5 Simple Ways You Can Help Someone With Chronic Pain When It's Cold

I'm stiff with pain. I feel it stabbing and aching deep in my bones.

My burning skin feels like it's almost emanating a frosty chill into the atmosphere around me, though I'm wearing layers upon layers of warm clothing, thick booties on my feet, beanie on my head, thick gloves on my hands.

Oh yes, these hands. These hands and feet that feel like they've been plunged into ice-filled waters and no matter what I do, they stay perpetually frozen.

I know you know this feeling: you know that stinging, burning pain when your hands are ice cold and then you run hot water over them? That's what my extremities feel like All. The. Time. (Well, maybe 99% of the time. There is the rare moment after running them under hot water for as long as I can bear when they retain some sense of warmth!)

I am the Ice Queen that I never wanted to be. Sentenced to months of intense pain during our wet and chilly winter season. Drained from living with extra pain.

And I'm not alone. If only you knew that around you are thousands upon thousands of people who suffer from Invisible Illnesses, made to feel worse when the weather changes (both hot and cold), temperatures drop, and pain rises.

I can't speak for everyone, only for me. But if you look deeper and inquire more, you'll find more stories like mine. People with Central Sensitivity Syndromes, those with Fibromyalgia, those with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, those who are hyper-sensitive to these fluctuations in temperature and barometric pressure.

Life made all the more challenging than it already usually is.

So please, be kind. Be compassionate. And read on if you want to know tangible ways that you can help and be a Healthy Ally to the chronic and invisibly ill.

Here Are 5 Simple Ways You Can Help Someone With Chronic Pain Especially When It's Cold:

1. If you're sick with a cold or flu, STAY HOME! Don't go into work thinking you're being a hero. Spreading your germs to someone who's already sick with a chronic disease can make them extremely debilitated and increase their suffering exponentially.
2. Be flexible when making plans with your friends who you know have chronic pain conditions. If they have to cancel suddenly, be understanding and let them know that's perfectly okay. We already feel so guilty about having to cancel! We don't need an added guilt trip when our bodies are forcing us to stay home when we'd rather be out having fun with you. And please don't stop inviting your friends out because they often cancel. Living with chronic illness is an already isolating existence. People often have a hard time dealing with someone who never seems to get better and end up leaving those sick people behind. If it's in you, continue to invite us out, understanding that our health will often make us have to cancel. But that invitation will mean SO much.
3. Offer to come hangout at your friend's house when they're in too much pain to go out. Sit on the couch with them. Lie on the bed with them and watch a show. Even a short visit will go a long way. We often don't see anyone within a social context for long periods of time. The invisibily ill are all too often just that to everyone else: invisible.
4. When you're going out with your friend, bring an extra blanket or scarf or set of gloves in your car or backpack with you (if possible) just in case what they're wearing ends up not being enough to retain heat. Such a simple gesture that would mean so much!
5. Last but not least and the most simplest of all, just check-in! Let them know that you're thinking of them, that they still exist to you. Send them a quick text that just lets them know "Hey, was thinking of you, I noticed it's super cold today and I hope you're okay!"

Thank you for taking the time to read this post! I hope it's helped you see that it doesn't take much effort for you to have a significant, positive impact on another person's life.

With love and light,

Christina