Hopefully you have gone through this website and learned ways to help you become pain-free, or at least lessen your pain. But do you worry about what may happen weeks or months from now? How do you maintain the progress you’re making? What happens when you’re confronted with a “difficult day”?
No doubt, you will have difficult days. And there may be times when you catch yourself reverting to old habits. No one is perfect. However, you can lessen the effects of these occasional setbacks by developing strategies that help keep you on course to an active and rewarding life.
The best advice for staying in control of your chronic pain is to regularly use the pain management strategies described in this website. The more you incorporate into your routine, the better chance you have of overcoming chronic pain.
1. Realistic goal setting. Select your areas of greatest concern, then set some specific, measurable and realistic goals to help you deal with those issues.
2. Monitor your progress. Seeing the accomplishments you’ve made can motivate you to continue your goals. Use chart or some way to display your progress.
3. Write yourself a contract. Making a personal commitment to improve your life will help you follow through with your plans.
4. Plan your day. When you specifically schedule time for something, such as exercise or dinning out, you’re more likely to do it. Also use “to-do” lists or notes on a calendar to remind you of your priorities.
5. Find social and emotional support. It is truly incredible how much better people feel when they perceive that others understand and care about their circumstances. You need support from others to keep you on track and to help you when you have difficult days. Accepting help from others isn’t a sign of weakness, nor does it mean that you’re failing. Consider joining a chronic pain support group.
RSD/CRPS- www.rsdhope.org6. Stay positive. List as many positive statements about yourself as you can and say them to yourself when you’re feeling discouraged or in danger of slipping back into some of your old patterns of unhealthful behavior.
7. Prepare for challenging situations. Make a list of situations that could cause setbacks to the positive lifestyles changes you’ve made. Whatever they are, prepare a response plan that you can refer to when needed.
8. Pat yourself on the back. Rewards are a great way to reinforce positive change. When you reach a goal, or successfully execute one of your pain strategies, treat yourself to something enjoyable.
This page was first published on May, 15th, 2008 and was last updated on May, 30th, 2008