I retreat to music, too, during flareups. I have a lot of music saved on my mobile phone (it has 2gig for music and I've almost filled it with songs) so I put my earphones in and soak it up. I find it a great distraction from the pain as I focus on the music going into my head. If music is played on a normal stereo in the house, I can't have it too loud as the vibrations drive me nuts, but through the earphones it's ok. I have a huge range of songs- sometimes something like Simple Plan helps me deal with the pain (especially their Save Me song) other times it's more mellow stuff like John Mayer.

I also have a lot of stand up comedy on my phone. Laughter is a great pain reliever so some days I go into my room and listen to that.

I used to play keyboard in a band and played in front of hundreds of people each week (and often thousands at big events) so I really miss playing, but often I can close my eyes and my fingers know exactly how to move to play what I'm listening to. I've done this a lot during ketamine infusions- lying in a darkened room, awake and my brain tripping a tiny bit, I could pick out every instrument in every song, tell them when to come in and play with my fingers exactly what the keyboard guy is doing! I was a very accomplished conductor in my tripped out, ketamine-soaked brain, lol. I just had to make sure no one saw me or they'd push my hospital bed over to the nuthouse!

Flare ups and high pain levels are so much harder to deal with when you don't have a distraction, as your brain and your mind just focuses on how much pain you're in. So if you can distract your brain by bombarding it with music or listening to something you enjoy, it's easier to get through the tough times.

x Kate