Think Positive To Relieve Arthritis Pain.

My name is Cathy Posner and I live in Wauchope which is on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. I was born in 1957 and in late 2004 was told that the aches in my joints were Rheumatoid Arthritis.

My husband, Ray has a very positive approach to everything and I guess that has rubbed off on me, so rather than sit back and let things progress I decided to see what I could do for myself.

Let me give you an example of Ray's positive attitude. In September 2003 he had to have open heart surgery to replace his aortic valve. We live on 160 acres so before he went into hospital he slashed a walking track so that he could regularly exercise when he came out of hospital.

Not only that he left the tractor set up for slashing. Four weeks after surgery, even though he was not allowed to lift anything heavier that a 2 liter bottle of milk (about 4 pints) he got the OK to slash the paddocks as long as he did big easy turns at the end of each run. (Actually I think he secretly enjoyed having me open the car door for him and carry the groceries.)

So, as you can see, in his mind there was no way that he wasn't going to get back to a normal life as quickly as possible, but within the guidelines of what the Doctors told him.

Now when you live with someone like that it's hard not to take a positive approach.

How can having a positive attitude help you in your fight against the pain and difficulties arthritis can cause?

I know some of you already reading this have a positive approach so please bear with me.

As I was saying Ray's positive attitude helped him in his recovery. I don't know how much pain he was in but I can imagine it was considerable. After all you don't have your sternum sawn in half and rejoined without pain.

In fact for some time he had to clutch a folded towel to his chest whenever he coughed or went to the bathroom but he never complained once.

He just got on with life within the restraints set by the Doctors and in fact even started a new business while he was recovering.

OK you might ask ?how does this relate to me?? I know pain can be an all consuming, overpowering feeling but you need to get your mind off it.

If you sit back and wallow in self-pity your days and nights will drag, you will become depressed (or even more depressed) and your pain feeds upon itself ? your mind magnifies the intensity of your pain and you feel even worse.

If this describes you and my comments offend you then I am sorry but hopefully what I am about to say will be a ?wake up? call for you.

What are the benefits of having a positive attitude? Well to start with your mind can be trained to focus on things other that your pain. When it does, your pain is shut out creating a sense of feeling better. This feeling feeds on itself in the same way that if you allow yourself to focus on your pain, it seems to get worse.

Can you learn to have a positive attitude? Of course you can. If you are still breathing you have the ability to learn. And really it is not so much 'learning? but altering the state of your mind.

All you need is the desire to help yourself, to get relief from your pain and overcome obstacles that your arthritis creates for you.

May I suggest some things you can do?

How is your lifestyle? Do you look after yourself? Your wellbeing is very important to how you feel and influences how you think.

Diet and Exercise are important to your overall health. If you are not eating correctly and doing some exercise within your limits, you are not helping yourself in your fight to get arthritis pain relief.

To read more about diet, foods that can help, foods to avoid and to get some great tips on getting started with exercise simply click on the link at the end of this article and then follow the links on the home page.

I recommend you read a book on Positive Thinking. There are some excellent publications available and most will give you the tools you need.

Sit down and relax. Think back to when you didn't have the inconvenience and pain of arthritis. Pick a point in time when you were doing something that you enjoyed.

Now focus on that thing. Experience it again. Feel the emotion associated with it. Live it. Breathe it. Be there ? in your mind be that person that you were then.

Do this 2 or 3 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes at a time. Tip: if you sit down and find you go to sleep, try standing up.

This technique helps to reprogram your subconscious to think ?pain free? and you should find that your pain decreases or may actually ?go away?.

You can also use this anytime your pain starts to get the better of you. Just go back to that time when you were pain free and allow your mind to again experience that feeling.

This really works. But don't just do it once ? you must do it every day, without fail and you will soon see the benefits.

Cathy Posner