MANAGING PAIN & ILLNESS

SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT & ADAPTATION RESOURCES

This is a non-exhaustive list of free resources and adaptations that I have personally compiled and found to be helpful when dealing with chronic pain & illness. As always, feel free to further explore anything you might connect with, and leave the rest behind. You may also bookmark this page for future reference and share the link with others who might find it useful. Have something relevant to add to the conversation? Comments are welcomed below.

20 simple ways to help relieve stress, pain, anxiety, and overwhelm:

1. When you find yourself in need, give yourself whatever healthy comforts you are able to. Attend to your own needs as your top priority. Act as if you are caring for a young child, an elder, or a dear loved one.
2. Use self massage. Add a pain balm or a soothing oil to your skin. Use at-home massage cups, fascia release tools, or pressure point therapy.
3. Direct attention toward nature, inside or outside. Gaze into an animal's eyes. Look at plant life. Listen to the birds, the wind, a cat’s purr, etc... Watch a nature documentary.
4. Appeal to the sense of smell. Light a candle. Use Essential oils. Burn sage or rub some between your fingers. Squeeze a lemon rind.  Spray clothes/bed/air with a refreshing scent you enjoy. Anything cleansing and pleasing.
5. Stimulate your sense of taste. How about a peppermint or a ginger chew? Suck on fresh citrus or eat a small chocolate/carob.
6. Drink water. Maybe with a tincture added? Or a little sea salt and lemon juice for added electrolytes? How about brewing yourself a cup of tea to sip on?
7. Listen to calming or positive feeling music or a favorite meditation.
8. Listen to singing bowls, chanting or voice toning. Whatever feels soothing.
9. Snuggle underneath a weighted or heated blanket.
10. Do some simple stretches. Seated or in bed if necessary.
11. Lay down on a foam roller. Use it to massage muscles and adjust your spine if possible.
12. Take a soothing bath/shower. Add Epsom salt and magnesium flakes for muscle tension.
13. Put in ear plugs. Go to a quiet space. Turn on a white noise fan or app on your phone.
14. Allow yourself to rest deeply. Take a nap. Go to bed early. Give yourself ample opportunity for restorative sleep.
15. Let it be dark. Close curtains, close eyes. Wear dark glasses or a sleep mask.
16. Use ice or heat packs for tension and inflammation relief.
17. Oil/moisturize your body. Can combine with dry brushing technique. Exfoliates skin and increases lymphatic drainage.
18. Brush your hair, slowly and gently. Oil your scalp if it’s dry, itchy or painful. Use a scalp massager for soothing stimulation.
19. CranioCradle with hot or cold pack.
20. Look at visual artwork you enjoy. Create a simple piece of your own artistic expression, in whatever medium you desire. No pressure and no need to share unless you’d like to.

My favorite tools for relieving pain and increasing quality of life:

• Foam roll w/ forward & side stretches
• CranioCradle
• Cannabis
• Cupping
• TheraGun
• Foot Massage
• Soaking
• Sunshine
• Sleep Late
• Take a Nap
• Doorway stretches
• Dog walks

• Earplugs
• Blue Blockers
• Bag of Tricks (meds)
• Heating Blanket
• Heating Cape
• Essential Oils
• Heather’s

• Chirp
• Foot Massager
• Tempurpedic Mattress
• Neck Pillow
• Leg Pillow

Accounts to follow:

• IG
• Kath Fantastic - IG
• Rana2.0
• Nina Tame
• The Nap Ministry
• Death Workers:
• Books
• The Body Keeps the Score
• No Good Card For This - Em&Friends
• How To Be Sick
• Childhood Disrupted
• Blogs/FB

• Whitney Dafoe
• Jamison
•  
• Movies/Docs
• Under Our Skin
• UnRest
• Kathleen Hannah Doc
• Podcasts
• Natasha Lippman
• NPE

• The Healing Pain Podcast with Dr. Joe Tatta

  This episode features Dr. Bronnie Lennox Thompson has worked in the fields of chronic pain management for twenty years helping people develop self-management skills using a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy as well as physical therapies.