When you live with chronic pain, it changes the way you live because every activity you do depends on your pain level and there are some things people in pain have to give up because it triggers more pain. People in pain are constantly looking for ways to avoid flares because you can’t do anything when your pain level is elevated. Pain flares are frustrating, and we do our best to avoid them, but sometimes they are not avoidable because it is impossible to avoid every flare. Sometimes you will be doing everything right, and your pain will flare, and you have no idea what you did to cause it. Chronic pain is not your fault, and sometimes your pain will flare for reasons even doctors can’t explain. You can’t prevent every flare, but if you are experiencing more pain than usual, sometimes you may not realize that you are doing something that is triggering your pain. What triggers chronic pain flares? In this post, I am going to share six things that you didn’t realize could be triggering your chronic pain.
You are taking too much medication-Most people with severe chronic pain are prescribed medication to help improve their pain levels because over-the-counter pain medication often doesn’t touch severe pain. There is no shame in taking pain medication if you need to function, but more medication doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to have less pain, and if you are taking too much, it can trigger more pain. As a disabled person with chronic pain, I take my pain medication when my pain levels are elevated but I try not to take it too often because you don’t want to become dependent on it. If you take pain medication too often, your body may start to develop an immunity to it, and it won’t work when you want it to. Pain medication can significantly reduce pain in some people, but there are a lot of other ways you can increase your pain without medication. It is important that you find remedies that don’t require a prescription because you want to be able to get relief if for some reason you don’t have access to your medication.
The weather may be triggering pain flares- There are a lot of things that you can do to avoid pain flares, but you cannot control every trigger. It is that time of year when it gets cooler and the weather changes, which can be bad for people with chronic pain. People with chronic pain often struggle with weather changes, and it’s one of those annoying triggers you have no control over. If I were in control of the weather, it would be sixty degrees year-round because my chronic pain doesn’t like extreme heat. Weather changes can trigger chronic pain, and there is not a lot you can do about it; the best you can do is manage your pain as much as you can.
Toxic relationship can trigger chronic pain– Most people know that you can prevent most pain flares by eating healthier and exercising as much as you can, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that high stress levels can also trigger chronic pain. If you are in a toxic, stressful relationship, it can cause your pain to flare, and it is important that you get out of those toxic relationships if you can, for better pain levels. I always have higher pain levels when I am stressed and try to manage my stress to prevent my chronic pain from flaring. High stress levels can cause a lot of health issues, and it is important to do things like meditating to lower your stress levels. Get out of those toxic, stressful relationships because it’s not worth it and is hurting your pain levels more than you realize. It could be the reason you are having more bad day than good ones, and getting out of those stressful situations could improve your pain. If you are only experiencing high pain levels while at work, your job may be the problem, and you might want to consider finding a less stressful one.
You are exercising too much or not enough– Exercising with chronic pain is difficult because sometimes it can trigger more pain when you do the wrong types of movement. Regular exercise can support chronic pain for most people, but if you are doing too much exercise or not enough, it can cause more pain. People with chronic pain are constantly telling their loved ones in pain to do more exercise to get rid of their pain, but sometimes your exercise routine is the problem. Some people with chronic pain can worsen their pain by exercising and should not be doing it, while others have pain because they are not exercising. Your exercise routine should support your chronic pain, and if it worsens it, that is probably why your pain keeps flaring up, because more exercise is not always better when you live with pain. People with chronic pain are constantly told that we will feel better if we exercise, but sometimes it makes us feel worse.
You don’t know what your triggers are– If you are trying to avoid pain flares and have no idea what your triggers are, I would start to keep a journal and try to figure that out. It is going to be very difficult to avoid pain flares if you have no idea what triggers them. You may not be able to avoid every single trigger all of the time, but you should know what your triggers are because you aren’t going to be able to avoid more pain if you don’t know what types of things trigger them. People who know what their triggers are often have less flares, and if you don’t know them, you could be doing things on repeat that are triggering your pain.
Sometimes the smells in the air trigger pain- When you go out somewhere and see someone wearing a mask, people often think that it is because of COVID. Most of the time, that may be true, but not always; sometimes people wear masks because they are triggered by smells in the air. It is not uncommon to see people who struggle with chronic migraine go to a perfume store while wearing a mask because migraine attacks can be triggered by certain smells. Pain can be triggered by smells, and the only thing you can do about it is avoid places like perfume stores and gyms that have a lot of strong smells.
When you have chronic pain, there is nothing worse than having a flare and not knowing what you did to cause it. Sometimes you may have eaten something that could have triggered your pain, which can be solved by making some lifestyle changes. You can’t control environmental triggers and sometimes your pain will be triggered by a smell in the air which you can minimize by wearing a mask but even doing that doesn’t always completely eliminate more pain. It is frustrating when you have been doing everything right and your pain levels worsen, and it is so important that you don’t beat yourself up because not all triggers are within your control to prevent. Lifestyle changes can significantly reduce pain levels because your diet plays a major role in your pain levels, but eating healthy doesn’t always cure your pain. What triggers your pain that may surprise some people? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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