Chronic pain

I have been living with chronic pain for years and years. At first I used pain killers - tramadol for several years but I ended up with chronic headaches and it was less and less effective as time went by. I ended up weaning myself off it and using distraction and breathing techniques. I spent several years wearing headphones all the time to pin my attention on music or audio books rather than pay attention to the pain. I learned lots of languages too and listened in other languages. I am now fairly fluent in several of them as a bonus to being able to mostly ignore the pain. I just get on with things most of the time. I have had more trouble with fatigue since I learned those techniques than with pain. I run into an energy brick wall instead of a pain wall unfortunately:( But using time management I can maximise what I achieve with energy rationing. More problematic is that my gait has become odd and I shuffle and lose my balance unless I hang onto things or wave my arms around. Sometimes I struggle to make my legs move at all and have pins and needles as if I have had an anesthetic.