Living in Chronic Pain part 2

After writing about living with chronic pain, I started thinking that there were so many other areas that this topic creeps into.

When you are in a lot of pain, sleep is generally an issue. When sleep is an issue, you are usually tired throughout the day. When you are feeling lethargic (and sometimes moody due to lack of sleep), you reach for unhealthy foods. When your diet becomes filled with too much unhealthy crap, you begin to feel guilty and kinda bad about yourself. Add to that, lack of sleep doesn’t usually make you pumped for the gym. Vicious cycle.

This aspect of pain is really getting to me now. I love going to the gym when I am feeling well (and a lot of times when I don’t). Working out makes me feel good about myself. It clears my head and helps me a tremendous amount, not only physically but emotionally too. More emotionally I think. Lately, I haven’t been getting more than a couple hours of sleep a night. My migraines are bad. I am not working out. I am reaching for unhealthy snacks because I need energy. I feel like a lazy bum and I HATE IT.

I wish I had some words of wisdom about this. But I just needed to get it out. I know how much reading some other peoples “rants” helps me to know I am not alone.

It does help me to break things down a little bit though. I know everything feeds off each other. If I could deal with my pain, I would sleep better. Or, if I could deal with sleep maybe my pain would be a little easier to manage. And once sleep and pain management is dealt with, the other things will fall into place. It is just getting there that is hard.

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  • http://www.heal-and-prosper.com Tita

    I feel you. I don’t sleep well during the week, and lately also during the weekend. I get up tired but have to go to work, so when I come home I am even more tired. In fact, I was so tired yesterday, that I felt like I couldn’t breathe fully. I don’t have the energy to get to the gym (which is a 10 minute walk) and I’ve gained weight and don’t feel good about it. I can’t wait for my week off from work in two weeks’ time to hopefully go to the gym and burn some calories. I always felt better after working out, but I must admit that I am slightly worried about how my body will take it. I am that sort of a person that likes to push myself to do more than the day before. :)

    All the best!

  • http://www.newyorkpaincare.com/conditions/chronic-pain-syndromes.html Samantha

    Its absolutely true! Huffington just published an article about pain and sleep: “Sleep and pain exist in a complicated relationship to one another. Pain — both chronic and acute — can interfere with sleep, making it harder to fall asleep and to stay asleep. Poor quality and insufficient sleep contribute to pain in several ways, decreasing tolerance for pain, increasing its intensity and discomfort, and in some cases raising the risk for the development of chronic-pain conditions.”

  • bart4u

    I know how you feel. I have had Crohns for 40 years now with three resections. Sleeping is a big issue for me. It is very hard to sleep when you are in pain or running to the bathroom all the time. I only sleep OK if my system is clear. Only eating one meal a day around 3:00PM. Meaning I am able to get the other days meal out of me before I sleep. I am always tired too. When I do have a few nice days I love to exercise and those days I can sleep better. If I take pain meds I tend to fall asleep soon but I usually wake up two hours later and It is hard for me to fall back asleep. It is a constant struggle dealing with Crohns that is for sure. Turning off the TV, Iphone and Ipad 30 min before bed is always recommended.

  • http://jrobinjrob.wordpress.com jrobinjrob

    Hey Marisa I nominated for a Liebster Award!!!

    • http://risaroo86.wordpress.com Marisa Lauren

      You’re the best Josh! Thank you so much!