How can you develop a positive attitude despite living in chronic pain?

Here is a link to an article I wrote, hope you guys enjoy it.

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/393357_being-postive-when-our-head-is-pain-filled-how

If ya like it can ya please click on the like tap on the top. Thanks!

Boy, no one has said anything about my article, hope it was not too bad.

I was in chronic pain for about 5 years and strove to stay positive. I actually did better, psychologically, when I gave up on doctors.

I appreciate all the articles that are posted. Since I can't work very much right now and am mostly home I have a lot of projects going - mostly strewn all over the house! Always good to be reminded that even though we are sidelined that it is important to stay occupied.

Read it, liked it, and clicked "like" online. My mom read it via my facebook link and liked it, too.

I'm not much of a "real life" scrapbooker, but I have recently discovered online scrapbooking, and it has become a great new hobby of mine.

AZ, Scrapbooking is not very popular in England. What is online scrapbooking please?

Chrissypalgal,

It's a good article. I appreciate it. I think what you might be experiencing in lack of response is the fact that so many users of this site feel so awful so much of the time, that they can barely type out their thoughts at the moment. It's no reflection on your good writing.


Chris

Pen, I think it's also called digital scrapbooking, where you click and drag your digital photos on your computer into pre-set layouts and have the local photoshop print the pages of the scrapbook for you.

http://photo.walgreens.com/walgreens/photobookselect3/booksize=6x4/ordertype=PMB/bookType=PMB6

Example of a purse-size photo book above.

Thanks guys.

Thank you for the link AZ....

Staying positive is a double edged sword.

If you stay positive all the time, people don't believe your migraine is as bad as you say it is. Even though you might receive a psychological benefit, it seems (at least to me) it actually undermines the ability to receive support from family and friends.

Of course this could just be my situation...

Thanks for the write-up.

I think if you are able to keep a positive attitude, you are MORE likely to receive support from friends and relatives. People tend to shy away from someone who's in a dark mood. It's a downer. It's a lot more fun to help someone who is positive and friendly.

Immediate family may be different as they see you all the time regardless of your attitude. With limited emotional and time resources they might gage how much help you need based of the mood. But I think people who see you less often are attracted to the positive attitude.

I may be lucky - my wife says she can tell when I'm hurting regardless of my attitude. I tend, also, to hide pain but she can still tell and gets sympathetic when she knows I'm in severe pain.

@ 02r96

I think you are so right, I don't like myself when i am down so i try very hard to smile and stay up beat when i am in pain but then people look at me and have said well i did not know you were having such a hard time.

I agree Dan, I so often overdo the "I am fine" act, and I became so good at pretending that "I am fine", that I expose myself to lots of unncessary pain, and discomort.

Like today, sitting in big hall with fluorescent lighting, drinking instant coffee (guaranteed migraine trigger for me) pretending that I was fine, whilst I was barely able to sit straight with discomfort, my head buzzing more and more, the driving in darkness in new area.

No one would be able to tell how I felt just by looking at me - no one did. I am good at pretending. IT acts against me. I seldom get any sympathy or help, either.And when I do I protest...My fault, I know.

Yes, generally I try to stay positive and definitely make most of my good days, forgetting bad ones as soon as they are over. At times I get bad days when everything gets on top of me, but not nearly as much as I use to, when my migraines were much worse.

02R96 wrote:Staying positive is a double edged sword.

If you stay positive all the time, people don't believe your migraine is as bad as you say it is. Even though you might receive a psychological benefit, it seems (at least to me) it actually undermines the ability to receive support from family and friends.

Of course this could just be my situation...

Ya, that is a very important point. I think it also applies to your employers and how they treat you. It definitely is not just your situation, I agree 100%.

I know there are benefits to being positive, and when I am around people who know me well (and know all about my migraines) I try to be. I deal with what I can, and they know if I am asking for help with something I really need it...

... but people you don't know what well are a whole other matter. Especially when it comes to employers. Their outlook is simple, they want you at work. If it appears you can work, they think you should be at work. I find it a huge error to downplay the severity of migraines, or try to act like "it's all ok" when dealing with them.