Living with persistant pain

Your first stop should be a GP so you can discuss your pain in all its forms and explore options that work for you.

 There are also online resources to help you with self-management.

Ten Footsteps to Living Well with Pain programme

This is a step-by-step online guide to living well despite your persistent pain. When people self-manage their pain, their quality of life improves. Eventually it stops dominating their day and they begin to get more out of life. Knowing how to self-manage your pain is not automatic – but it is something that you can learn. That’s where Ten Footsteps comes in. It’s designed to help you learn the skills you need to become an effective self-manager of your pain and can be done on your own or with support from Bruton Surgery Health Coaches. To find out more about the Ten Footsteps approach to pain management go to:

https://livewellwithpain.co.uk/ten-footsteps-programme/

Support groups

There's lots of self-help advice available from a variety of organisations supporting people living with long-term pain, such as:

Action on Pain http://www.action-on-pain.co.uk/

British Pain Society https://www.britishpainsociety.org/

Pain Concern https://painconcern.org.uk/

Charities specialising in specific conditions, such as arthritis or fibromyalgia, may also offer more targeted pain management advice. Some of these organisations run helplines and self-help groups, where you can talk to and meet other people with long-term pain.

 If you find you're having difficulty managing your pain, ask the GP for a referral to the Somerset Community Pain Management Service. Their aim is to support you and work with you to find ways to improve your quality of life and, in spite of your persistent pain, to live as independent a life as you would wish.