Consumer story – Gabriella Kelly-Davies
In each newsletter we will feature a consumer who lives with chronic pain and share their individual journey on how they deal with their condition, and what advice they might like to share with others who may be experiencing something similar.
This month we spoke to Gabriella Kelly-Davies who recently joined our Consumer Advisory Group.
After a sudden accident at age 24 left her with daily migraines and occipital neuralgia, Gabriella sought a variety of pain management strategies but has said that the concepts she learned at a multidisciplinary pain clinic helped the most.
“The multidisciplinary pain management program taught me how to modify the volume of pain signals. This can be done through a variety of ways including meditation, gentle exercise that is gradually built up over time and another very useful thing that I was taught was the concept of pacing,” she says.
Gabriella says pacing is all about gradually building up exercise and movement throughout every day and learning to space out her activities and movement throughout the day so as to not overwhelm her central nervous system. She emphasizes the importance of structuring her day around techniques including meditation, gentle exercise and she also mentioned the need to be willing to be flexible each day depending on her pain levels.
Gabriella says that understanding the difference between chronic and acute pain really helped her to understand her condition.
When we asked Gabriella what her greatest challenge was with regards to chronic pain, Gabriella said it would have to be the stigma associated with having chronic pain – especially in the workplace. She emphasized the need for workplaces to be supportive and non-judgmental, something that should be a given but sadly isn’t
To encourage other individuals who experience chronic pain in their everyday lives, Gabriella’s message is hopeful:
“Don’t give up. Keep exploring options, keep trying options. Keep learning and keep yourself open to discovering new ways to cope”.
If you have your own story about chronic pain that you would like to share with us, please get in touch via email at admin@painaustralia.org.au