Rita's experience of managing her chronic pain скачать в хорошем качестве

Rita's experience of managing her chronic pain

Part of the pain management video series commissioned by Leeds Community Healthcare. These videos are to help look at how the Pain Management team and other services can improve people's experiences of managing their chronic pain. Rita is from Roundhay in North Leeds. She shared her powerful story about how chronic pain has affected her life, relationships and sense of identity. Thirteen years ago, a back injury from gardening turned her active, community-focused life upside down. Since then, daily tasks many take for granted—like carrying laundry, gardening, or lifting her grandson—have become impossible. Her condition has had a deep emotional impact, too, leaving her feeling “curled up in a heap” and disconnected from her faith community and friends. Rita has tried a wide range of treatments, from spinal cord stimulation and facet joint injections to hydrotherapy and high-dose morphine patches. Most have brought limited or temporary relief, and she often had to find and fund them herself. She described the pain clinic pathway as confusing and disjointed, and said accessing appropriate care felt like a constant battle. One of the most challenging aspects for Rita has been the lack of coordinated, long-term support. Even learning about available services, such as the community pain management team, only happened by chance. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve had to try and seek out and find for myself,” she said. Despite this, she values the love and support from her family, whom she described as “the unsung heroes and the unsung victims” of chronic pain.