Dealing with chronic pain 24/7

I use a variety of pain medication, including Lidocaine patches, a TENS machine, music, pacing, visualisation, gentle exercise and movement. I use the principles of the Expert Patient Programme. I hope this helps.

reflexology,chiropracter, Tai Chi, Tens machine, steam room, visualisation- helps with tolerance to pain, turmeric, magnesium.
if money is short i would go for tens and tai chi.
using all these has made my life tolerable most days or in the least bearable on the worst,
.the magnesium helps with sleep and restless legs.
Also against advice I find best to take a nap mid day otherwise pain goes off Richter scale, just half hour.
Sadly it is continuous but using above has made my life tolerable and mobility is improved, its slow but keep at it and find what suits you.
Good luck

Acceptance..... It has taken a long time and trying myriad medication.   I have been down the path of opiates only to find they are of limited use.  I have discussed this with my GP and we agree that opiates should primarily be saved for acute extreme or end of life situations.  Withdrawal from same is to go cold turkey.  Done that...eugh. 
I have got past the feelings of hopelessness though it still makes me cry.   I know when to stop and rest.  My pain is a part of me like an extra limb.  
Do everything you can to be comfortable... especially your bed.  It needs to be just right when you need to take refuge.   
Be prepared to avoid medication when you can.   Long term painkillers decrease in effect.  You may suddenly wonder why you are taking something...that medication may have stopped working for you. 
 Chronic pain doesn't show. People around you won't see it.  
Try anything .... TENS, physio, massage, gentle exercise, Bowen technique, Alexander method, yoga.  None of these will mess with your system like painkillers do.  I could well take more than I do but they can affect liver and kidney function.  
Don't be palmed off with a prescription and 'get in with it.'
It's your body.
Find things to make you happy.  My dog has sàved me!  I have stopped trying to please people and let the stress go.   All has helped.  I wish I could tell you it will all go away but I can't.  Expect to crumble from time to time.  The biggest hurdle is recognising that it is a part of your life.  Be strong.

For me chronic pain goes hand in hand with fatigue - I always say that I find the fatigue harder than the pain to deal with, but that might be due to pain being so much a part of my life now that it's just there all the time. I can't actually remember what it's like to not have pain of some description. I take regular pain meds, I take a full dose of paracetamol 4 times a day and have codiene 30mgs if it is bad I find it is better to have paracetamol and codiene separately rather than co-codamol as you can control how much codiene you are taking and have less risk of developing a tolerance to it so it ends up not helping or you need to take more than you did etc. It also allows the paracetamol to build up in your system to dull down everyday aches and pain. I've also got tramadol for when I'm really struggling but I don't like taking that if I can at all help it. I find mindfulness meditation really helpful and have built a couple of sessions each day into my routine - this I can then sort of 'top up' if I'm having a bad day. I really recommend learning about mindfulness as it has so many benefits for life in general and I am a lot less stressed and even less judgemental since I've begun applying it's principles. It has really helped me accept long term health issues I have. There are lots of resources online for mindfulness. I also like the calming, gentle, movements of Tai Chi. I think the best way to handle chronic pain is distraction, so if you can find something that you love to do, that needs concentration you can make the pain slip into the background. We all know that feeling, often late at night when the pain feels really severe but it isn't actually much worse than during the waking hours, it's just that with nothing else to think about the mind fixates on the pain and sort of magnifies it. I have some guided meditation/visualisations I can listen to (I use my headphones so I don't disturb his lordship..) This can sometimes help distract my mind enough to allow me to get some sleep. Then, as with everything, there's good old, boring old PACING - learning to pace myself and trying not to do too much on rare relatively painfree days is difficult and I still have days when I've pushed myself too far and end up wiped out for the rest of the week.

Hello all, not chronic physical pain, but brain pain! I have multiple sclerosis, but despite that, I can still speak 4 European languages fluently! But can I find a job that works within school hours (I have 2young boys 10&8) as well as an annoying ex-husband (yes he doesn't understand m.s! Not use to me no longer being the big breadwinner of the relationship, though he denies that!). So instead of a job, my overbearing mother has organised for me to go to a brain injury charity a few times a week! Aaarrrggghhh! But all I really want is a job! Heyho onwards and upwards as said!

Change husband. Change mother in law. Be yourself and go further. I hope someone can help with immediate work issue. Gosh sorry but sounds like your pressured whilst also admitting your highly intelligent 

I have fibro and chronic pain and I’m dealing with a recent bereavement. The pain in my body multiplied by a thousand times when I was going through the shock of bereavement initially and has worn off to my regular levels of daily pain. I absolutely dread going through that level of pain again unprepared and so I’m going to get a g p appointment and discuss pain clinic or pain management. I did ask a locum about pain management around the funeral and he said it’s normal to feel this way at this time and better to go through it than bottle it up. What BS! I’m interested in finding out more about magnesium and restless legs as I have that. How do you find out if you have deficiencies? Is it trial and error? Thanks 

Hi all
Pain is something I have to deal with on a daily basis.  It's a lonely life when you have to suffer pain 24/7, as one of the members said, you can't see it so people around you don't understand.  I have been doubted so many times when people see me they think I'm OK, when I say I'm having a bad day, it's either endless amounts of sleep that helps me get through the day, or meditation.  I was on so many meds., that I gained a vast amount of weight, and I looked awful, when I think of how I was like a walking zombie, because the Dr just increased my meds., each time I visited the surgery, some medical people do not specialize in Fibromyalgia, and I got to understand this as I had hardly knowledge of this condition myself.  I can't remember the last time I was pain free either, it's been so long since I woke up and experienced life without my joints and muscles  feeling stiff and pain free, I used to be able to sit in a warm back and that helped for a while, until my condition got worse, arthritis  and other health issues, and I got stuck in the bath and couldn't come out, so know I have to have walk in showers, and they have recommended me to go to pain management, finally, the person I saw last week seem to believe me even though I was talking through tears, that day was a bad day, and I hope that with more sessions I will able to get to a better place in my mind and be able to get a little bit of normality in the not too distant future.  I hope this helps a few people reading this. Ritzy x    

Dealing with chronic pain is something only those people like us that are dealing with know how it feels