Tips to deal with pain

For some time, the main source of pain might be neuropathy.

Unfortunately, I have endured a good deal of nerve pain. It is not always the case from what I've read. One year later, I do still have occasional moments of intense pain, but nothing compared to those first months. The doctors prescribe Gabapentin for this. It rarely worked for me, but actually doesn't work for many people. However, I learned a few things along the way that really helped me manage the pain.

A note on this, in avulsion cases there's something called 'phantom limb' pain, which probably doesn't relate to what I experienced.

There might be a moment when sensitivity nerves start to repair themselves, causing a miss adjustment on how things are usually felt on the skin touch - a mild wind flow could be felt like a cat scratch. For hypersensitive sensation on the skin, I found warmth helped greatly. Hot showers helped to calm down certain areas, but make sure you have the softest towel to dry it up after. Covering the arm with winter clothes would help me sleep trough the pain.

After receiving an Oberlin transfer (or even without, depending on your injury), you could feel some pain in the hand's nerve terminations. This is felt like sudden electric discharges or stabbing in different points of your hand. Wearing a winter glove made a world of difference to me. Just make sure to remove it every now and then for the hand to breath, and also keep an eye on hygiene.

There could be nerve misfire all around the arm. Some professionals recommended rubbing the area to reduce the sensations. Didn't work for me tho. It might occasionally reduce it a bit, but not for long.

There are opinions about certain foods being bad for neuropathy. Since my accident I started eating as healthy as I could. I almost doubled my food monthly budget to eat healthier stuff. I'm not sure if this really makes a difference, but I believe fueling the body with the right stuff always helps.

It might depend on your size and weight, but sooner or later the hanging arm it is going to cause some discomfort. A good arm sling will be one of your best investments here. Don't let your arm just hang loose, this is very important.

I bought many slings, mainly because my arm is longer than average arm length in this region, which made them uncomfortable. Eventually I found a spandex arm sling in Amazon which is amazingly comfy. Two of them lasted me long enough until a sling was no longer necessary.

For back pain, I couldn't find a good workaround but just mild relieve. Occasionally you get stuck in long queues, like immigration counters, where the pain might become fierce. Sounds funny and looks weird, but momentarily bending over like if you're about to tie your shoes helped me to endure it.

My two cents on pain management. Don't get hooked up on alcohol or other substances to deal with the pain. My understanding is that smoking and drinking has a negative effect on nerve regeneration. An immediate comfort now, could mean worse quality of life for the rest of your days. There's a Spanish saying on this, don't trade today's bread for tomorrow's hunger.

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