Warning Signs (in relation to your Chronic pain/Illness) in Your Life-What are they?
Thank you once again for joining @Hiddengrace and Iin our group discussion on:
Knowing your Chronic Pain and illness in Relation to your Life.
We really enjoyed your company and feedback.
This week your homework challenge is to watch for warning signs when you are overdoing it or need to rest.
Let us know what your warning signs are,
what activity brought them on
and what you did this week to take care of yourself after you noticed them??
My warning signs are sudden, extreme fatigue, although that can be difficult to distinguish from the regular fatigue I have most of the time as well as sudden mood changes. They usually come 8-30 hours beforehand.
I'm struggling right now. I think as soon as most of my medication is out of my system I have an attack and it's hard to notice it right at the beginning due to other swelling.
Today I had a nap for about 2 hours - I guess that could have been my warning as 2 hours later I had an attack. I had eaten lunch (still difficult a week later) and was lying down, reading a book before the nap.
I was living up North, it was a lot colder where I originally was from. Between the cold temperatures, a lot of stress with relationships and work, and then I moved my entire apartment by myself (minus a couple pieces of furniture) walking up and down several flights of stairs. All of that just flattened me out> I became exhausted all the time. Pain started in my knees then my back and then all over. I also had a former shoulder injury which came back and hurt and worsening sleep issues along with PMS issues. What I did was try everything- doctors, holistic medicine, medications, supplements, physical therapy, massage, acupuncture, stretching/yoga, and finally working out (which was the hardest but helped the most- although I'm still in pain afterwards). Keeping a positive attitude is very important. I focus a lot on the pain- my mind can't get off of it. And that's the worst part. So it's challenging, but it's a combo of mind, body, and soul to get through it and at the end of the day, accepting, I'm going to be in pain.