I think each one of us lives with certain maladies that affect our sense of well-being. However, most of the time we learn to cope with it and are able to enjoy a fairly positive outlook despite the problems.

Here is my current list of health or appearance problems that plague me:

• Back pain
• Hand/wrist arthritis/tendinitis
• Meralgia paresthetica in upper left thigh
• Acne
• Sinus congestion
• Leg pain when standing (especially when wearing non-minimal shoes or on hard surfaces)
• Kyphosis/Scoliosis
• Digestive trouble
• Eye strain
• Depression

The worst of the items on this list, by far, is back pain. I first started experiencing twinges of this when I started college. Unfortunately, I ignored it at the time since it wasn’t that bad. Due to a lack of proper exercise and stretching, the condition grew worse over the next couple years. Now, I generally always have some level of pain in my back, which ranges from a 1 to a 7 on the comparative pain scale.

If there is one thing I have learned in the past couple years of dealing with various health problems, it is that moaning and groaning (or getting others to do this for me) does absolutely nothing to help me cope with the pain. Here is how I currently deal with my back pain. Hopefully you can relate it to whatever physical ailment with which you have to live.

1. Create a treatment plan. I daily take turmeric and MSM (sulfur) powder which are both natural anti-inflammatory substances. In addition, I am now generally taking a daily dose of acetaminophen to help with pain outbreaks. I have decided on this instead of taking NSAIDs because these can have deleterious effects on the gut and my gut already has enough problems after the surgery I had a couple years ago.
2. Self-crack my back. I do this every half hour. I try to not do it more often than this, because this can cause more problems than it fixes. This has become routine. I simply bend over to a 90 degree angle and then jerk back up. This will usually in a satisfying crack right in the center of my back.
3. Have alternative methods to deal with pain if the above doesn’t work. If I am still experiencing back pain that does not allow me to function very efficiently, I will do one of several things. First, a cold shower usually makes my back feel better. Another option is laying on a foam roller in both directions and stretching. The last option is to make some tea and meditate. If nothing else, this can help me get into a better mental state.
4. Focus on getting through this day. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming to me if I start worrying about how my back pain will affect me during medical school or my career. There may be a time and a place to think about such things, but not in the moment that I am experiencing the pain. Right then, the best thing is to just focus on coping with it as best as possible and fulfilling my obligations for that day.

This is a constant struggle and I still have bouts of depression on a fairly regular basis because of this. However, I feel like I am making progress and hope that these experiences will make me a wiser and more empathetic person in general.