When Pain Seems Overwhelming

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of overcoming it." -Helen Keller

Pretty much all of us living with autoimmune diseases have to live with some kind of pain. For some of us, it may be consistent, for some of us it may be occasional, but we can find ways to manage our pain so that it doesn't manage our lives. The picture below was taken while Stacy and I (Becky) were traveling in England during our time in college. A friend that was on the trip with us took this picture, because as she said, "Aww! Look what cute sisters you are."

The truth wasn't so cute. Stacy was holding me, because at this moment, I was in such excruciating pain, I was blacking out, extremely nauseous (had just left the bathroom dry-heaving), and couldn't safely walk any farther. Stacy was the only person out of our group of about 20 travelers that had any idea there was anything wrong with me. We smiled for the picture 1) because everyone else was happy and excited, and I recognized that whining (legitimate as it might have been) was going to kill the mood for everyone 2) In spite of the pain, I was genuinely happy to be there. We had wanted to go to England most of our lives. The pain was going to temporarily slow me down, but it wasn't going to stop me from realizing my dream.

Hopefully, this is not a frequent situation for us, but more often than not, the people around us aren't going to have any idea of the pain we're going through. There are times when it's important to be vocal about our pain, so that we can get the help and care we need. That said, I think most of us would agree that if we moaned and groaned about every minute of pain we experienced, life would be one big whine fest. So what can we do?

We can find the treatments and techniques that help us manage our pain: whether it's yoga or yelling into our pillow; massage or meditation; acupuncture or acetaminophen. If you can't manage the pain with at-home treatments, consult your doctor for a pain management protocol that's right for you. Although the Dread Pirate Roberts might tell us, "Life is pain!," it doesn't mean we can't fight back with icepacks and ibuprofen.