I have spent many years looking into natural ways to help me. We are all given the medications by the doctors but that doesn't necessarily mean that we don't have to look into other areas of our lifestyle, I know mine had to change a lot. I spent many weeks researching diet, exercise and coping mechanisms bringing them all together and trying to help myself in whatever way I could.
Now that I have a solid grasp on things that work and don't work for me I thought I would share them with you and today will look at coping/relaxation methods. I hope this helps some of you as it has helped me.
Anxiety and depression
These are two entities that I suffer with on and off and seem to come with the territory of a chronic illness. There are many reasons for this and I am sure I am not alone with the anxiety, so here is how I try to handle it.
Recognising the trigger is key...
We all suffer from stress at some point in our lives and it is true that without addressing the actual reason we are stressed it will build up and build up until it is no longer manageable. For me there is a general list of stressers that are fairly common;
- Work related stress
- Stress caused by constantly battling through the day
- Financial stress - who doesn't know this one?
- The inability to do things that I need to such as cleaning
- The current state of my home - when it is untidy I find this particularly difficult to live with
- Appointments, appointment making and the stress of actually going to them
I can cut down on my stress at work by simply telling someone I am snowed under; it may not solve the issue but having someone know there is an issue is the first part of the battle won. Financially, I can change my monthly budget, look at ways of saving more etc. There is a whole host of ways that I can tackle these practically to eliminate the stress from my life.
Meditation for anxiety, panic and the pain that comes with it.
For the stressers that I cannot eliminate myself, I have had to find coping mechanisms or else I will end up in a flare situation. So, I thought I would try something ancient, powerful and that millions of people have been using for years...the art of meditation.
Now, I first started out looking at the more traditional methods, but I didn't find that they worked 100% for me. So, I got a little creative and found my own way to meditate and hold the concentration...I have named it the story book meditation. I am an avid reader, never to be found without a book in my hand, it is so bad that I tend to get through a few books a week. As I was sitting there trying to transport myself elsewhere to give my mind and body a break, I kept seeing the characters from my favorite books...weird I know, but that is where my mind went. I mean, the whole point of meditation is that you take yourself away from your being for a period of time and ground yourself, which is exactly what I was doing.
When I feel stressed or anxious now here is what I do to calm down:
- Start off by simply focusing on breathing in an out...not thinking of anything but your chest rising and falling
- Once you feel yourself sinking into your chair, focus your mind on something...whether it is a forest you are walking through...or for me the beginning of one of my favorite books
- Immerse yourself within the surroundings. Hear the natural noises, smell the fresh air and touch the nearest tree, plant or interior. Use all your senses to become part of the visualisation
- If you begin to come back to reality, start the process again...breath in and out...
- When you are ready to come back, start to become aware of your physical surroundings again. Touch the chair you are sat in, listen to the noises outside. Come back slowly and at your own pace
- Finally, remember that you can meditate for as long as you need to, you can do it at any time of the day and it is especially effective if you have trouble sleeping
I am entering another period where my pain medications needs to be addressed...put simply they are just not working anymore. Even the codeine is not taking the edge off. This may well be because I am in the midst of a flare up, but it is seriously not helpful at all when I am lying there crying from the pain. Saturday night was a great example of this! Despite going to bed at 10pm I didn't get to sleep until 3.30am because I was literally writhing in agony. Every single bone and muscle in my body was either A. Throbbing/burning or B. Stabbing me with a hot poker. Up and down, up and down all night long! eventually I think I must have just passed out.
Sunday morning I woke up in the same pain and I had reached the limit of my patience so I started exploring natural pain relief options. Here is the outcome;
Distraction as relaxation
One of the hardest things for me is relaxing through the pain. I tense up all my muscles including my face which then brings on a headache and uses all of my energy. This is fruitless as it just doesn't help at all. So yesterday I started to look for distraction methods that may help me to get through the day. Now, TV was out of the question during the pain storm, I tried but could not focus for more than five minutes. So I headed for my next favorite thing...music.
When was the last time you lay there and listened to your favorite music for a morning? I don't remember the last time I did this. I picked music that I could sing along to as that distracted from the pain, so that is a useful tip, this is not background music it is almost a therapeutic karaoke session. Funnily enough, after a couple of songs it really started to work as I was transported somewhere else through the music, I knew I was in pain but it seemed somewhere off in the distance as my main aim was singing Janis Joplin at the top of my lungs!
Gentle movement and fresh air.
The music lasted as long as it could, it played its part for a couple of hours and although the pain was still there, I was happy which helped me to manage it. The next thing I wanted to try was moving the stiff and sore joints. The worry was would this make them better or worse? I simply didn't know, but I knew I could come back to my music if I needed too.
There is a very fine balance between pain and exercise. You can easily go over the top and bring on more pain, equally sometimes a small amount of exercise can lesson the pain and lift your mood. As I have experience of doing too much exercise, I am lucky (or not) to know my limits, so I decided to go for a slow and steady walk. I found a route on Google that was short, flat and easy to get along. It took me out in the sunshine which always boosts my mood, along a river that looked peaceful and got my joints moving gently.
The walk, the fresh air and the distraction were perfect methods for combating the pain. In fact I didn't feel ill until I got home again, which gave me a good break from it all.I would suggest if you are going to give this a go, then look for somewhere to go that is relaxing, offers plenty to see/do and somewhere for shade as us lupies shouldn't be sat in the sun.
Reach out during intense pain.
One of the best pain medication I have found is simply talking and being surrounded by love. It may sound ridiculous, but for me having others that understand helps me to fight on through. Social networks are chronic illness warriors best friends. I know for me, when I am too ill to get out of bed, I will reach out to others using Facebook. I cannot stress the importance of a support network, I would be lost without mine.
Even if you cannot see someone physically, simply telling someone who is going through the same thing that you are ill makes the experience a bit more bearable. There are so many support groups online that you should be able to find one that corresponds to your journey.
Equally, if you do have someone around, sitting and chatting about your pain can help you to visualise it and then kick its butt! Alternatively, talking to someone else about something other than pain can be relaxing in itself. You will be distracted from your fight, you can gather extra support and ultimately reconnect to someone else.
Other non medication based pain killers:
- Heat and cold...if the pain is muscular the heat is best, if it is infection based then cold is best. Heating up an infected area will increase blood flow and make the pain worse
- Cool flannels on the forehead for headaches
- Baths and showers for sore muscles and stiffness of joints
- Drink plenty of water for rehydration and to keep your body functioning normally
- Eat...a tattooist once advised me to eat grapes during a sitting for a tattoo. The distraction from the process of eating the grapes offered me break from the pain
I hope these tips help you guys to combat the tougher times and offer you both relaxation and respite.