Both chronic pain and anxiety are multifaceted and complex conditions in this article I hope to give some simplified everyday explanations about anxiety to help understand its links with chronic pain.
I think many of us would put pain into the physical problem bucket and anxiety into the mental issues bucket. Two separate buckets with no connection.
Therefore, I provide you with an interesting diagram showing a negative continual connection.
We can and do experience many challenges, changes, and stressors at times. Sometimes daily depending on our lifestyle. There are some people who have a routine, with defined work hours, pastimes with little change or stress.
However, it seems these days stress is increasing for most of us. Therefore, is this causing a corresponding increase in anxiety? Especially in those living with chronic pain.
The link between chronic pain and anxiety is certainly a ‘chicken and egg’ situation!
Does Chronic Pain Make You Anxious?
Due to the uncontrolled nature of chronic pain in daily life – I’d suggest yes!
There is a lot of uncertainty around chronic pain. Pain can simply start with no valid reason, and this can certainly cause us to start worrying. Worrying can increase the intensity and possibly the frequency of the pain that we are living with.
If your pain started following an injury, trauma or an operation don't you begin to ask yourself why isn't it getting better? It could well be months or years later when all the physical damage this completely healed. So why am I feeling pain?
I don't have the answers to these questions, and they are certainly relevant with such diagnoses such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and another chronic pain diseases again seemingly without a physical cause or injury. Therefor you have day-to-day complete uncertainty and self-questioning.
Does Anxiety Cause Chronic Pain?
Interesting question. In my practice I’ve found past life crises and how we reacted to them certainly can cause pain to become chronic – though others may disagree with my opinion. However, there are a growing number of doctors, surgeons and professors who now believe past experiences cause neural networks that can keep us responding to life events that can result in our brains creating pain messages as a warning.
First let’s spend time learning more, in informal language, about anxiety.
Anxiety can be Separated into Two Distinct Types.
o Trait anxiety is chronic or long term, the traits, or the personal traits of a person.
o State anxiety is more an acute will something recognized as more short term.
For example, anxiety or worry, mostly caused by an external trigger can be short-term such as a project at work or argument with a family member. This anxiety will pass when the situation is resolved.
Alternatively, some of us live with constant anxiety.
o Why am I always so worried?
o About everything!
o Why don’t endless thoughts stop going around in my head?
Difference Between Short-term and Long-term Anxiety
I'd like to give you an example that may illustrate more the difference between the long-term versus the shorter-term anxiety that we are all bound to feel from time to time.
In my practice as a naturopath, I sometimes use flower essences - Bach Flowers in particular. These were developed in the 1930s by a London Harley Street doctor, Dr Bach. He was not satisfied with the direction of medicine at that time.
“He felt, in fact this was his passion, that if we take care of our emotions our health and resilience would improve.”
For illustration, I'm going to talk about one of the flower essences. Larch flower essence is remedy for lack of confidence, or a feeling of incompetence. It supports their personality trait of lacking confidence at the time it is administered.
Larch flower essence would be needed because for a person who needs support. This is akin to and would be useful for someone who had trait anxiety, prone to continuous feelings of anxiety.
Therefore, Larch is an essence that's useful for someone who has or is generally an anxious person.
Alternatively, the flower essence of Larch could be useful for a person, normally outgoing and confidence, who is experiencing new challenges, perhaps at work, that effectively dents their confidence or causes them to question their ability.
But there may be a resolution at work, by further support or training. Therefore, this use of larch more aligned with state anxiety. Something that we're worried about anxiety will no longer be there once whatever was stressing us has been resolved.
If you understand this larch analogy it can help different anxiety states, be identified, and can help you differentiate between short-term anxiety and more prolonged anxiety.
If Stressed, Feel Under Pressure, Anxiety Level Rises.
Anxiety levels rise and fall depending on what is happening in our lives, including the amount of control we have at the time.
We can liken this to an analogy of water in a lake or a river. The water levels can go down if it's a drought which can be worrisome or at times the river can produce floods that can be disastrous due to too much rain. Neither of these under our control.
Therefore, for safety, the river like our anxiety needs to be within limits. In fact, if we're comfortably within those limits we will infrequently be aware of anxiety.
I have treated both chronic pain and anxiety for over 20 years. Clients have often been prescribed antidepressants for their anxiety, that has helped some. As a consequence, a generalized way of describing the role of an antidepressant is it may raise you from the deeper sadness, hence feeling better but at the same time you may not feel the extremes of happiness either.
When possible, there may be other ways of treating the anxiety connected with chronic pain before being prescribed antidepressants.
NOTE: If your anxiety is interfering with your life, it is important to find help and support from a qualified counselor or psychologist.
Jean Jordan – Pain Coach
Want to find simple effective ways to reduce your chronic pain without increasing your stress and overwhelm? As a chronic pain coach this is where I can help!
Heaps of ideas can be found in the articles on my website.
You can sign-up to regular updates or spend time using some of the collection of self-help techniques. Or sign to my coaching up for 6 months support.
After over 20 years of owning pain clinics pain clinics, I started Natural Pain Solutions to reach more people, rather than one person at a time.
After studying Postgraduate Pain Management & Freedom from Chronic Pain with Howard Schubiner, I want to spread the word about holistic self-help techniques people can use at home.
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