What Distracts You From the Pain?

Costochondritis is Inflammation of the costochondral joints of the chest, which can cause chest pain. The pain of costochondritis can sometimes be distinguished from other, more serious forms of chest pain by its reproducibility on palpation of the involved joints and the absence of abnormalities on chest x-ray examinations, electrocardiograms, and blood tests. SYN: SEE: Tietze syndrome. I recall this used to be treated in the emergency room years ago with a topical anesthetic like ethyl chloride. Current literature says NSAID drugs work well. To protect your liver from NSAID damage try using topical Volteran (diclofenac acid) 1% sold at pharmacies on the painful area or use the oral formulation.

Hi @eirrol. Audio books and videos are a great distraction from pain. Thank you for sharing what helps you.

Pod casts, or even asking "Alexa" to tell you a joke or play specific music can be helpful. I've played memory games with Alexa for distraction, and they can get pretty challenging. Humor is a great distraction - there's nothing like laughter. 🤣 Do you watch funny movies?

I play meditation music for relaxation. Does your yoga cassette for PTS play calming music or does it speak as well?

And presently I will say that my 2 nieces distract me from pain, especially my 4 month old niece! Shifting focus and mindset is refreshing. How can you not get distracted by such cuteness? 😊

Hi Rachel, my yoga cassette is called iRest for Restorative Practices. The author/ narrator has a wonderfully soothing voice and it is mainly him talking and telling you what to do and why, breathing , etc. the other cassette is called the Power of Intention and it is mainly talking,too and it is very good. Both can probably be borrowed from a library. I find so much good stuff also from the online library through “ Libby”. Lots of funny books to hear and they are often my mind control in getting sleep. I do not have Alexa but it sounds like something I might invest in a bit later.I agree with you about the laughter and I love funny movies. Amazon Prime furnishes me with a lot of good movies and tv series. Also documentaries are good to distract me while I am learning something new., which is helping my brain. I feel my brain gets so preoccupied sometimes with all my health conditions that I need to look for positive normal experiences. Thanks so much for helping me learn more ways to distract my brain. — eirrol

I have pelvic pain, it appears I am hyper sensitive to muscle tension in the pelvic area.
My primary distraction to my pain are my grandchildren. Three of them I have been taking care of since they were babies when their parents work. I have three other grandchildren 4,3,2 and another girl due in July. It looks s hardest for me when they are not around. I also do walking and try not to let the pelvic from stopping me and listen to books on tape. These things lower my stress which helps the pelvic pain

Sleep

None respond to OTC pain relievers either. Terrible. I use my iPad & try to keep moving when I can

@rwinney when I tore the meniscus in my right knee I was in a lot of pain.
I decided to join Ancestry and start my family tree. It was something I could do on my laptop sitting in the recliner with ice on my knee. I would work for 3 hours at a time totally immersed in building my tree. I didn’t notice the pain when I was enjoying myself.
Now, after 2 total knee replacement surgeries, I’m still plugging away at the never ending family tree. It’s a joy!

Aw, love this!

The online library is a fantastic idea. I find Netflix series and sports to be positive distractions. So true about seeking positive, normal experiences. It's easy to become consumed by our pain which is not healthy for our brain. Reminding ourselves that we are still human with interests and needs and are not defined by our pain alone is a very powerful self-advocating tool.