All posts tagged: management chronic pain

Contributor: Easy Chronic Pain Remedies That Are Cheap and Effective

When chronic pain becomes a physical and a mental burden that is hard to overcome, you may be desperate to find a quick solution. What are some remedies to help temporarily ease chronic pain? Read to find out more. If you are suffering from chronic pain flare, it can be tough to find quick remedies. Most of the time, you want to stay in bed and call it a day. However, life does not always work that way. Sometimes we have to put on our capes and “save the day” despite the aches that run through our bodies. This is where some remedies for chronic pain can be effective. They may not be a permanent solution, but at least they can alleviate some discomfort during pain flares. Before looking over these remedies, it is important to understand what causes chronic pain for you to make sufficient lifestyle changes. Knowing the underlying cause of your chronic pain can be helpful in finding the best pain management solutions that will give you a better quality of life. …

5 Work-At-Home Businesses That Can Work Around Pain

We have a contribution today from the lovely Victoria Greene, a brand marketing consultant and freelance writer. Put your hands together!  *** People who suffer from chronic pain sometimes worry that they won’t be able to have a successful career. While this concern is understandable, it’s also something that can be overcome. There are lots of jobs you can do at home and in your own time. If you’re having a particularly difficult day, you can rest and save all of your energy for when you’re having a better day. You can fit your work around you and you won’t have to worry about commuting either. If you need to find a work solution like this, here are five work-from-home business ideas that could be ideal for you. 1. Writing Can you string a few words together with at least a modicum of cohesion and elegance? If so, you might just have what it takes to become a writer. There are a lot of opportunities out there for somebody to start working from home as …

BackerNation: Is Your Cell Phone Becoming a Pain in the Neck?

We have a guest blog today from BackerNation! *** Flashback to 1999. You get home from school, run to your bedroom while throwing your book bag down as you put on your comfy clothes and sit on your neatly made bed — thanks, Mom. Back then, having your own line, in your own room was the cool thing to have — along with instant messenger and maybe MySpace (who was your top eight?). You had to wait for your best friends to get home in order to three-way call and talk about how your crush winked at you as you got onto the bus. Photo via VisualHunt Flash forward to 2017. Everything is at the tip our fingertips (literally). We’ve replaced land lines with cell phones and phone calls with texting. We can order anything for next day delivery, Facebook Live or SnapChat fun times and call anyone, anywhere, anytime. The convenience factor of today’s technology is INSANE — and by insane, we mean insanely good. However, whenever someone says that something is too good …

The Quell Pain Relief Device: Entering the Third Year

Here we are again, folks. We’re entering the third year (since I can’t do math), and I am still using the Quell pain relief device (give or take two weeks when I forgot to wear it because my schedule was so disrupted that I forgot). Five bands, who knows how many electrodes — both normal and the new sport model, which I very much prefer in these extremely humid summer months — and two Quell models later, we’ve made it to this point. Well, I still like the Quell! At one point before I upgraded to the new model, I feared that either my pain was getting worse or I was becoming sensitized to the electric current. Turning it up didn’t help, but I still couldn’t go without wearing it for very long before I was overcome with pain. That has been my overall plan, you know. To eventually go without wearing it, trying to set myself to absolute zero to see what my pain really is. I’ve been throwing medication at my pain since …

Reworking Your Home Life to Minimize Chronic Pain

We have a lovely guest post from a new contributor, Jackie Waters, of Hyper-Tidy.com!  Living in constant pain can cause worry, stress, anxiety, and depression. You wonder if you’ll ever feel better or if you’ll keep feeling worse. It is possible to get your life back and get a handle on chronic pain. People who suffer from it can incorporate everyday, holistic changes to improve their quality of life and manage their pain. Lifestyle and Diet Mindfulness meditation is a way to effectively train your brain to turn down the volume on pain. According to The Huffington Post, “A typical meditation involves focusing on different parts of the body and simply observing with the mind’s eye what you find.” Doing this makes you aware of the connection between your mind and body; you observe painful sensations as they happen, and then let go of struggling with them. You may doubt the impact mindfulness meditation can have on chronic pain, but it has been shown to reduce it by 57 percent, and skillful meditators can reduce it by …

How to Get Work Done When You Have a Chronic Condition

Working while dealing with chronic pain is another task on the To-Do List (or so I keep trying to tell myself). I used to crank out work at such a high level, and now I feel so much slower, like I’m trudging uphill through molasses in January. What used to be a machine is now rusted, rickety, with nuts and bolts rattling and clinking down upon the floor. But things still need to get done. Jobs and projects require my attention, divided though my attention may be. How do I focus and get through my docket when my pain tries to pull me in so many directions? Here’s what’s on my docket these days (WARNING: COLLUSION!): day job with Enjuris, editing/writing side gigs, legal side gigs (gotta love this “Gig Economy“), writing a book with my father about his work, volunteering for the MetroWest Opera as a board member (and I need to do the annual taxes), volunteering for the Pain News Network as a columnist and a board member (gotta do some writing), and on top of all that, I …

Considerations Before Deciding to Work from Home

We’re getting back on a regular schedule, guys. In the meantime, one more post from a lovely writer who’s taking us in a new direction: working from home with a chronic condition! Here is a contribution from freelance writer Jenny Holt, please give her a warm welcome.  Do you find it increasingly difficult to commute to work every day due to your condition? Perhaps you even find that workplace stresses are making you feel worse. You may be considering working from home if you find that medical appointments are difficult to fit in around working hours. However, working from home is a big commitment, so it is worthwhile to consider the pros and cons before making such a decision. Reduces Pressure When you work remotely or freelance, there is a different kind of pressure. It is less overbearing because colleagues and bosses are more distant. However, deadlines are still there and even if these are flexible, work has to be done within a reasonable time limit or the client will look elsewhere. You are however, freer to set your own …

Got a Pain in the Neck? Incorporate These Stretches into Your Daily Routine

Hello, everyone! I have been swamped with work, so we have a guest post today from Megan Wilson of PainInjuryRelief.com. She brings us a lovely graphic dedicated to neck pain relief that you can use while at work or on the go! Stay tuned for more regular content soon. In the meantime, thank you, Megan! Living with chronic pain is a trying experience. It can impact each and every minute of your life, from your interactions with friends and family to sleep and mental health. So if there are things you can do to help relieve pain in one area, or to strengthen a part of the body to help compensate for pain elsewhere, then it’s a path to pursue. One area to focus on is the neck; we need our necks to do so much. We use them to work on our computers, to talk on our phones, to read. And neck pain affects so many people—up to 70 percent. Want to learn how to help your neck? This graphic can help.

Huffington Post: Personal Injury Lawyers: What I Learned From Being on Both Sides of the Aisle

Happy New Year, everyone! I can’t believe it’s 2017. We’ve finally closed the lid on the dumpster fire that was 2016, thank God. Now we can focus on bigger and better things. You know, like new writing ventures! (How’d you like my smooth transition there?) I wrote a new article for the Huffington Post about my experience as both an attorney and a personal injury client. Swing on over there to check it out if you feel so inclined! Click here for article!  

Pain News Network: Needling Away Pain

Sorry for my massively long absence, folks. Here’s my latest column for the Pain News Network!  One would think that encouraging inflammation is a bad idea, right? “Let’s stick you with needles, inject a dextrose solution, and create some new tissue. It’ll be great!” That’s what my dad has been saying since 2004. He had prolotherapy done for his low back in college, and it did wonders for him. I was extremely dubious. It sounded far too strange – injecting a sugar solution? Into my neck? I have very extensive injuries from two separate car accidents. To sum it up quickly, I have badly-healed thoracic fractures, bulging lumbar discs hitting nerves, and two cervical fusions that cause a lot of post-surgical pain. The idea of purposefully creating more inflammation sounded insane. But after my second fusion, when the pain started increasing no matter how dutifully it was treated, I decided to give it a try. Prolotherapy, or sclerosing injections, is still considered a bit radical, even though it’s been around since the 1930’s. The reason …