My sony erikson died last year so I bought a samsung smart phone. It cost $149 and it does everything I need it to without having to splurge on hundreds of dollars on an iPhone. I did by an IPad the week before I broke my back again in 2012 after my kindle died. thank goodness I did as it I'm sure is what helped me keep my sanity, once I found I could download books on it I've never looked back, you can download your kindle books onto the IPad and also buy iBooks.

Who would have thought I would be jealous of people going to work, it's 18 months now since I worked and not a day goes by that I don't miss that feeling of engaging the brain.
I used work as a distraction for years, immersed myself in studying and learning new things.
I'm focussing on getting myself fitter and aim to go back to the workforce, my salary continuation from my superannuation cuts out in August and if I'm not well enough to work by then I'm just going to have to push through it. We won't be able to survive on my husband wage alone. My medical and medication costs are enormous even with medibank and PBS. I'm sure we are all in the same boat though !!

I don't have a smart phone either....am too dumb for a smart phone! We only have an Ipad because we needed an inexpensive small computer and an Ipad filled the bill....way cheaper than a laptop...this is an old one....the original model I think. Technically it is not a computer, it is considered a mobile device like an IPhone. It does most of what I need, email, Skype, can download books or movies but mostly I watch Netflix, etc use Internet to shop, play games.

ITunes is simply the online store where Apple Computer sells its products like music, apps, games, movies, that can downloaded to computers, phones, etc. Harbormaster is a game that I downloaded from ITunes to my Ipad.

My heating pad gets alot of use as well. Gel icepacks work well too.
Thanks, Diandra

hi uglogirl,
I must admit I am very envious you can work. do you mind me asking what you do? I always love to hear about jobs that can be done with pain issues....it gives me hope.

Cats are great company. We have 3.

Did you find crocheting difficult to learn. A friend just suggested I try it but I am not a very crafty person.

Good to hear from you.
Diandra

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?

Laughter is an important therapy. I watch cartoons (mostly Looney Tunes), old movies, screwball comedies, comedy on cable. 20-30 minutes of (belly) laughter twice a day can produce therapeutic levels of endorphins.

I couldn't say why, but whereas movies can help distract me from pain, reading cannot. I miss reading. Audio books don't do it either. Maybe it's the visual component, as music can soothe, but not distract me (enough). I miss playing my guitar as well.

I find interactive distractions work better for me than passive ones. Designing quilts, embroidery designs/patterns, (DW does the sewing/construction part), writing...

When things are too severe, and/or all else fails, Ol' Furface is here for hugging & rocking. He's learned to pick up things I drop (like the remotes), or fetch my slippers. I taught him how to grab/hug my finger with his toepads, and he puts his paws on my leg or in my hand and gives me a gentle hug/squeeze. (I don't fool/deceive myself—he wants a noogie for his trouble, but that's ok.)

Coping With Chronic Pain

Doc

Hi all, a newbie here to this site. What I do to get my mind off my pain.
is my laptop On 3 different support groups. When it get to bad then I go to my music, relax put my earbuds in & relax to the music. it helps me. I do like to read to, reading one of Stephen King right now. Thanks for all the info I can try.

Pam....thanks, I will check for crocheting videos online. I hope you are doing OK.
I think of you so often and hope things are getting better for you.I know it is summer there and winter here in northeast USA...how about making me jealous and telling what the weather is like there today in AUS. We got a snowstorm, about 6 inches 2 days ago but sunny and snow covered all over....very pretty.

Doc Smith...laughter does seem to do the trick for many of us...nothing like a big belly laugh. I personally love Stephen Colbert...his foolishness is just hilarious. Thanks for the link on CP.

Lonewolf....welcome, and good to hear from you. I agree, support groups are definitely are one of the best distractions. I am so glad you joined in as it always make me wonder when I see SO many people viewing this thread but so few responding. It is not a criticism at all, I am just sure others have great ideas, I hope they are not being shy. By the way, what Stephen King book are you reading? Do you recommend it?

I know many of is have lost jobs and have limited income so I was thinking maybe we could also share money saving ways to get at our distractions. For example, there is Netflix and Hulu that we have to pay for each month but I recently found something called "pollystreaming". I honestly don't know how it works because there is almost no advertising but I was able to watch old tv series on HBO like the Sorpranos because we don't have HBO. I found it by accident....I simply goggled "pollystreaming sopranos season 1". You then have to hunt around for the episodes. It frustrated my husband and my friend who tried using it but I got the hang of it.

I have a friend who lives on a shoestring and she just got something called Roku. Anyone have that and can talk about or recommend it.

Have a good Sunday....my best to everyone. Diandra

Hi Pam,
I had never heard of those wheat packs before and when I googled them, UK and AUS sites came up alot. I know in the US those packs are often filled with barley or rice or cocoa shells or something like that and they always seem to have an odor I am not fond of because I microwave them, have never frozen.....thanks for that idea. take care Diandra

It's basically a box that allows you to stream internet content through your television set. Many new TVs are being built with internet connectivity, making a Roku device redundant.

There is a lot of "free" movie/tv/video content available online. Most can be found by spending a few minutes on goggle. I found quite a bit when our television died, and more later because the new one does have internet capability.

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free Books, Movies, Music ...
Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies & music, as well as 390 billion archived web pages.

Crackle - Watch Free Movies Online – Full-Length Streaming Movies

Free Full Movies - Complete - YouTube
I spent a couple of weekends watching full commercial-free episodes of The Adventures of Superman series from the '50s with George Reeves. There are a lot more nuggets hidden in YouTube than one might think.

MoviesFoundOnline.com - Watch free streaming movies, documentaries, cartoons and TV-shows online.

Popcornflix: Watch Free Movies Online

Open Culture - The best free cultural & educational media on the web

MORE...

Some have commercials - some don't.

There are also (too many to list) sites for watching TV channels from around the world, including broadcast, webcast, and cable.

free online tv channels from around the world

Doc