world + a chronic disease eating my bones away have made for the perfect storm. I’ve had one spine surgery and several shots to stabilize my spine. I was also told that I would need one area corrected eventually so I’ve just been gambling with life I suppose. My neck is the worst but I’ve learned to manage somehow. Then came October last year and I moved wrong at work and I knew I was going to crap fast. Like, FASTTT. And voila, my lower back started hurting. My best friend, otherwise known as my Orthopedic doctor acted quickly and injected me and that worked wonders for about four days. I was supposed to go for an MRI in early February but with our wedding I pushed to March. Then the damned virus hit and I was pushed and pushed to June. Long story, I had an MRI this past Saturday. Three hours, one Xanax and two very rude technicians later, I made it.

Here’s the good part, my new general doctor called immediately. I knew it was serious that 1. She was calling so quick. 2. She couldn’t wait a day for our appointment. “Hey Molly. Soooooo, I’m not gonna lie. I’ve never seen this. You don’t have one bulging disk, you have four. And a tear. I have no idea how you are walking around. Plus you have a gigantic ovarian cyst.”

Bottom line friends- I win again for most awesomeness. You didn’t stand a chance friend.

It does explain and validate some things:

My water bill is valid. Skin melting hot baths are a real thing for pain.

Two plus hours a day on a heating pad requires a very nice one. Don’t buy the cheap one. #dontbeweak
My need to have my pain meds in my line of sight is real. Why isn’t my bag rattling? It better start rattling soon or I'm going to panic.
My need for seat warmers is serious. No seat warmers equals a stupid car.
No I won’t get back up. I just sat down and I’m 93 so get over yourself. #bettercometome
What would happen if I didn’t have superhuman core strength? No, seriously.
My pain scale equals your death scale. If you felt my pain for five minutes, you would poof into thin air. #dontbelikeme

Now that I’ve tooted my own horn for a while, I do feel a little better. Thank you for that. Here’s my secrets to living a life with pain in the hospitalization zone.

Be Careful

I mean extra careful. Move with intent at all times. Your days of flopping on the floor ended four shots ago. Always be thinking ten seconds ahead. I know, it sucks. One wrong move and it’s over so be careful.

Keep Yourself Strong

Work through the pain if you can. Now if your body demands that you stop, then you stop. But if you can push through, do it. Walk instead of run. Change up strength exercises to ones that you can manage. But always keep working somehow. Exercise on the couch if you have to. Just keep the areas around the pain as strong as you can. You’ll need the help from those muscles. Not gonna lie, I did core on the ground while on my heating pad a few days ago.

Give Into The Pain When Needed

If you are new to pain - bless you. If you are an old rookie - bless you too. Take some time to grieve and learn your pain. You will learn what works for you and what doesn’t. This type of activity might cause issues very fast or it might even cause issues hours later, either way dial into your body. Then when things get too much, it’s time to stop. So, give into it and allow yourself a chance to regroup and calm down. Whatever you are doing can wait a little bit. This part is the sucky part because your mental self wants to keep going but your body says otherwise. Unfortunately, the body wins every time. This is when you need to begin some heavy coping strategies for you.

Protect Yourself At All Costs

I call this protecting my energy. I have taught my family this strategy and they all follow my lead. (Most of the time.) Now I sugarcoat NOTHING so… if they don’t understand you and your pain AND you have communicated this very well to them directly and they still don’t support or protect you, then my friend you have an entirely different pain issue on your hands. My husband, my girls, the cat, my assistant, and my clients hear this a lot from me: “Today is not the day. I’ve had to step back and refocus.” I then refocus our discussions, our activities or whatever is happening. It doesn’t mean you have to tell the world what is happening, but it shows others that you are not doing this or that today and you will handle it at a later date. The key here is to handle it at the later date. Don’t wallow at the bottom for years, get back up and handle it. Just not at this moment.

Find Support

It can be a good book, a best friend, your family, your medical team, the cat, your garden, etc. Holding on to massive pain daily is a brutal mental game and you have to find a way to receive support. I’ve said many times that I would not surround myself with anyone that can’t understand me and I’ve built some fantastic things sticking to this strategy. If you can’t recognize me and that “something is wrong” then you aren’t allowed near me. I’ve lost some valuable staff members this way but they weren’t for me. I’ve lost some wonderful friends and partners as well. I’ve had people ask this, “can you just tell me when you are in pain so I’ll know.” My answer is always NO. If someone spends a ton of time around you and they can’t “see” that your attitude, demeanor, body, eyes, posture, etc. has changed, then they don’t care. Or they are focused on something else. Prime example is my former assistant and beloved friend, Greg. I wouldn’t even know I was reacting different yet or in pain and he would come out of nowhere to protect me. He stepped in with clients, staff members, classes and more. He would hand me reports that I had on my to-do list before I even made it past the first item. I asked him one day how he knew things so well and his response was priceless. He said, “I know you. I know your reactions and how fast you work. If you are struggling to type something, I know your hands are throbbing. When you walk in the office, I always look at your eyes too. I can tell instantly that you are fighting pain by the look in your eyes.” He left years ago and is finishing medical school this semester and I still miss him. That is what support is suppose to look like. I know your dying to hear about my husband aren’t you? Hee Hee. We work the same way. He doesn’t discuss my pain much but he just reacts when he needs to. Rarely do I have to ask him to step in, he just does. If I’m slower, he sees that. He “accidently” washes the dishes or is all the sudden “dying for take out.” We haven’t always been this way but it’s something that a chronic pain person just has to communicate to the ones closest to them.

If you suffer from chronic pain constantly or it comes in waves, I’m truly sorry and I hope this post has shown you that I understand. I do understand that is sucks and there is not one person that deserves it but it’s the journey that we have been given. We just have to find ways to keep going and for me that’s with my fitness and nutrition. Actually right now, 85% of my client base is dealing with chronic issues. I can also say this, they are thriving. Maybe it’s because they have gotten new tools to continue moving forward or maybe it’s because they know I understand and that takes some pressure off. Either way, we understand each other.

I wish you the best and as always, reach out if you need my support.

Love,

Molly

Hey there!

I’m Molly, a fitness and nutrition coach for busy professionals who want to gain back their energy, feel stronger, and fit into their old clothes again.

Coaching services