It is important not to let your pain own you or define you but it is equally important to understand limits and not put yourself in a position to aggravate your pain. I would love to be the “fun” grandma (the one who takes them to the Wild life center or to Boston, or even apple picking) but I just can’t. I am the Grandma who is the good cook and also teaches them to love reading; just different.
When I posted this question I did so with the intent of seeing what manner of non-pharmacological interventions people were employing. This interventions should be part of one’s pain plan and rarely, if ever its sole component.
The two issues concerning non-pharma interventions which are greatly troubling are 1) there are hundreds of pain syndromes under the umbrella of pain and not all interventions are appropriate for all pain (exercise increases my pain quite a bit) and not all interventions work for everyone (tried acupuncture-my pain actually got worse). 20 Financial issues are a huge one for many non-pharma interventions; either no insurance, or insurance will not pay at all or pay an insufficient amount. Massage really helps keep the amount of opioids I need down and about the largest gap is two weeks (please note this in addition to meditation, guided imagery, and warmth to the base of my skull These plus two non-opioid pain medications keep my opioid use low-a goal for any medication. My insurance does not pay for any non-pharma interventions and we have gotten into a very tight financial situation so I have had to change from every 4 weeks instead of every other week. This plus the added stress of the financial situation has increased my need for breakthrough medication). MaineCare (our Medicaid) doesn’t allow opioids unless you have “failed their non-pharma interventions and non-opioid medications (and then a board decides. Their choice of non-pharma is PT, osteopathic manipulation, and Cognitive therapy (only research done was on patients using opioids). Now not only do these interventions not work for everyone, the first two are limited to 6 visits a year. There is no provision for transportation either. To see the importance placed on non-pharma interventions by new guidelines is ignorant.
Please sill love to hear what you are using. The warmth at the base of the skull I came across accidently. Unfortunately it only helps while it is being applied but it can avert taking medication for break through. My daughter has found it helpful for headaches as well.
