Chronic pain can impact your sleep, relationships, and mood. Try these strategies to find some relief.
I began struggling with hip and back pain in 2016 after tearing cartilage in my right hip and developing joint problems. It took two surgeries and months of rehab before I finally began to feel some relief. When the pain started to ease, I realized just how much it had been affecting my bipolar moods all along.
I had always thought my high pain tolerance meant I could push through without it touching my mental health — but I was wrong. Chronic pain had quietly worn me down, influencing my mood, sleep, patience, and ability to handle stress. When the pain lessened, I was surprised by how much lighter and more manageable life felt.
What It’s Like to Live With Chronic Pain
I’m very aware that some people live with chronic pain on a daily basis, with little relief in sight. I have deepened empathy and compassion for them. The purpose of this article is to bring some light to those suffering with chronic pain and share my experience in hopes of easing the frustration over why life can feel so difficult.
Research shows how much pain impacts our psychological well-being and sleep. For me, pain shortens my tolerance for frustration, pushes me more quickly toward depression, contributes to insomnia, and reduces my patience with myself and others. It depletes my self-compassion. I think being more fully aware of this could have saved me some self-criticism and explained why things just seemed more difficult in my life.
I hope that if you struggle with chronic pain, you can come to a better understanding and acceptance of how pain affects your mood, and you can begin to feel more compassion towards yourself. Give yourself a break. Allow yourself some leeway when you wonder how your seemingly calm temperament can suddenly rise to anger.
Focusing on What You Can Control
The more experiences I have, the more I realize how interconnected I am to this world. This has been both a comforting and frustrating realization. My depression isn’t just about my brain chemicals: It also includes my physical body, my relationships with others, my stressors in my life, my ability to sleep soundly, and my diet and exercise program.
My ego wants me to believe my depression is entirely out of my control, but my life experiences — and an excellent therapist — have shown me otherwise.
When one part of my life takes a hit, that’s when I focus my energy on strengthening the other parts. When I’m dealing with pain I can’t control, I turn my attention to meditation, my social connections, volunteer work, and healthy eating and sleep habits — all while showing myself compassion. I’ve learned that being kind to myself isn’t weak or selfish; it’s essential to my mental health.
I encourage you to give it a try. Be kind to yourself — because, as the Latin saying goes, “Nemo dat quod non habet” (“no one can give what they don’t have”). When you learn to extend compassion inward, you’ll find you have even more to give to others.
How to Cope When Bipolar Depression Meets Chronic Pain
Focusing on a holistic solution and fostering strong communication with your entire treatment team can help in the management of bipolar depression and chronic pain. Try these three strategies to improve your physical and mental health.
1. Practice Stress Management
For many, the basic emotion of stress, in any situation, can be an immediate trigger for a pain flare-up. If you’re one of those people, you’ll need to find ways to manage stress — either by changing the behavior that causes the stress or by learning to deal with it through mindfulness and breathing techniques, exercising, journaling, and other coping skills.
2. Find Integrative Solutions
The best outcomes have come when people undergo a multifaceted approach — receiving treatment from both a mental health professional and a physician. Receiving monitoring and treatment simultaneously from experts in each area will offer a better chance for stability. An example of a multi-disciplinary approach is receiving psychotherapy, taking medication, and participating in a pain rehabilitation program.
3. Communicate With Your Treatment Team
Many people don’t talk with their doctor about their depression, especially when they’re already dealing with a chronic pain condition. It’s easy to assume that once the pain is under control, the low mood will lift too. But chronic pain and depression often fuel each other — each making the other harder to manage. Keeping an open line of communication with your healthcare provider ensures that both your physical and emotional health are addressed together.
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UPDATED: Originally posted on June 3, 2019