A couple of posts ago (here) I showed you a pain-scale of 1-10 (replicated in the top line of the picture below). In the graphic, I used little faces to show the increasing sense of distress that goes with the increased pain. For irregular migraines the scale works well, you’re happy until your eye starts hurting, then you become increasingly unhappy as you become increasingly unwell. For chronic migraines however, the scale needs some adjusting.
Two things happen with chronic pain.
The first thing about chronic pain is that you start to describe pain in decimals and fractions. Today, as I write this, is a ‘1.5’ or ‘one and a half’ day, for example. I’m so accustomed to pain that I now recognise more subtle intervals between the steps.
The second thing that happens is your mood adjusts (see the second row of numbers and faces in the infographic). In the original scale, 1.5 was an ‘ugh’ day, and a 2.5 would be an ‘uh oh’ day as the pain crept towards something higher. Now, a 1.5 day is a good day for me. 1 would be great, I’d be super happy to only have to worry about an achy eyebrow. Even a 2 that’s lasted for a couple of days in a row is annoying but not enough to make me sad. It would take a lot more pain to feel sick, and an 8 or above to consider myself ‘really sick’.
This shift in pain thresholds is both good and bad. Bad in that it is disappointing how much pain has become my reality and that I have to have a significant neurological event, even be hospitalized, to consider myself ‘really unwell’. It’s easy to get depressed if you think about this for too long. But you can adjust the thinking.
The shift in pain-scales can also be a good thing. It allows you to reclaim a certain amount of positivity and joy back into your life. Being mindful of your pain in a more positive way is a strategy that increases your resilience. Of course ‘pain-free’ would be ideal, but I’ll take ‘pain-less’ if that’s more achievable. Who doesn’t want to have a smiley green face?!
Pain is not great, but suffering is miserable.
Here’s hoping you can keep smiling, even when you’re in pain.
Regards, Linda.
The Mindful Migraine 
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