Notes from the pain management workshop, week 4

This week’s topics were on healthy eating, communication, and problem solving.

Healthy eating

Mostly just a parroting of USDA orthodoxy, with a bit of helpful context that’s usually missed in discussions about that; a serving size is not the same thing as a portion size, and one portion could very well be multiple servings and that’s okay. The main thing of import is to be mindful of what you eat, look out for foods that might be pain triggers (food journaling helps with that), and to eat a wide variety of vegetables and reduce your sodium intake.

Mostly just stuff we’ve all heard a billion times and there wasn’t anything particularly pain-related about any of it.

Communication

When talking to someone about something difficult, use an “I” statement, such as “I don’t like when you do that” or “I feel like this week was a complete waste of my time.”

Problem-solving

Just a reprise of week 2.

Although in discussion about how simply talking about your problems to others it helps you to get a better idea of what your problem actually is, I introduced the phrase “rubber duck debugging” to a whole new audience, which folks got a kick out of.

Action plan

Last week I had intended to do four days of 15 minutes worth of strength-training exercises. I managed to do 15 minutes on two days, 10 minutes on another day, and thought really hard about doing it on the fourth. Oops.

My action plan for next week is to go back to my first week action plan and actually try to get the heck to bed by midnight, three days a week. (But not tonight, tonight’s karaoke night.)

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