about 25 years ago I had a hernia
operation
the girls repair and she got entangled
with the scar tissue it was a very hot
day August day and there was a slight
infection got involved and glued the
nerves to the to the actual gauze repair
which two weeks after I was in
excruciating pain so then had to go to
my GP and get some medication or some
other way of getting the pain to go away
every day I was taking more and more
painkillers I wake up first thing in the
morning and take three or sometimes even
four koko de mo in quick succession
because it just didn't make the pain go
away
and but the side effects of doing that
and taking more and more during the day
it was I was suffering terribly with
constipation drowsiness
I thought I was alright but my partner
said you know I wasn't I really wasn't
very well after the coke Odom will stop
working and it was causing me an awful
lot of problems I was put on to travel
tramadol and then eventually on to
morphine and that came to a head at 160
milligrams a day on top of the 1,800
milligrams of gabapentin and I was also
on duloxetine and nortriptyline
all on the same day
what actually changed me was that I
realized that I wasn't functioning
properly I couldn't do anything I'd go
to the shops and my partner Celia and
she'd end up going shopping and I'd be
sitting in the car I just couldn't do
anything I couldn't play with the
grandchildren I said that no social life
and I thought this just can't be right I
missed the pains getting worse and so I
then decided to ask my GP if he could
put me back onto the pain management
program my local one and that changed my
life so the pain management program is
designed for people with long term pain
difficulties where there is no easy cure
for their pain difficulties to help them
engage in their lives both physically
and emotionally and get their lives back
on track from where it is now it's a
combined physiotherapy and psychology
program that lasts for 14 sessions over
a seven week period working at helping
her to get moving again improving their
activity understanding medications
managing their mood and emotions better
and engaging in values based activities
I actually got my referral to the pain
management and attended several if I
think it was a seven week course and I
learned how to exercise slightly and due
to a little bit of Tai Chi and
mindfulness and I to start with I
thought mindfulness I don't I don't
understand that but as a sceptic it
works and I as I said I'm 39 weeks now
with taking no opioids no gabapentin
nothing for the pain whatsoever the pain
hasn't gone away it's still it's still
bad the way I deal with it now is
actually through the mindfulness that as
I said the brain actually knows that
you've got pain but it's I'm not taking
any notice of it my life totally changed
for instance I wouldn't be able to be
standing here walking up and down this
beautiful area
I'd be like two three hundred yards in
that direction
that in the car I just my whole life has
opened up for me again it's increasing
with time as the days go on I'm you know
getting more more confident you know
they're able to come out in the sunshine
and be by the water which is one of my
first loves oh I should be out on that
water as soon as I can get out on there
do some kayaking jet skiing maybe even
behind a jet ski everyone you know in
the you know distant future or maybe not
so distant future looking forward to all
of it now which I wasn't looking forward
to anything before it's fantastic new
life Shawn stories brilliant I've been
lucky enough to meet Shawn on a few
occasion and he tells such an inspiring
story about how there is a different way
to be when you are pretty much a rock
bottom with very bad symptoms with high
doses of these painkillers on board and
through his belief and determination he
has managed to turn his life around
because he had a moment where he changed
his belief some sort of a lightbulb
moment he has then gone up and up and up
and that's certainly been with the help
of the pain management program in
Plymouth so they've obviously done a
fantastic job Shawn shows us that the
benefits and the improvements can be a
long-term change regarding patients and
the best way to treat chronic pain it's
not with pills it's not with operations
usually it's unlikely that those are
going to take things away the best way
to treat chronic pain is with self
management techniques and what I mean by
that is teaching you the skills to adapt
your body and to adapt your beliefs and
your your thoughts to to carve out a
life that works much better with your
pain so by accepting your pain of being
compassionate with yourself rather than
fighting against it and looking for the
thing that's going to take it away
you