‘Pain is most likely going to be with you FOREVER. So, you might as well live well, and live the life you want to live even in pain’: My personal experience in a Pain Management Programme as a thread below 1/10 @chron_ac #ChronicPain #PainManagement @PainConcern

Weeks ago, I ‘graduated’ from a 7-week programme (1 entire day/week) from Chelsea Hospital Pain clinic. I had nothing to lose, and I was very encouraged (although scared as well) by my twitter community like @paintoolkit2 @lazybeautiful @LivingWellPain 2/10

Every week followed same scheme, focusing on different aspects. Group sessions, we were 10 people. It was all based on ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and lots of physiotherapy. They were making us an active part of it giving us tools to manage our pain. Loved that. 3/10

I’m not going to lie, first week was already a revelation for me. It included a big session on Pain biology/complexity education (which I already knew cause, u know, my job) but still… seeing how useful was for the rest of the group was great and very surprising! 4/10

It if funny how it all is about validation. 10 people very different to me, with much more serious conditions, who every time they talked it seemed they were stealing my thoughts. I’ve never felt so understood. I cried. It felt f***ing great. 5/10

Main general objective was identifying which kind of life we wanted to live and move towards it. We learnt very useful tools for this like meditation, mindfulness exercises… We made committed actions every week, focused on our values and needs. 6/10

Every week we did yoga sessions, gym sessions to build strength and even some tai-chi. This was a great way to go back to a routine which in most chronic pain patients is very difficult to maintain, but not IMPOSSIBLE! Some tools available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF9YtieChgZMZvxeEv_qZng 7/10

Other sessions focused on painsomnia, flare-ups management, communicating with friends and family… We even got an specialist nurse to talk to us about medication management! I guess anybody can say they’re all ‘common sense’ tools and skills but...try to be in pain 24/7! 8/10

I guess it is a good signal I’m still practising the tools I was taught, and they help. They do help. I’m still in pain. But I do yoga every day. I’m more focused at work.I try to talk more about my pain when I feel misunderstood by people I care about(Still working on this) 9/10

And I got a great group of new friends who will always get me! It is a work in process, but hey! so it’s life, and I have all my life to master my pain management skills so… let’s do it! 10/10

again, many thanks to all twitter community for your daily help. and infinite thanks to the facilitators of this programme, Rob and John. Never seen 2 people making such a difference in a community! @PsychOSullivan