he has kept his sense of humour. bangs keyboard. he laughs. it is all about what you can do, not what you can t do. so the one i always use the example of, is reframing of achievements. that was the biggest, like, lightbulb moment for me, is, you know, the london marathon, some people, that is their massive achievement, they have run the london marathon. that s not going to happen. so my achievement is, i ve got out of bed today. that s a win. i have managed to get down the stairs, that s a win. i ve left the house, that s a win. nikijones is also notching up some wins. in september 2021, she took part in a charity bike ride around lincolnshire, even while withdrawing from fentanyl and managing her pain. the aim was to raise awareness that we can change the way we think and talk about pain, to live with it rather than be ruled by it. there s a massive misunderstanding of pain.
dr barker s clinic is one of relatively few specialist centres dealing with chronic pain. chris leads a team of physiotherapists, psychologists, pharmacists helping people better manage their pain. it s started easing off a little bit. - focusing notjust on the physical causes, but also on how the brain interprets and reacts to pain. trying to keep an open mind. i think the understanding we have of pain will take a long time to filter through, and attitudes will change as well, i think, when we understand that pain is something that is modifiable, and we can make changes to it, and we can be empowered to do those kind of things. it may not completely get rid of pain, but when we understand how to deal with this in a different way, i think we will be in a much better place. you feel a bit uncomfortable today, don t you? yeah. should we have a look at that, and try and get you more comfortable. crosstalk. i can see how you are holding yourself.
relax you posture, butjust breathing in, coming forwards, yeah? thinking about pain in a new way, reframing our understanding of chronic pain, can transform lives. people like bernie. want you to stand up, yeah? ..whose approach to how she manages her pain has been helped by the all round support the clinic office. i think i am of the generation where you think, you take a tablet and it will go away, which it doesn t. it takes some of the pain away but obviously the condition is still there. now i am learning how to cope with that without the tablets and i still have to take the painkillers, but other things as well as well that help it. it is, i am getting on a little bit now, i m not the oldest person in the world, but i want to be able to enjoy the rest of my life rather than have it be controlled by pain. laughter. one constant theme we have heard from the thousands of people who have told us about their experience of living with chronic pain,
flaring, when i m in agony, crying because i can barely move and my medication isn t helping. i had to change my personality and become more selfish - so i can manage my time, energyand pain. - it s exhausting. it s another place - everything looks the same but everything s different. i never know when the next flare up will come and i know that there will be lots of things i m not able to do because i am in pain. in our survey nearly half of those who lived with chronic pain said it impacted on their daily life simple things like doing the shopping going to work. libby has lived almost half her life with pain. a serious problem with her thyroid developed when she was agedjustii, leading to chronic pain that profoundly affected every aspect of her childhood and her teenage yea rs. now she is studying at university but that s only possible because of a combination of medication and other therapies.
of pain, especially in my joints, but it s kind of flaring up the nerve pain from last night. i got a teddy because i m a child. i am still in a lot of pain but at least i am in pain with a teddy now. it s been a really, really good day but unfortunately all my good days come with quite a lot of bad days afterwards. my leg just feels so twisted, like it is being pulled so tight that it s burning. trying to get to sleep for hours, i am exhausted. as the years progressed and things got worse, there were a few moments where i couldn t really think about the future. because i couldn t imagine things getting better. it sjust something i can coexist with, and for me that is kind of what acceptance is, it s just finding a way to coexist. because i don t think i will ever find peace with it,