[nottrustin]

For those who have phsycial pain, does it interrupt the effectiveness of your therapy appointments? I have been dealing with shoulder pain for a couple of months. It recently started getting worse, to the point that I am in constant pain and consequently tired. I am apprehensive about going to my appointment with T tomorrow. I am not sure what will be gained by talking about the pain. At the same time talking about emotionally painful things sounds like adding insult to injury.

To complicate matters for me (although not for her I am sure) she is also recovering from a severe knee sprain. She has talked about it briefly when I have asked questions. So to go in and whine about my pain seems weird.

[ArtleyWilkins]

My husband has a chronic pain condition, and it definitely affected his therapy appointments at times because sometimes the pain was just so intense that it was truly the only thing he could think about. The anxiety and depression that goes along with chronic pain is something that was part of the "issues" he talked about in therapy - How do you cope with the constant beatdown pain inflicts? How do you work past the pain? How does pain contribute to how you feel about yourself? How does pain affect how you are interacting with others? How does pain affect your activities, relationships, etc.? Pain is a very real issue that has very real psychological impact.

[Taylor27]

I used to think it was weird to talk about physical pain in therapy until my therapist told me pain is very real and it effects us emotionally too. I think therapy sessions can help allot with chronic pain. I just bought a book (The Body Keeps Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk M.D.), but have not had the chance to read it. I hope you do not mind me recommending the book to you. I hope you go to your session and it will be a good session. Hugs

[*Beth*]

An aside...have you had your shoulder checked out? The pain could be from a rotator cuff injury.

[Rive.]

It sures messes things up. As if therapy in and of itself wasn't hard enough. Now, adding physical pain to the cocktail?! Disaster. At least for me.

[Crook32]

I have a bad knee that needs replacing but all my T and doctors say is I need to walk or jog. Not the easiest thing to do. Any stress on my knee is rough and can cause hours of pain. They think I am just being lazy.

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[nottrustin]

Originally Posted by Cheryl27

I used to think it was weird to talk about physical pain in therapy until my therapist told me pain is very real and it effects us emotionally too. I think therapy sessions can help allot with chronic pain. I just bought a book (The Body Keeps Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk M.D.), but have not had the chance to read it. I hope you do not mind me recommending the book to you. I hope you go to your session and it will be a good session. Hugs

Thank you I have the book. I started reading it when everything shut down.. I plan to read it when T and I have F2F appointments. So we discuss everything in person

[nottrustin]

Originally Posted by BethRags

An aside...have you had your shoulder checked out? The pain could be from a rotator cuff injury.

I have. It is the result of improperly administered vaccine shot. It caused joint issues. I have been in PT for almost 2 months. Sadly, it appears I have early stage frozen shoulder.

[nottrustin]

I guess what makes it harder is that I know she is also in a lot of pain. She doesn't talk about it in detail but O know about it and a bit of how things are going.

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by Crook32

I have a bad knee that needs replacing but all my T and doctors say is I need to walk or jog. Not the easiest thing to do. Any stress on my knee is rough and can cause hours of pain. They think I am just being lazy.

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I had pain in the back of my upper heel that was getting worse and worse. My GP and my pdoc kept encouraging me to walk. I'd mention that I had the pain, but they didn't seem to pay attention. Maybe I wasn't speaking out loudly enough. Finally, over the course of more than a year of forcing myself to walk (to please other people) the pain became so severe that I was limping, could hardly walk at all. I went to see an orthopedic doctor. Turned out I had a tear in my achilles. Ended up having surgery and being in a cast and crutches for 6 months. Lesson: if you're in pain, be assertive when people tell you not to believe your body.

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by nottrustin

I have. It is the result of improperly administered vaccine shot. It caused joint issues. I have been in PT for almost 2 months. Sadly, it appears I have early stage frozen shoulder.

I'm so sorry! That's terrible.

[Favorite Jeans]

I’m so sorry that you’re in pain. It can make it hard to think about anything else.

Until a recent diagnosis, I was pretty stoic about a chronic pain problem that I had. I mentioned it to T in passing and minimized the extent to which it was debilitating.

Now I have a new kind of pain which is intermittent. Since I’m only on the phone with T, I’ve been saying things like, “I don’t feel well. I’m lying on the couch with a heating pad today” because otherwise she’d have no idea.

It’s really changed therapy. It’s allowed me to be a lot more vulnerable (and irritable, OMG!) with her. I wouldn’t say I like it, but it’s really interesting to me how much new and different work can be done after so long with the same therapist.

I hope your shoulder heals soon.

[nottrustin]

Originally Posted by Favorite Jeans

I’m so sorry that you’re in pain. It can make it hard to think about anything else.

Until a recent diagnosis, I was pretty stoic about a chronic pain problem that I had. I mentioned it to T in passing and minimized the extent to which it was debilitating.

Now I have a new kind of pain which is intermittent. Since I’m only on the phone with T, I’ve been saying things like, “I don’t feel well. I’m lying on the couch with a heating pad today” because otherwise she’d have no idea.

It’s really changed therapy. It’s allowed me to be a lot more vulnerable (and irritable, OMG!) with her. I wouldn’t say I like it, but it’s really interesting to me how much new and different work can be done after so long with the same therapist. Some discussed what was happening and ideas on ways to help. She is also in physical therapy so we discussed things our therapists have said that are helpful (ie why wanted more rest while recovering from an injury etc). We discussed my husband's medical issues and she followed up on a couple of minor issues I am dealing with. She didn't want to initiate any potential emotional painful topics. Then we finished my appointment right on time something that has never happened before.

I hope your shoulder heals soon.

Thank you. We had an appointment yet. I told her I had considered canceling my appointment because I could not focus on other things.

[coolibrarian]

Originally Posted by Cheryl27

I used to think it was weird to talk about physical pain in therapy until my therapist told me pain is very real and it effects us emotionally too. I think therapy sessions can help allot with chronic pain. I just bought a book (The Body Keeps Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk M.D.), but have not had the chance to read it. I hope you do not mind me recommending the book to you. I hope you go to your session and it will be a good session. Hugs

I recently bought that book, too!

[LuvsHorses]

Originally Posted by Crook32

I have a bad knee that needs replacing but all my T and doctors say is I need to walk or jog. Not the easiest thing to do. Any stress on my knee is rough and can cause hours of pain. They think I am just being lazy.

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When you have pain, it's very hard to walk. Is it arthritis? I have found cortisone shots work for a while. Pain is real, the deniers can take a hike.

[LonesomeTonight]

I'm really sorry for all of you who are dealing with this--I can definitely see how pain would make it hard to focus in session.


So this isn't chronic pain, but I got the first of my COVID shots yesterday and have had considerable side effects, lots of achiness (all over, not just at site), couldn't sleep much last night, feeling a little sick as of the time of my T session (virtual) today. I told him about it straight off (I'd already let him know I got the shot) and how I was feeling kind of out of it. Like I was having trouble focusing. And there were a couple gestures I made while I was talking, or like a pulling my hair back thing, and was like "ow!" because I wasn't thinking about the injected arm site. He was very empathetic about my not feeling well. I think it still ended up being a helpful session.


I've also met with him before when I was recovering from a migraine, which also made it harder to focus. Though he's dealt with a back injury during time he was working with me, and I know he said he felt it was affecting his ability to focus some at one point (when I mentioned it).

[nottrustin]

Originally Posted by LonesomeTonight

I'm really sorry for all of you who are dealing with this--I can definitely see how pain would make it hard to focus in session.


So this isn't chronic pain, but I got the first of my COVID shots yesterday and have had considerable side effects, lots of achiness (all over, not just at site), couldn't sleep much last night, feeling a little sick as of the time of my T session (virtual) today. I told him about it straight off (I'd already let him know I got the shot) and how I was feeling kind of out of it. Like I was having trouble focusing. And there were a couple gestures I made while I was talking, or like a pulling my hair back thing, and was like "ow!" because I wasn't thinking about the injected arm site. He was very empathetic about my not feeling well. I think it still ended up being a helpful session.


I've also met with him before when I was recovering from a migraine, which also made it harder to focus. Though he's dealt with a back injury during time he was working with me, and I know he said he felt it was affecting his ability to focus some at one point (when I mentioned it).

In retrospect it was an okay appointment this week for me. No big ah ha moments or emotional work. However, it was nice to be able to voice my frustrations that despite doing everything the physical therapist and doctor has told me the pain is getting worse and my range of motion decreasing. Also, the injury was caused by an error in administering my Covid shot.

Plus we are getting some test results as to the medical issues my husband has been dealing with foe almost a year now. It will require some lifestyle changes which we will absolutely do but frustrating.
So while T could not change things she was a great listener and calming.

She had a recent leg injury and is understanding the effects pain can have.