cold outside

Surviving the Winter with Chronic Facial Pain in the Modern Age

It’s mid winter here in the northern hemisphere and, for those chronic facial pain patients living in areas with four seasons of weather, life can be challenging (see The Weather – Facial Pain Effect.) It’s the time of year when low temperatures push many chronic facial pain patients indoors for the season, making their homes become their hermitages. It’s hard for anyone to be stuck inside for long periods of time. Being “cooped up” like hens in a barn is not a natural way of being human. It’s the accompanying feeling of restlessness that birthed terms such as “cabin fever” and going “stir crazy.” To make matters worse, running everyday errands, something most people take for granted, becomes a big challenge

There are things that you can do to help yourself despite winter cramping your style. It’s truly the modern age, so take advantage of services which are as close as your keyboard.

Of course, everyone knows about Amazon.com. They carry, quite literally, anything that you can think of and more, usually in five different colors. On top of that there are three different Amazon services are quite helpful for those who are stuck at home.

If you join Amazon Prime, for an annual fee you get free 2 day shipping on any Prime products, and if you’re not in a hurry, you get “no rush credits.” There’s an endless list of free Prime movies and television as well. Your products get to you lightning fast and you can binge watch an Amazon original series while you wait.

You can also “Subscribe and Save” on household items that you use regularly. Things like cleaning products, shampoo, paper towels, and much more. Set a frequency and Amazon simply ships you the product at the intervals you set.

They also have the “Dash Button.” There are Dash Buttons for thousands of products. You order the Dash button and when it arrives, you use your smart phone to pair it with your wifi. Then, when you need more of the associated product, you just click the button and the product is on its way. I use it for garbage bags, toilet paper, pet food, and children vitamins.

Online Grocery Shopping

For those who have a hard time shopping for groceries in person, many of the larger grocery chains offer curbside pick up service. Harris Teeter is one of the nicer grocery stores here in North Carolina. Their curbside service is called “Express Lane.” You can shop online for anything that the store carries, including fresh produce, meat from the butcher shop, and bulk items. You can also save money by filtering the products by savings, such as only shopping the sales flier, or only shopping the BOGO items, which would be all but impossible and tremendously time consuming when shopping in person.

The service adds an extra $5 to your total, or you can subscribe on a monthly or yearly basis to bring the service charge per order down. If they don’t have an item you ordered, they will call you and even suggest a substitute. Orders must be 6 hours before you intend to pick them up. I usually order my groceries in the morning for a 5:30 pm pick up time. Then my husband can pick them up on his way home. An added bonus of shopping this way is that between shopping trips, as I run out of things in my pantry, I can add them to my next order thereby never forgetting that thing that I knew I needed but won’t remember until hubby gets home with the groceries.

Check with your local grocery stores to see if they offer online shopping/curbside service, or try these:

To take good care of ourselves, chronic facial pain patients need to see a wide array of physicians: from general practitioners and neurologists, to psychotherapists and dentists. Yet, as chronic facial pain patients, getting out to the doctor is very demanding. Three of the most difficult things I have to do in the winter are: prepare for, attend, and recover from a doctor’s appointment. In order to reduce the frequency of outside appointments, whenever possible I opt for online health services.

Doctor on Demand is my family’s “go to” for minor medical issues. Using this service, I can video chat with a doctor right when I need one about issues that don’t require a face-to-face meeting. The top illnesses they treat are: cold and flu, sore throat, UTIs, skin issues and rashes, diarrhea and vomiting, and eye issues. They write prescriptions, just like in-person doctors do. They also take some insurance plans, but the out-of-pocket cost is not prohibitively high. I can go sit in my GP’s office, waiting with other sick people, and pay $25, or I can sit on my bed in my pajamas and see a doctor without waiting for $49. In my world, the $24 difference is a bargain.  For those of you with kids, they also offer pediatrics.

In addition to general medicine and pediatrics, they also offer mental health services. I have been seeing the same therapist with Doctor on Demand for almost 2 years. We have a better relationship than I have ever had with a psychologist, and I think it’s because I am in the safety of my own bedroom when we chat.

What ways do you make the winter months more tolerable? What things do you do to make every day errands easier? Comment below and let us know!