Ways Chronic Pain Affects Your Morning Routine
People share how their morning routine is affected by living with chronic pain. It can affect routine by adding or removing extra steps, or making simple steps feel more complicated based on how they feel when they wake up. Here’s what a few people in The Mighty community said how their pain affects their routine.
Transcription:
Ways Chronic Pain Affects Your Morning Routine
1. Sleeping In
“I often sleep in late, because my sleep was so disrupted through the night. Or I was up with painsomnia.”
2. Taking Stock of Your Pain Levels
“Laying in bed awake for at least 10-20 minutes registering what my pain level is starting out at for the day. It’s like ‘what can I physically do next today.’”
3. Building in Time to Fully Wake Up
“Having to give your body extra time to just lay and exist and wake up before even getting out of bed. I often have to push past the pain to get to work at a reasonable hour.”
4. Waiting for Joints to Loosen Up
It takes a good few hours to unstiffen. I don’t hit the ground running, I hit it crawling.”
5. Staying in bed Until Your Meds Kick In
“Being unable to move out of bed until the morning pain relief has kicked in.”
6. Either Being Unable to Shower…
“I miss the joy of a refreshing shower. It’s a struggle to stand and wash off, dry and dress.”
7. … Or Having to Rest After Taking a Shower
“Showering takes a lot of energy and I usually go back to bed after taking a shower.”
8. Not Eating Breakfast
“Even though I know I have to, there are many mornings I let the pain win and just don’t eat.”
9. Taking Breaks While You’re Getting Ready
“I Have to get up early just to have extra time to sit around and adjust my body to being upright and extra time because the pain makes me move so slow.”
10. Not Brushing Your Hair
“It hurts to brush my hair during a pain flare.”
11. Moving Slowly Due to Pain
“Everything takes so much more time and effort. And I can’t always do the things I would like to, like styling hair and doing makeup.”
For people with chronic pain, mornings can be one of the most challenging times of the day.
Some folks might struggle through their morning routine due to pain, prioritizing only the tasks that absolutely have to get done.
No matter what your mornings look like, it is absolutely OK to spend those hours doing what you need to do for your health.
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