Living with chronic pain, nothing to be sad about it

 

Dear Bloggers,

 

As a seemingly healthy person in my mid-50s, most people don’t suspect that I am living with chronic pain. When I tell people about my condition, it feels like many still doubt that I’m serious or assume I’m exaggerating. But truthfully, like many with invisible conditions, I’m probably more likely to downplay the severity of my discomfort on the rare occasion that I do mention it. It’s the kind of thing that seems to make people uneasy: pain that’s frequent or constant, with no means to alleviate, even though I always wish the Paracetamol in my medicine cabinet would magically do the trick. 

How things came into my life?

My chronic pain started in my late teens and has been worsening for years. It’s localized most intensely in my joints hands, knees, feet and neck. Along with it are daily pain on some of my ribs and monthly inflammations of bursae. The cause of it all is the weight of my body, working on it, but the progress is not very fast if you cannot work out fully anymore as I ripped a couple of muscles through the years of existence and this is worsening my pain. 

Am I the only one?

No, There are many people that are dealing with chronic pain and many of them know how to hide it from the outside world and some of them are living right through the pain. Others like me need some treatment in pain relief and go to a specialist for advice and treatment. In other words, many millions of people around the world are dealing with invisible and ongoing pain. I’m far from alone in my experience. 

Diagnosis

Arthritis and inflammation is an important cause of joints pain. I wake up off and on throughout the night with shooting pain in legs knees and hands, my finger lives a life of their own. Every morning, my joints and fingers are stiff and painful, sending shockwaves of pain through from my whole body. In the beginning, I believed that it was all in my head. Doing dishes or walking for a long distance but also sitting in the same position can kill my day and make life completely miserable. Some days, I know as soon as I get out of bed that the combination of feeling sour and pain means I just won’t be able to sit at my computer and write a blog story on this day.

A good healthcare provider can help you find the root cause of the pain while treating it. This is particularly critical for younger people. Because it’s less common for chronic pain to appear at a young age, a medical issue can usually be uncovered and providers don’t want lifelong chronic pain to be the diagnosis if it doesn’t have to be. Although you have to request for it when you explain that this might save them a lot of money, it might help. In my case, the healthcare providers were giving up pretty quickly and diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia and gave me medication (Diclofenac it stops inflammation and I had it for more than 15 years) to ease the pain. Nowadays, they tend to be “even more aggressive in looking for the causes of pain,” prioritizing things like MRIs, CAT scans, and blood work. Well the source of my pain was visually apparent and was diagnosable by a Rheumatologist and a physical therapist, the learned me to accept my pain and live with it without any other medication then Paracetamol. Every case is different, so go and see your physician and talk things through, as more elusive causes require tests like those mentioned above. 

With older patients, these diagnostic tests are also fairly routine options, particularly if pain is persistent despite treatment or does not have a clear cause. However, there is often some pain to be expected during the normal aging process, so it’s more typical to see older patients with chronic pain issues or for the cause to be clear, such as mine Arthritis.

 

Causes

"Oftentimes there was physical trauma, emotional trauma, or chemical trauma that initiated the [pain] process” for patients.

 Other common causes of chronic pain can be: Inflammation, for example caused by arthritis or an Infection, such as an ear infection and also an illness, such as cancer, muscular dysfunction like spasm. Chronic repetitive motion like a frozen shoulder or autoimmune diseases, such as fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis.

However, this list does not cover every possible origin. There are a massive variety of causes, locations, and intensities of chronic pain conditions. This can make the nebulous condition hard to categorize or track. 

Treating it

The options for treating or reducing chronic pain are nearly as vast as the potential causes. This can often delay relief if the first treatment is ineffective. In my case, I was sent to physical therapy first and went for many months, but found no relief from this route other than a confirmation of cause, so I’m now exploring alternatives. Many physicians hesitate to prescribe opioid painkillers for chronic pain because of their addictive potential. However, non-opioid solutions can be effective.

Treatment options for chronic pain

Medication is far from the only possible solution. Other treatment options for chronic pain are Physical therapy, Acupuncture, Local electrical stimulation, Brain stimulation, Surgery, Chiropractic treatment in all of these cases you are the one that decides in the end.

The best cure for my personal situation is treatment with medication in the long run according to the Rheumatologist we should wait with it as long as we possibly can. As Meds can do more damage in some cases. I’ve tried some other pain-alleviating routes in the meantime (including physical therapy and some Zen course to get my life in balance.) and have been slowly investigating more options recently (like chiropractic treatment and acupuncture) but this is for the years to come. 

Ultimately, what works for each person may be one of these things, a combination of several, or something else altogether. Some people may get some relief from treatments like these, but need surgery or deeper medical intervention to fix the root condition causing the pain. 

For a lot of people, myself included, just being aware of the range of options for treatment, and the fact that so many other people are in a similar boat (be it one we can’t see), provides the first bit of relief.

Smile everyday it might give less negative feelings

 

The Old Sailor,

 

They call me an old sea dog.

Dear Bloggers,

As most of my readers will know that I have been a sailor for more than 13 years and yes I loved my job and my family was happy with what i was doing. Although the last period was pretty though as I developed fibromyalgia and a few years later I was diagnosed with diabetics what has fucked up my life even more. 

If you had three guesses you’d still never get my job. Not because that I don't look like a sailor, but because I look exactly like a sailor you’d think it must be something else. Yes I have the muscled, tattooed forearms, folded across my substantial torso; 

No I am not having the neatly-clipped, old sea dog approved, snow white beard and moustache; Yes my hairs are grey and clipped short as a navy short-cut and when I have one eye glaring and one partly closed looking towards the sun, like I am the captain on the bridge, and yes when I am on to it I have a voice like a foghorn, a voice so penetrating it could stop a polar bear, a bar fight, or maybe even both.

Passengers my friends, that’s your real bitch of a cargo,’ What they bring on to get something for free. ‘Metaphoric, you see. they’ll suck the juice right out of you.’ You just can snap your fingers, to demonstrate either the speed or the sound you’d make, I’m not sure. But all off sudden you are in a fully hazardous environment

 ‘Mind you, American passengers ‘ain’t such a walk in the park, neither. That was one time I was almost a letter home. There ‘ain’t any room for error in between when you’re embark and disembarking them. We were sailing with giant heart attack risks when it came down to it. You did your calculations right, though, you focused – and you’d make it through. And the living was good. Must’ve been. I did it 13 years or a bit more.’

Unfortunately I had to lose my sea legs until the day of today, though not through rum or cannon shot or a collision, as you might think, but by other, less exotic means.

‘Damn health bloody diabetics. Bloody’ useless,’ I would say, I am struggling to maintain my weight or to even get it down a couple of kilogrammes. You can see that I lost a great part of power on my arms. ‘Ask the wife, she’ll tell you. I’m not good for nothing no more but chumming overboard.’

My wife Trientsje oversees the whole situation, telling me to be quiet, putting all my medication and other necessaries neatly into the daily containers, making arrangements for the next few days, giving instructions and making notes in my cell phone.

‘Now don’t go upsetting anyone,’ she says, kissing him on the head. ‘They’re doing their best. Don’t go annoying anyone with your endless stories. And don’t forget your reading glasses.’ ‘No dear,’ and ‘Yes, dear.’ Then: ‘I tell yer what, mate. I’ve seen a typhoon chew up a ship and spit it out again in the Pacific Ocean, but I’d rather stand on the deck of that with nuthin’ but me thumb up me arse than get on the wrong side of my wife.’ 

I am leaving the house and go of to work. I am happy to do my new job on the commuter bus but I still miss the life at sea. The people that I have met out there are all special to me. Not that everyone is liking each other but to me they were like a family.

The Old Sailor,

Surviving the heatwave with Diabetes

Dear Bloggers,

When temperatures start to get out of control, so can you’re blood sugar can get out of control.. Both hot and cold weather extremes can harm your testing equipment and your medications and have a negative impact on your body’s ability to produce and use insulin.

Research shows that when it’s hot out, more people with diabetes end up in the ER and are hospitalized because of heat illness. The number of deaths in diabetes patients due to heat illness also increases in summer. Low temperatures can be an issue for people with diabetes as well.

But you don’t have to let the environment have the upper hand. Taking a few smart precautions can help you outsmart Mother Nature. Here are the adjustments to make depending on where you live and the weather forecast.

 

Managing the Summer Heat

Take these steps to keep your diabetes under control when the temperature soars:

Stay hydrated. “The problem is that in the heat, people tend to get dehydrated easily. When you’re dehydrated, you have higher concentrations of blood sugar because less blood flows through your kidneys. With less blood, your kidneys don’t work as efficiently to clear out any excess glucose (blood sugar) from your urine.” When it’s hot, be sure to drink plenty of water or sugar free beverages. Don’t wait until you are thirsty to replenish fluids.

Store your medications properly. High summer temps can affect your diabetes medications, glucose meter, and diabetes test strips. “When it’s hot out, it’s easy for insulin and other drugs to become degraded,” Be sure to store your medications properly out of the extreme heat. Never leave them in your car on a sweltering summer day, for instance. “It could get up to 50 degrees inside your car."

If you’re traveling, don’t forget to take your diabetes medicines with you. You may need to carry them in a cooler with an ice pack. Just be sure they’re not sitting directly on ice or the ice pack.

Stay out of the heat of the day. Exercise is an important part of diabetes management and blood sugar control. But you don’t want to be outside exercising during the hottest part of the day. “Get in your exercise first thing in the morning or once the sun goes down,”. Another option is to work out in an air-conditioned gym.

Know the signs of low blood sugar. Some of the symptoms of heat exhaustion are similar to those of low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. These include sweating, light-headedness, shakiness, and confusion. “You may think it’s the heat and not recognize that your blood sugar levels have fallen to dangerous lows,” Be aware of the warning signs of low blood sugar and keep some carbohydrates with you to eat if you need to raise your blood sugar. Have a plan for a medical emergency.

 

Test more often. You may need to test your blood sugar levels more frequently so that you can adjust your insulin and your diet as necessary. Talk with your diabetes educator about guidelines if you're unsure of the best schedule.

Mind your feet. People with type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes are susceptible to problems with their feet. In the summer you face the temptation to go barefoot or wear open sandals that expose your toes … to trouble. Always wear shoes that fit well, even in warmer months. And at the end of the day, check your feet for any cuts, scrapes, blisters, or bruises. Don’t ignore injuries to your feet. Get medical treatment right away.

Surviving the Winter

Freezing temps and inclement weather can make it more challenging to stay on top of your diabetes. Here’s what to watch for during the colder months:

Keep your supplies out of the cold. Just like extreme heat, extreme cold can affect your insulin and cause your glucose monitor to stop working. Don’t leave supplies in a car when temperatures outside are below freezing.

Do your best to avoid getting sick. When you’re sick, you’re stressed, and being under stress can raise your blood sugar. Also, when you don’t feel good, you’re likely to not eat properly. Wash your hands with soap and water often so that you don’t spread germs. “We recommend diabetes patients have a sick-day kit at home. Fill it with soup, sugar-free cough drops, tea things that will make you feel better and that you can access easily,”

Avoid packing on the pounds. Managing your  type 2 diabetes during the holiday season can be tricky. Many seasonal treats are loaded with carbohydrates that cause your blood sugar to rise. Plan your meals and pace your special treats so that you don’t greet spring a few pounds heavier. Even a small weight gain makes it more difficult to control your diabetes and blood sugar levels.

Keep an eye on your feet. Diabetes can cause a loss of feeling in your toes and feet. Protect them with the right winter footwear, especially in snow. Apply moisturizer to your feet to keep your skin healthy. Inspect them regularly, and if you notice an injury that doesn’t heal, seek medical attention. Don’t wait. Also important warm your hands. “If your hands are cold, you may have to warm them up to get a good blood sugar reading,” Wash them in warm water before testing.

Don’t skip your workouts. It can be hard to get motivated to exercise in winter. But exercise is an important part of diabetes blood sugar control. It helps if you dress in layers when you’re exercising outdoors in the cold. Or join a gym where you can work out indoors. Another option: Work in exercise at home by taking the stairs, lifting weights, and exercising to videos.

At this moment I have to deal with the summer heat and my type 2 diabetes

When the hottest days of summer hit, people with type 2 diabetes need to pay close attention to their condition. Here's how to savor the season without health worries.

Summer conjures up images of backyard barbecues, pools and beaches, street festivals, stargazing, and more. But summer heat can add to the problems faced by people living with type 2 diabetes. In fact, studies have shown that during a heat wave, emergency room use by people with diabetes increases. And while most people with diabetes are aware that extreme heat poses a danger, they may not always know when to take precautions..

If you have diabetes, the high heat and humidity of summer can be difficult for your body to manage. The problem with hot weather is the combination of temperature and humidity.

Elderly people are at particular risk, but people of all ages with diabetes should be aware of summertime dangers. These include dehydration, heat exhaustion, and foot problems.

Dehydration is your enemy

Everyone, regardless of their health status, should make sure they drink enough fluids during the summer. People with type 2 diabetes, however, face an additional challenge because when their blood sugar levels are too high, they may be passing more urine than usual which means they are losing fluids more quickly. Add sweating into the mix and you have a recipe for speedy fluid loss. Certain medications, such as metformin (Glucophage), also increase the risk of dehydration.

If you are out and about on a hot summer day, make sure you have enough of these beverages on hand to stay hydrated:

• Water or seltzer
• Sugar-free lemonade or other drinks

Also, avoid alcoholic drinks and caffeine. Alcohol and caffeinated drinks are usually okay in moderation but too much of either one can cause you to lose more fluids. And remember to bring along snacks in case your blood sugar drops.

Diabetes and Heat Exhaustion If you’re going to be outside, be alert to these symptoms of heat exhaustion:

• Dizziness
• Fainting or near-fainting
• Sweating to excess
• Muscle cramping
• Cold, clammy skin
• Headaches
• Rapid heartbeat

Check blood glucose levels often. Aim for checking four times each day and before you drive.

With the proper precautions, people with type 2 diabetes can get through the summer and enjoy summer activities with no worries.

The Old Sailor,