To distract myself, that is thought provoking! I went away and thought about what I actually do, what works, what helps, and what can be done to roll that one minute into the next where the pain may fade.

I have 5 wheat packs in the freezer, when I need a new one I don't have to wait for the others to cool down. I place the wheat pack on wherever is paining me the most. I got told years ago that while heat can help soothe initially, it just prolongs the pain. Began to use cold packs, couldn't stand the wet dripping from the ice cold gel packs and as I had to wrap it in something to save the drippy mess I may as well try wheat packs, never looked back, the bonus is they can be heated, I do still use heat from time to time, mainly in the winter. They help but don't distract me.

Painkillers, well we all know about pain killers, if I take what I'm supposed to take, I can stand in front of the tv and walk. I walk backwards, forwards and add in different steps or old dance routines slowed down to walking pace. I got out an old aerobic step that I've had for 22 years and I stick that in front of the tv and step up and down while watching a favourite program on the idiot box. If I'm painkillered up, I can walk or step for up to 45 minutes. I try and do this every day, I also have a treadmill and I can set that to a nice steady walk and watch a program on my IPad or read a book while walking for 30 to 45 minutes, I can only do these activities if I've taken my painkillers and they work to move the time along, they help my body maintain its necessary functions such as moving the intestine along etc. This can distract me providing I took the painkillers, I cannot do it without taking the painkillers.

Internet, I think this is the real distraction one for me, I can lose myself looking things up and reading and learning about different things. Sometimes I job search and immerse myself in what the jobs skills are and imagine me doing them. Probably why nearly all my nightly dreams are about interviews and successfully getting the job and then anxiety kicks in and wakes me up because I'm struggling in my dream to do the job. I don't mean I can't do it, the pain is with me in my dreams, I'm aware of it. It makes sense to me now that I know I've been crying in my sleep. Maybe I better kick the job searching!!

Crochet, I used to love to do this, I used to make babies clothes and blankets. I've got a houseful of blankets so I stopped! might take it up again this winter, or maybe I will use my IPad and learn how to do quilting and give that a try. My husband bought me a sewing machine for my 50th birthday (at my request) and I used it for repairing dog coats, blankets and making cushion covers with scraps of material, that distracted me for a bit. At one stage we had 5 Labradors and the dog coats took a beating! We have 4 cats and 3 dogs now. Love my animals.

So thinking about it. The only thing to distract me is to do something that really engages my brain. Donna you can search the internet and there are sites that have people show you step by step how to do things, there might be one for crocheting?