Chronic Pain Treatment

QUESTION: Chronic pain treatment - Is relief possible?

ANSWER:

Those of us who struggle with chronic pain treatment wonder if relief is possible. I believe it is and I am living proof that you can get your pain under control.

Our minds have a lot to do with how we handle and process pain. If we focus on the pain in our bodies, it becomes more unmanageable. The trick is to focus our minds on something else entirely. When we are focused on something else, the pain seems to fall to the farthest recesses of our minds. This process takes a lot of work, a lot of retraining your mind on how to think. Our human nature wants to pay attention to that which is aching.

On the days when ibuprofen just can't take the edge off for me, I focus on my God, my family, my reading, and my work. I work hard to not let the pain be the winner. It's a lot attitude, a little medical.

Of course, there are other medical means to get our pain under control. I personally deal with spinal stenosis, scoliosis, herniated discs, and on and on. Back pain is unique in that it affects every part of your life. Everything is connected to your spine: your legs, your head, your arms, and pretty much every other appendage. I have had epidural steroid injections which worked for a little while. I have been on pain medication, which made me loopier than I already am, and I had major back surgery to aid in the relief of the pain. All worked to a degree, but also brought their own set of complications.

I have had surgeries to repair surgeries that were repairing surgeries. What I have come to realize through all of the trials I have been through, is that I need to thank God for the pain. When I feel pain, I know I am alive. Now, I would definitely love to be without pain, but I have come to accept it as part of my life that I must deal with while on earth. I look forward to the resurrected body I will receive when my Lord Jesus comes again.

I'd like to share with you a couple of the Scriptures I focus on while trying to take my mind off the pain.

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8). I meditate on this verse because it helps me to remember that when I am thinking about my pain, God is not focused on my pain. He cares about my pain, but He doesn't dwell on it. He wants me to use it to help others.

Another verse that brings me great comfort is found in 2 Corinthians 4:17: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us a glory that far outweighs them all." God is telling me that the pain I suffer on this earth, whether physical, mental, or emotional is achieving for me a glory in Heaven that is greater than the pain I bear here.

My God never ceases to amaze me. I thank Him for the doctors whose hands He guides. I thank Him for the love I feel from Him. I thank Him each day for the pain that shows me I am alive. Mostly, I thank Him for the gift of His Son that I may spend eternity with Him in the place He has prepared just for me.