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When illness or injury causes pain, we often have our own tried and tested ways of managing it- from medication, to hot baths and rest, the steps we take to make ourselves feel better can be a reassuring routine that we know will bring a certain amount of relief.

But what happens if there is no end in sight to the pain? How do we approach it when there is a chance that it may be with us for a long time, perhaps even forever?

Although by no means easy, chronic pain management is possible; it requires a high level of mental strength as much as anything, but when incorporated into daily life, it can make the pain bearable.

Managing The Pain:

Make Sure You Are Correctly Medicated:

Of course, when you?re suffering from chronic pain, it?s of ultimate importance that you have regular contact with your doctor, to ensure that you?re on the right medication, and to allow your doctor to monitor and change your prescriptions as needed, to keep you as pain-free as possible.

Pain medication is more varied than you may think, and could include anti-depressants, steroids, or anti-seizure medication depending on your condition, so keep an open mind about what you will be prescribed. You may find that you and your doctor need to undertake several trial periods of different medications to find what works best for you.

Your doctor should always be happy to explore your options with you, so don?t settle if you feel that something is not quite right with your medication.

Meditate:

The art of meditation is hard to perfect, but incredibly useful for all areas of your health, from pain management to controlling stress-levels. It?s a practice that is now proven to be beneficial by medical research, so don?t dismiss it as new-age nonsense!

Meditating helps relax the body, both mentally and physically, and this is particularly valuable to pain management since relaxing muscles can ease the pain signals to the brain, and prevent further pain developing as a result of over-tensed muscles. Look for online tutorials for tips on how to meditate, and if that doesn?t work for you, classes are often very effective.

Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep:

Easier said than done when you have chronic pain issues, perhaps. But sleep is an incredibly healing process for the body that allows it to regenerate, relax and ?reset? the body to an optimal functioning state. Make sure you talk to your doctor about timing any medication to ensure you can sleep peacefully, and avoid any stimulants that will disrupt your body?s natural sleep patterns, like caffeine and alcohol.

Take Regular Exercise:

When you are in pain, the impulse can often be to rest, or lay immobile in bed; the last thing you want to imagine is putting your body under more strain. But research shows that regular, gentle exercise can actually dramatically improve one?s ability to manage pain, since it allows the muscles and joints to stay supple and relaxed.

In addition, exercising allows endorphins to be released into the bloodstream, which not only improves your mood and mental state, making you more equipped to deal with pain, but also acts as a pain-blocker, stopping some of the pain signals from reaching your brain.

Try To Keep Calm:

Stress is incredibly damaging to our health; not only does it raise blood pressure, but it floods our systems with cortisones that suppress the immune system. It makes us physically tense, which in itself can lead to further pain, and it can make us more sensitive to the pain signals that our nerves send to our brain. Although modern life is often a stressful balance of work and family, try to take some time for you, to be aware of your stress levels and to take steps to lower them. Yoga is a perfect antidote to stress, by providing a gentle exercise, and an element of self-awareness and meditation at the same time.

Talk To Others Going Through the Same Thing:

There is often nothing more comforting than knowing that you are not going through hard times alone; the internet is packed full of forums for people who are suffering from chronic pain, and who want to come together to talk about their experiences, about approaches to management that have or haven?t worked, and to support each other through life.

Try typing ?pain management forums? into your search engine, and get talking to others like you. If you can?t face that, then it may still be worth talking to a counselor, since half of the battle with pain management is dealing with the mental burden of your condition; techniques in how to keep you mentally strong will undoubtedly improve the physical pain.

Try Herbal Supplements That Provide Natural Pain-Killers:

Certain foods have wonderful pain relieving properties. These include ginger, tumeric, onions, carrots and cinnamon. Try and pack these into your diet wherever you can, but if you don?t like their flavour, look for herbal supplement that offer pain relief, since these will include many of the same ingredients.

Try To Have FUN!

One of the best things you can do to control your pain is to distract yourself from it. Focusing on your pain, although sometimes unavoidable, will only make you more sensitive to it. So try to fill up your time with activities that you find fun and absorbing- this will help to draw your attention away from the pain, and make it more bearable.