Fighting Pain-One Distraction At A Time

I have had psoriasis for over 50 years. My level of tolerance for pain on a scale of 1 through 25 would absolutely be 20. In other words I don’t like pain. I have had to deal with pain because of my psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis for years now. I can’t escape it or pretend it isn’t real. We know people’s tolerance levels are quite different. Pain is often described as an unpleasant sensation that can be mild, moderate or severe. I have had all three.

Coping with pain levels

I’ve experienced mild pain and I know what moderate pain is and believe it or not, severe pain has even showed up in my life. In addition to the physical pain, we go through in our bodies there is also the emotional pain which comes from experiences that may not have been so great in our lives. I know pain is a signal to let my body know that something just isn’t right. It’s like a warning going off.

I’ve been in so much pain that it has been unbelievable even to me. I know we all know the pain of carrying heavy grocery bags or heavy loads of laundry up steps, which can cause pain. Having psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis as a patient can be a pain filled life. What can I do?

Distraction from the pain

I look at pain now when it shows up as my distractor. If it has come to distract me, well guess what; I must distract it. I know I need to take my necessary treatments on time. I usually think to myself my distractor has showed up. I begin to use my brain to really refocus my pain. I do this by trying extra hard to focus on what I am doing at the moment. I could be working, exercising, eating or anything. I know pain is a big part of our nervous system. It also changes things in our bodies.

I once recall having a painful day with my arthritis and psoriasis and I noticed that my head began to hurt very badly. I felt like it was bursting open. I made a doctors appointment and was told my blood pressure was way up. My doctor told me that this was due to the pain in my body. I was told that the pain raises the blood pressure and heart rate.

Using my distraction plan has decreased my pain level some and has allowed me time to meditate. I have found this is an excellent way to deal with my situation.

Ruling over my pain

I’m trying to rule my pain. Of course this doesn’t always work, but the mind can be very powerful. I’m much happier to have come up with such a powerful way to deal with the ups and downs. Pain has so many disadvantages. If we allow pain to rule us we can find ourselves in the hospital with our blood pressure shooting up or other ailments.

My ultimate goal as a person with this disease is to get off of medications that I have allowed myself to get on over the years. I want to be as close as possible to a life free of unnecessary pain and medication free. This might be wishful thinking, but that is my goal. I want to be able to bend forward and backward without having to feel the pain in my joints yelling for me to stop.

I don’t want to deal with unwanted pain forever. I have pain in my legs, shoulders, back, knees and hips. I’m hoping to rule my pain and not let it be a ruler over me. As a psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patient, I’m fighting this one day at a time.

What are ways that you cope with pain?