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Chronic PainArrow
Age 41-60
Interview CP04  

Interview CP04

Age at Interview: 50
Sex: Female
Age at Diagnosis: 45
Background: Medically retired care officer; married; 3 children.
Brief outline:Multiple tests all negative. Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Treatment: Physiotherapy Pain management: Pain Association Scotland Living with Pain course. Current medication: amitriptyline, quinine sulphate, diclofenac sodium (Arthrotec), co-codamol (Kapake), omeprazole (Losec).


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Explained to her family that she will ask for help but wants to try to do as much as she can.

 



Yes well, normally I don't like anybody in my kitchen, I prefer to do my own cooking. But there is times I have got to give up and it's a case of if I know that I'm going to be any sorer than I am when I walk into the kitchen somebody else needs to do it for me. 

There is a time when well meaning relatives and your husband or your wife you're glad of them, they are there. They over compensate for your pain and they think they're being wonderful for you because they're doing it for you, and it's a hard thing to try and sit your family down and say to them look alright “I'm in chronic pain but I've still got to live. I've still got to do things on my own and I'll do as much as I can without hurting myself, and then I'll ask. If I need your help I will ask for it”. 

And believe you me, its harder for them to sit and watch you doing it than actually asking them for help. And it's a case of they think you're going to be, you're going to do so much you're going to be really sore. But when you get to the stage that you've done your relaxation and your pacing and your things that you do with the Pain Association it means that you know your limitations. 

So therefore there is sometimes, yes definitely there is sometimes that somebody else has to do something for you and you've got to be gracious enough to ask. But you have to ask you don't want everybody doing everything for you because if they, if you start that you're down a slippery slope, you end up sitting in a wee corner, feeling sorry for yourself, you can't do anything and the less you do the less you can do. You know, so it's a vicious circle, you do what you can and what you can't do you ask for help. And that's another hard lesson to learn as well, is asking for help.
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