Avoiding Exertion

[Guest guest]

,

You wrote, " I can't seem to get it thru my head to take it easy. Whenever I

get tired, even from doing things I enjoy, my pain level escalates. … I m glad

to know that it isn't just me that has this problem. "

You are not alone. It has taken me a long time to correlate the amount of

physical activity or exertion to the degree to which I hurt or become

incapacitated...literally. It is obvious that stress causes disease. But it

isn't as

obvious how little it takes for basic activities of daily living to become

stressful. It has been a trial and error learning the balance of doing an

activity

and how much rest I need. In my particular case, I know now that I can only do

one out of the house activity every other day. As the disease progresses, I

have found that I also have to structure the activity I do within the confines

of

my apartment. I now use a timer so I don't lose track of time and end up

sitting in one position for hours at a time, or doing any activity for any

extended period of time.

Karyn E. , RN

Executive Director, PAI

http://www.pancassociation.org

Pancreatitis Association International