How Distraction Can Be One of the Mightiest Pain Medicines
At the youthful age of 15, I quickly learned distraction was the #1 way to quietly tuck pain away into the drafty corners of my mind.
I had just had waist-down reconstruction surgery and had to come off the heavy painkillers sometime. It was excruciating, and I despised every second of the pain as I wheeled around in a wheelchair. The pain medicine kept things nice and fuzzy, and even if it made things hard to remember and I struggled to do school work because of them, I still wanted them to help me feel less pain.
As the medicine wore off and I was finally able to start using crutches, I realized I needed a new plan of attack to handle this situation. I tried a few different things, testing them out to see if they helped me handle the pain. I tried reading, movies, parties music. The common denominator was anything that kept me fully occupied. With a really good book I was able to pull myself away from the pain and drift off into incredible worlds of fantasy filled with heroines and dragons, castles and treasure. But if I found a boring book, it did nothing for me and it was just words that lost their sparkle as the pain came back into focus.
It’s the same with movies or TV shows. I would watch lots of them, one after the other to keep myself distracted. Add in some snacks and blankets with lots of pillows and I was set to be transported to another place. It was great! When people asked how they could help me feel less pain, I would say “distraction.” When I was asked what the secret was to surviving a painful surgery and pain that never quit: “distraction.”
I started throwing parties to distract myself even more. When playing host, I had to keep on top of how everyone was doing and so I could lose myself in their comfort. Making sure no one got left out and that there were plenty of yummy appetizers was my niche. It was my heaven.
Even now, all these years later, I still use those age-old tricks to keep myself more comfortable. I make sure I read books often so I can get sucked into them and my current situation drifts away. I struggled so much to learn how to read; if I only knew how much more of a treasure it would become, that struggle would have felt even more worth it.
Learning to transport myself to other worlds and lives with just the voice in my head is something I can’t find a replacement for, but when I am too exhausted to hold my Kindle or tap it so I can turn the page, I turn to my computer and TV shows or movies.
I have collected quite a few, and binge some show every night before I go to bed to relax myself enough to let my heavy medications take effect and cause me to black out. Even all these years later — almost 10 in fact — I can still see that distraction is the answer.
If you can find things that immerse you so much that you forget — even for a little while — that your pain is there, I believe it will do you good. It can help you when the time comes to learn to ignore the pain and push it aside in favor of daily living.
So give yourself a little break, take a breather from this world we live in and lose yourself happily in a little distraction. Your struggles can wait until that last page of a book or until the bad guy in the movie gets justice. Even the Mightiest of us all can always use a little slice of paradise.
Getty image by Vera Petrunina.
I have dealt with pain for 17-almost 18 years already, passing the half-my-life-with-pain mark now being 29. It started with me being born with twisted leg bones followed by discovering this at the age of 13 after pain in my knees from my twisted bones grinding on them. 2 years later I had waist down reconstruction surgery. The left surgery went well. The right surgery did NOT. Epidural didn’t work (later finding out it was because of my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) and my nerves were rewired from the extreme pain via my bones being broken and twisted to straighten them. I was diagnosed with Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome (AMPS) which was full body-extremely rare. I learned to ignore the pain so I could try and live a normal life, but it got so bad my hands no longer would work from the excruciating pain. I barely made it to graduation, failing my last quarter of school. Luckily my ranking was 4th so I still graduated with extreme pain and with help from others who had to write for me. Pretty quickly I was bed-bound and dreaming of hospitalization so I could have strong medication to ease my molecular deep ache. Severe Plantar Fasciitis kept me avoiding walking at many costs. Flash forward to 3 years later when I was miraculously healed over-night. I thought I was free and worked on gaining back all my muscles that were atrophied. But then my pain came back and began rising ever higher with many more complications taking over every bit of my body. I joined this site for freedom to express my struggle held deep inside for so long with a smile on my face and not even my family knowing what I went through. I never realized how glorious it was to be open and now I refuse to go back. My sense of peace demands to no longer have a fake smile on my face. I am now diagnosed with EDS, AMPS, Fibromyalgia, Hypothyroidism, Severe Insomnia, Asthma, Hypersomnia, Lymphedema, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, PTSD, Scoliosis, Sciatica, Bone and Shin Splints and recently promised that I will soon cross the line and be diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis. It is SO freeing to know that the reason for all of my pain is because of my many overlapping diagnoses. I am currently working on filing for disability and have lost my dream of Interior Design to keep me warm. Also dealing with blisters covering my scalp and making it ridiculously tender with serious GERD and acid reflux problems due to the EDS. Constantly focusing on not throwing up each second is my new normal. Swallowing 10 times per first swallow is becoming habit. Psoriasis and Eczema now are hitting me harder than ever. I walk like a 96yr old woman and hurt so much worse. Only recently did my new rheumatologist pinpoint my last pain diagnoses as being Spine Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis, and RA. At long last I have found a home health company that save me pain and energy by coming to my house for appointments. It is ingenious and such a blessing! My new PCP is a brilliant and knowledgeable woman who actually cares for her patients! She wants us to live our best lives and works hard for it to be so. Thanks to her I now also have a pain doctor who CARES and is not afraid to help his patients live their most pain-free lives!!! He is SUCH a gem like her! It almost 18 years to find these blessed doctors. The biggest lesson I have learned is that my happiness is vital and if I have a doctor that isn't measuring up, drop them ASAP! Life is too short to suffer at the hands of others-especially when we are paying them to supposedly help us! It isn't worth it but YOU ARE! Finally in a place in my life where the future looks bright and I am excited for the challenges, as I know my health loves to constantly cause more pain and troubles like my Major Depressive Disorder, Psychosis, and Anxiety. I have been given a VERY complicated and Unique body that I choose to have as I know it better than anyone else. It is mine and we will learn to become a team though it may take a lifetime. I will never give up. No matter what I will fight on! Just as I have these long years, savoring each moment and smiling at each thing that lifts my burden a little. Life should be cherished, no matter how pain-filled. And with The Mighty at my ruined and failing finger-tips, I will carefully walk into the world with my shoulders back, face to the sun, and hope in my heart with a wish to lift a few fellow down-trodden. We got this!!!!
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