Pain flaring? Push through or step back
Nicola Tik
Your pain has flared up, and now there is a decision to make. Do you take the time off, or do you carry on and hope it settles? If you are weighing that up, it is a genuinely tricky call, and it is sensible to give it a moment's thought rather than just reacting. The good news is there is a clearer way to think it through than the two options that first spring to mind.
The choice tends to present itself as grit your teeth and carry on, or stop everything and rest up. For most flare-ups, though, neither extreme is the one that helps. Pushing hard through a flare can wind it up further, while resting completely for days often leaves you stiffer and can make getting going again harder than it needed to be. The useful path usually sits in between. It also helps to know that a flare-up is generally your system turning the volume up for a while rather than a sign of fresh damage, and that it tends to settle with time.
Stepping back does not have to mean stopping altogether. You could try easing off the things that really aggravate it while keeping moving gently within a range that feels comfortable. Turning the intensity down, rather than switching everything off, tends to keep things ticking over so the flare has less chance to stiffen you up. Movement, kept gentle, is usually part of settling a flare rather than something to fear during one.
When a flare starts to ease, there is a strong pull to cram in everything you missed, which often leads to overdoing it and crashing back down. Keeping things a bit steadier day to day, even when you feel good, tends to smooth out that up-and-down ride. Little and regular beats a big burst followed by a slump, both for getting things done and for how you feel afterwards.
If a day ahead is packed with the things that really set your pain off, taking some time off can be a perfectly sensible choice, and it is okay to rest when you need to. Equally, a lighter, adapted day is often kinder than complete rest. A useful question is not "off or on?" but "what is the gentler version of today?" And if you do take the time, keep pottering and moving gently rather than staying completely still.
Seeing how a flare rises and eases over the days can be reassuring in itself, and it helps you judge these calls next time. Your VIDA pain check-in is a good way to keep track of how things are shifting, so you can spot when a flare is on its way down.
If a flare-up is not easing after a few weeks, or they keep coming back more often than they used to, it is worth speaking to your GP about it, and your VIDA pain check-in can help you show them the pattern. That is a reasonable step to take, not an overreaction.