Well I hope that everyone had a great Easter. We had a great time visiting with family and just relaxing. My pain wasn’t great however I didn’t let it stop me from having a really good time. My pain level in the last couple of days has become really bad. Yesterday my pain took a turn for the worse and I feel like my body has aged by fifty years. However life goes on right!! Keep fighting and keep positive!!

When I was trying to think about what I wanted to post about today I thought about something that my wife had mentioned the other night. She had mentioned that it was great to have me there at dinner knowing how hard it is for me with all the noise. If you suffer from CRPS then you know what I’m talking about when I say that it’s really hard to be around noisy situations or ones that create stress. A family gathering is right up there, with screaming kids and lots of people. It is never easy for me to go to a family gathering but they are important to me.

Sometimes pain can isolate us from others. It’s important not to let yourself become isolated to the point that you become depressed. I’m not saying that you don’t need time alone, but I am saying that you need to be social because its healthy for you. Today is one of those days, if I don’t spend some time on my own in a quite surroundings then things tend to get worse. The pain today is at a point where there seems to be no controlling it, and I just have to ride out the storm. Being in a quite surrounding is ok at a time like this. Your going to have days where you can’t seem to control the pain where you just need to be alone. Or in my case that’s where I really start asking God for help.

There are lots and lots of days that I find it challenging to get out and not let the pain consume me, because that’s what pain does. If you let it then pain will eat you alive. What do I mean by this? Its simple! What I mean is that you can either sit back and let the pain take over your life or you can get out and do things. I’m not saying that on a day like today I don’t need to take it easy. What I do mean however is that I have modified my life in ways that I can get out and be active with my disability. It might be something as simple as getting out and having coffee with a friend. I go out every week with a couple of friends for coffee. I really look forward to this and it gets me out and gets my mind off the pain.

It would be really easy for me to withdraw and become isolated if I wanted to as I go through this. However there are two choices that I can make when dealing with this pain. I can either sit at home and be in pain or I can make the best of a bad situation and go out with family and friends. I’m saying that regardless of your situation you can still get out and be active. It might mean that instead of going out for the hours with your friends that you only get together for an hour, but the important part is that your getting out and getting your mind off the pain.

Lots of us that suffer from CRPS think about our pain too much, and let it build and build until we can’t take it anymore. Before you know it you’ve become isolated from others and your headed in a downward spiral. What I’m saying is don’t let yourself get to that place. If your reading this and suffer from chronic pain then take a look at how it’s affecting your life. Are you becoming isolated from others? Are you spending a great deal of time on your own? Then ask yourself if everything is ok!!