Pain Management Programme Day 10
My tenth day has been and gone at the Pain Management Programme.
You can catch upon my PMP Days here:- Pain Management Programme
Today we had Deep Muscle Relaxation and also Circuit Training. I am writing this the next morning and have to say my leg has flared up again, so I know it is something within the Circuit Training, not the Deep Mindful Movements as I have been fine with after effects once I have participated in this.
So, let’s start at the beginning, tiredness has set in it seems always on the 2nd day of the course of each week, I am noticing a pattern.
I forgot to say that on Tuesday we found out that one of our fellow Pain Management Participants was no longer going to be attending the course. She was always suffering the worst I think out of all of us, the first week she had a flare up and wasn’t going to come in due to the amount of pain she was in. The clinic spoke to her and asked her to try and come in. Bear in mind also she lives a fair distance away and is also having to pay for taxis and sit in another flare up situation in the car. She did however struggle to come in for just an hour and spend some one on one time with one of the clinicians.
The second week she did not come in for the last day, due to another bad flare up and I guess her pain was just too bad to be able to make the long journey in. We found out that the Pain Management Staff had told her that it would be unsuitable for her to continue the programme due to the time she had not been able to attend.
As a group we found this very hard to take on board and was quite de-motivating. I think from our point of view, we felt that this person had made a great effort to come in and was suffering the worst, she had spent money and organised to be on this course. She had also bonded with us and having other people you get on with who also suffer is a ‘huge’ thing and very important to feel you have that supportive network. We felt that as it was the second week, not the first that she should have been encouraged and allowed to continue.
The thing is we are taught about flare ups what we should do when we have a flare up. That doesn’t include having to get in to a taxi and be in a situation that really isn’t conducive at that time to the amount of pain one is in. We had felt that the clinicians would have asked her in early perhaps to go over what was missed, which is also in her hand book and been Mindful about her journey. But maybe we are missing something, maybe there are other reasons that as participants we just don’t see, but it is sad nonetheless and we will kee in contact with her.
Moving on from this, it was about activity/exercise and explaining our pain today. We had to roleplay and pretend to be someone who exists around our pain and is present a lot and or something we felt needed to understand more about our pain. I chose my husband, it was a fairly surreal experience. I had to talk as him and say what I felt about ‘me’ and my pain, what I thought she would gain from the course and or had gained. It was an interesting experiment and useful to be ‘on the other side’.
We then spent time talking about the notes and how we felt we could then be ourselves to explain better our pain.
We went in to a group of three and ended up having an open discussion as to all our thoughts and processes on this.
We touched briefly on our Pain Menu, something I had not heard of before, the things that our personal to us that contribute towards our pain.
Then we moved on to exercise. It is important for us to take away some form of desire to be more mobile within our remit, taking in to consideration the boom and bust etc.
We looked at obstacles and how we could work around those.
One of the physios described a helpful FITT system, where within your exercise routine you have Frequency, Intensity, type and time. You can alter just one of those things within your exercise routine if needs be, however not two, because it is at that stage you boom and then bust and then as a consequence give up exercise, normally due to a bad flare up.
We talked about the Deep Muscle Relaxation, what we thought of it. I felt that I would like to take away a Mindful routine but felt that the current one offered was quite bitty, disjointed, perhaps something like a Thai Chi movement would be better as more flowing and easier to remain in the moment with it.
We also talked about Circuit Training, I do feel it has caused me more problems than good. They talked about whether we thought a one on one programme would have been better, we said yes, we are all different and it would have given us much much more confidence in what we were doing.
I will however take away from this perhaps having a routine at home, some of which Jane has given me already from my Gyrotonic and have a system going that I stick to regularly.
That brings me on to the need to make a timetable…..on my to do list!
Went home with tiredness beyond belief, then bed!
© Justine Nagaur
It's a lonely place 
I just joined twitter last night and because of it saw your tweet about the Pain Management program. I didn’t realize you were writing about your experiences! (And I’m so behind in looking at your, and everyone elses, blog!) I will read all of the pain management posts in the next few days!
awe yes, i am journalling every day and been so so tired inbeween hence have not had time to catch up on anything and been sleeping and digesting everythign that has been going on. Glad you might catch up on it, but it’s a lot of reading hehe x 12 days in all x
It will also be interesting!
just got my last day to write up x
Wow…. I have a lot of reading to do! I look forward to it.
haha yes if you want to lol x
I do!
What an interesting experience to “be” your husband! Did you share it with him? I’m sorry that person was not allowed to come back to the course, it does seem harsh on the organisers’ behalf but maybe you’re right and maybe they have their reasons. This is such a huge thing you are doing. Do you think it’s helping you? I feel like it is and I really hope that it is. X
awe thank you for your support. Yes it was really weird being him, especially as i dont like talking in public and i put on a voice to do it lol haha. Quite funny thinking back. I did share it with him, some of it, not quite all….coughs…or it might have stirred an argument lol. I do feel it has helped and now i feel odd about leaving as it has been a safe haven and have made friends. Sadly we dont live near each other which is a real bummer but we will all keep in contact x
It’s fantastic to make that kind of connection with people. So glad for you x.
thank you, I hope we all keep in touch 😀 And hey…well my far and wide traveller blogger buddy comes over not too far away hehe x
I know!! I’m excited
😀
Jussie, that was a kind of deep dive today. And your tired body showed that at the end of the day. Nevertheless very useful to go through it and try to see yourself from other’s eyes or what you think they perceive from your situation. I do like that they follow a holistic approach for this course, by addressing the body but also the mind and soul as necessary elements for achieving balance when living with chronic pain.
I am very proud of you even more every single day and wishing for better and painless days in your life.
PS. There are always two sides of a story and I suspect that this lady story’s might qualify for a second thought on her behavior, which you all don’t know well. So, keep cool as she is making her own choices. You all are in pain and made the effort, isn’t it? Focus on yourself for now. I know you have a generous heart though. xxx
ah yes focus on myself for sure, and i have been doing this, it does oddly make a difference though I am not used to it, saing to myself i wont get emotionally involved in other peoples behaviour, because I know what i want and where i want to be and who i wish to be 😀 yay xx haha