Hi Inky,
thanks for your reply, and sorry for my late response……has been a rough week! In our country you can only see someone at the pain clinic if you are referred there by your General Practioner, (unless you can afford to pay privately, and this costs a small fortune!). I did see a consultant at a pain clinic years ago, it was one of the worst experiences I have had with medical staff in my life. After waiting fourteen months just to see him, and filling out two very long questionairres, as I walked into his room he was very abrupt to the point of being rude and said that he wouldn’t prescribe morphine for me, which I definitely didn’t want anyway? I had had to have it in hospital on a few occasions and it always made me very sick, so I definitely did not want to be on that on a regular basis. I tried to explain to him about my situation and he wasn’t even listening and was talking over me all of the time!!! To cut a long story short I ended up in floods of tears after the appt, and with no help after the very long wait! As far as giving myself stickers for little achievements, I do actually have the opposite problem, as I think I can still do everything I always did and make myself worse trying to do it all. I never want to stop until I have done everything that needs doing, and then of course I pay the price for it. I haven’t tried any special diets as I wasn’t aware of any for this particular kind of problem, other than eating healthily and exercising regularly? I am not sure what ‘Stephen ministers’ are? Which country are these in? One of the most difficult things is trying to hide what is wrong from colleagues and friends or family, so as not to sound as though I am constantly grumbling about pain or health issues, but at the same time not wanting to lie to them. As far as films go, I am unable to concentrate on them due to the pain and fatigue, and the same with books too, which is oh so frustrating as I can never remember the details of what I have read, and sometimes even the basics of it.
Many thanks for your kindness and support
Sarah-Jane 🙂