1. A Presentation by the American Chronic Pain Association
Living with Chronic Pain
The American Chronic Pain Association logo is at the top center of the page. The logo is green.
A Presentation by the American Chronic Pain Association

2. What is Chronic Pain? Chronic pain is pain that:
continues a month or more beyond the usual recovery period for an injury or illness or
goes on for months or years due to a chronic condition.
The pain may not be constant but disrupts daily life.
It also can interfere with sleep, keeping you awake a night.
Colored portrait picture of a white woman, shoulder length brown hair with a worried look on her face . She is on the right side of the page.

3. People with pain need validation.
Pain Can Be Confusing
You may wonder:
Is this really pain?
My injury has healed. Why do
I still hurt?
How did I get it?
Am I just imagining it?
How can I explain it to my doctor?
A black and white portrait picture of a doctor, a stethoscope hanging around his neck, peering over his glasses as if to say, “Why are you here?”
People with pain need validation.

4. Why it is Important to Involve the Caregiver in Manage Your Pain
When pain is not properly managed, it can end up controlling the way you and those around you live.
Many people with pain:
Feel hopeless and depressed
Experience sleep problems
Have difficulty performing daily activities such as walking, going to work or even wearing clothing
A colored picture of a big ocean wave curling over itself, white surf forming a curl. This picture is on the right side of the page.
It is important to talk with your doctor about all these feelings.

5. Talking to Your Doctor About Pain
Prepare for your visit
Before you go to the doctor, write down exactly what you think is wrong. Also include the following:
list only the new symptoms
include over the counter medicines taken
methods of relief tried, i.e. heat, message, exercise
changes in your daily level of functioning
changes in mood, appetite and sleep
questions you have
if possible take someone with you

6. Talking to Your Doctor About Pain
Prepare for your visit
Print out Nerve Man to show where your pain is and how it feels.
Tools
Where does it hurt
A brown silhouette of a man on the right side of the page; his brain and nervous system are drawn in white. The drawing shows how the brain is connected to all the nerves throughout your body, from your brain to your finger tips and the tips of your toes.

7. Talking to Your Doctor About Pain
Prepare for your visit
Use the Quality of Life Scale to explain the impact pain has on your daily life.
This is the ACPA Quality of Life scale. The top of the scale is a zero and the bottom is a ten. At the zero there is little or no functioning by the person, indicating that they don’t even get out to bed in the morning. With each increase in number the level of functioning increases until you get to ten where the person functions normal.

8. Talking to Your Doctor About Pain
Medications
Medications can be an important tool to help you manage nerve pain.
They may help reduce the pain and allow you to get to sleep.
All medications have benefits and risks.
Talk with your healthcare provider about medications that may be right for you.
A colored picture to the right of the words of assorted capsules and pills in a variety of colors. The background is blue.

9. Talking to Your Doctor About Pain
Become part of the treatment team.
Take an active role in the recovery process.
Work with your doctor to find ways to best manage your pain.
Your goal: Reduce sense of suffering and improve quality of life.
On the right is a colored picture of a group of older adults outside on a sunny day exchanging a present. The left side of the picture there are three balloons, red, green and yellow.
You can live a full life in spite of pain

10. The Truth About Pain
Even when you and your doctor have done everything medically possible for your condition, there may be a level of pain that you will need to live with.
A colored picture of a black family; mother, father, and three sons ages 5, 7 and 10 standing together in front of a lake for a group picture. The picture is beneath the text.

11. You can live with chronic pain.
The Truth About Pain
You can live with chronic pain.
A large colored picture of a white teacher with blond hair sitting in front of a green chalkboard with a complex mathematical formula on the board

12. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 1: Accept the Pain
Learn all you can about your physical condition. Understand that there may be no current cure and accept that you will need to deal with the fact of pain in your life.
Two colored pictures of road signs. The one on the left side says: Road Closed- Local Traffic Only. The colored picture on the right side is an orange sign with a black arrow signifying a detour.

13. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 2: Get Involved
Take an active role in your own recovery. Follow your doctor's advice and ask what you can do to move from a passive role into one of partnership in your own health care.
Colored picture on the right side of a group of boys under a basketball hoop in a huddle talking.

14. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 3: Learn to Set Priorities
Look beyond your pain to the things that are important in your life. List the things that you would like to do. Setting priorities can help you find a starting point to lead you back into a more active life.
Family sitting on a porch around a table, talking as they look over a basket of vegetables they are preparing for their evening meal. There is a gray haired grandmother wearing a blue blouse, cleaning green beans. To her right is a mother with long brown hair with a blue shirt, looking at the grandmother. There is a young boy next to his mother, his head down. To the boys right is the father wearing a green polo shirt. The father is showing the boy how to clean beans—but the boy is not paying attention.

15. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 4: Set Realistic Goals We all walk before we run. Set goals that are within your power to accomplish or break a larger goal down into manageable steps. And take time to enjoy your successes.
A colored picture to the right of the text. It is of a dance class of three girls and one instructor practicing some arm movements for ballet. They are all wearing black leotards.

16. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 5: Know Your Basic Rights
We all have basic rights. Among these are the right to be treated with respect, to say no without guilt, to do less than humanly possible, to make mistakes, and to not need to justify your decisions, with words or pain.
A gold scale that is often used as the legal scales of justice is to the right of the screen.

17. Learning to Live With It
Your Basic Rights
The right to act in a way that
promotes your dignity and self
respect.
The right to be treated with respect.
The right to make mistakes.
The right to do less than you are
humanly capable of doing.
The right to change your mind.
The right to ask for what you want.
The right to take time to slow down
and think before you respond.
The right to feel that you don't have
to explain everything you do and
think.
The right to say "no" and not feel
guilty.
The right to ask for information.
The right to feel good about
yourself.
The right to ask for help or
assistance.
The right to disagree.
The right to ask "why?"
The right to be listened to and
taken seriously when expressing
your feelings.

18. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 6: Recognize Emotions
Our bodies and minds are one. Emotions directly affect physical well being. By acknowledging and dealing with your feelings, you can reduce stress and decrease the pain you feel.
A colored picture of an Asian man and woman sitting on a couch. The woman is sitting behind the man with a worried look on her face. In front we see the man, head turned away from the woman, his right hand casually over his mouth. The picture is to the right of the text.

19. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 7: Learn to Relax
Pain increases in times of stress. Relaxation exercises are one way of reclaiming control of your body. Deep breathing, visualization, and other relaxation techniques can help you to better manage the pain you live with.
A colored picture to the right of the text is of a blue sky, sandy beach, blue ocean and a small grove a palm trees to the right.

20. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 8: Exercise Most people with chronic pain fear exercise. But unused muscles feel more pain than toned flexible ones. With your doctor, identify a modest exercise program that you can do safely. As you build strength, your pain can decrease. You'll feel better about yourself, too.
A large body of water with numerous male swimmers all swimming in the same direction. The picture is to the right of the text.

21. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 9: See the Total Picture
As you learn to set priorities, reach goals, assert your basic rights, deal with your feelings, relax, and regain control of your body, you will see that pain does not need to be the center of your life. You can choose to focus on your abilities, not your disabilities. You will grow stronger in your belief that you can live a normal life in spite of chronic pain.
A colored picture of a man in a black business suite, blue shirt and yellow tie standing at the top of the stairs, his arms stretched over his head in a gesture of victory.

22. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
STEP 10: Reach Out
It is estimated that one person in three suffers with some form of chronic pain. Once you have begun to find ways to manage your chronic pain problem, reach out and share what you know. Living with chronic pain is an ongoing learning experience. We all support and learn from each other.
A colored close up of two people’s arms extend into a firm hand shake just right of the text box.

23. Learning to Live With It Ten Steps from Patient to Person
A yellow sports car half on a grassy area and half on a gravel road. It is a sunny day. There are rolling green hills on the upper right side of the picture.

24. Track Your Progress
When you understand what triggers your pain, you can begin to work on ways to reduce and deal with it.
Pain log. There are ten rows each with numbers from one to ten. One is on the left side with number increasing by one to the number ten which is on the right of the paper. Each row has five black drawings going from left to right.
First row is a pain scale using five pictures of faces. The face closet to the number one on the left side of the page is smiling. The smiles grow into a frown by the number ten.
The next line is a gage. From left to right the gage shows low all the way to high. This line demonstrates level of stress.
Exercise level is the next line. The picture on the left is a person running, then a person swimming, next a drawing of a person standing reaching down to touch their toes, then a person walking and last a person sitting in a chair.
Activity is the next row. The first drawing is a person walking, next driving a car, next watching television and last is a person in bed.
Sleep is the last row on the pape. On the left is a smiley face with sunbeams around his head. The next four pictures go from a smiley alert face to one that is unemotional and tired looking.
The first picture on the next page to the right is of appetite. The first picture to the left show a plate full of food and the amount of food decreases as the pictures go to the left of the page.
Mood is next. There are five simple drawing of a flower. The one on the left is standing straight up with two leaves and all its petals. As the pictures move to the right the flower wilts and the leaves and petals fall off.
Socialization and isolations is demonstrated on the left side by five figures of different heights. The people decrease as they go right until there is only one person.
Alcohol consumption is next. On the left there is one martini glass and as they move right the number of glasses increase to the right ending with five glasses and a plus sign.
The last row is financial worries. It starts on the left with a person smiling and a dollar sign over their head. As the drawing move to the right the smile turns to a frown indicating increased worry about money.

25. ACPA Manuals
Pictures of covers of the ACPA manuals. From left to right: Facilitator Guide, Family Manual and From Patient to Person: First Steps.

26. You Are Not Alone: Join a Support Group
Support groups can:
Help you put your pain in perspective and connect with others dealing with similar challenges.
Allow people with pain and their families to share their experiences and offer mutual support.
Provide a place to learn coping skills to help you live well in spite of your pain.
A group of five people all looking straight ahead. From the top left there is an Asian man, a Latino women, a black women, and in the front row a white woman and a black man.

27. Where to Go for Help and Information
American Chronic Pain Association