Pain Flair Tool Kit – How to Manage Your Most Painful Moments
When a person with chronic pain experiences a “pain flair” - a period where the pain is more severe than usual - the capacity to function is significantly decreased is and can feel very demoralizing. When you are so sick and unable to think clearly, it is easy to be ruminating in a downward spiral and become stuck in that hopeless state of mind, making your pain worse than it already is. It’s important to create a pain flair plan to remind yourself of what you can actually do to alleviate any amount of pain and help your emotional state. In the beginning of the year, I decided to go back to the Lifestyle Redesign Pain Management program at USC Occupational Therapy because my pain flairs were increasing. When I experience pain flairs, I could be in bed till 3 pm – 5 pm experiencing imbalance, migraines, difficulty breathing, and muscle spasms from my head all the way down to my foot without eating or drinking anything. Learning how to plan for my pain fla