The Pain Cave
How do you cope when chronic pain decides to pay you a visit? It can be such a powerful disruptor to normal life that it can easily throw your eating back into old habits.
I have had aches and pains since having my twins. I haven’t paid them much mind. Occasionally I’ll get a back spasm that lasted for a week or two. Sometime this spring, things changed. I developed worsened back pain with radiation in a sciatica distribution. I waited for it to get better. I tried the things that usually work. I took a break from running.
But guess what? It didn’t get better. It got worse. And it started to disrupt my sleep.
I spent days and nights in a pain cave. Where all I could think about was the pain and how to make it better. I felt resigned. I felt hopeless. I felt angry. But it didn’t matter. The pain stayed.
This is a new issue for me. I have developed skills for managing my eating in a lot of different scenarios but I have to tell you- this one tripped me up. There were many days where I just didn’t feel like I had the mental energy to care about my eating. Some of my eating habits started to slide and I could see old patterns returning. And you know what? There were weeks where I just didn’t care. All I wanted was relief.
Know That You Are Not Alone
If this is something you are dealing with. Know that you are not alone. Chronic pain sucks. And it isn’t fair that modern medicine has very limited management options to improve it.
Pain is isolating. It is limiting. Know that you are not alone in this.
Can’t Change the Pain…
After weeks of trying desperately to make the pain better, I realized that my focus on it was likely making it worse. I had to develop acceptance of the pain to be able to move forward. It doesn’t mean I’m happy about it, but fighting the fact that it was here was just making me exhausted.
I went back to square one and started watching my thoughts around the pain. Paying attention to which ones served me and which ones were making the situation worse.
I started making plans for how to get myself functioning better, not to get rid of the pain.
In this week’s podcast episode, I’m sharing my approach and how you could apply it to your life if pain influences your eating. Click below to listen.
Are You Struggling with Overeating Around Pain?
Coaching is a fantastic tool to help you not only lose weight but also build tools to manage your chronic pain. Book your free introductory session today to learn how you can find relief.
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