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Chronic PainArrow
Age 41-60
Interview CP36  

Interview CP36

Age at Interview: 42
Sex: Female
Background: Pensions administrator; married; 2 children.
Brief outline:Back pain since 1989 (in remission at time of interview). Treatment: Physiotherapy, ultrasound, mobilisation. Pain management: Outpatient NHS Pain management programme. Current medication: None. Past medication: ibuprofen, co-proxamol, diazepam.


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Female
Learnt, on a pain management programme, how negative thoughts and stress affect her pain and was surprised when relaxation helped.

 



The Pain Management Programme also sort of covered, sort of physical fitness and I hadn't realised how unfit I had become and how shortened many of my muscles were. You know, my hamstrings had shortened dreadfully and I still have problems with that.  

But it certainly put me on the right track, and I also hadn't realised the affect that my thoughts had on my pain, you know the sort of negative thoughts and the tensing and, you know, it was explained to us about the, the build up adrenaline when you're almost in panic mode about this pain and the symptoms of the build up of adrenaline, you know the sort of almost breaking into a sweat and being quite shaky etc...  

I mean, I had experienced that, but not quite worked out what it was. And it was actually just comforting to find the reasoning behind some of the sort of symptoms that I had and some of the things that had happened me. It was actually just quite nice to find out, well there's a logical explanation as to why that's happening, and I can actually do something about that.  

I know that a lot of the Pain Management Programme as well was based around relaxation techniques and, again, I was sort of very sceptical about whether that would have any affect on my pain at all and was quite amazed the first time that I came home clutching my relaxation tape and I said to my husband “Now this takes 20 minutes, so I don't want to be disturbed for 20 minutes” and sort of rushed through to my front room and lay down on the floor and lit candles, I had a nice cosy fire going and I slept for about two and a half hours on the floor.  

I just dropped off to sleep half way through this relaxation tape but it was bliss, it was bliss just to get that, that release, that escape from the pain.
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