Story · 2 min read · 24 Jan 2023
Breanna’s pain story
Find out how Breanna manages her multiple health conditions, her Chronic Widespread Pain, fatigue and wellbeing using a holistic approach to care.
By Prof Helen Slater
By Prof Helen Slater
Breanna’s story describes her experience from early teenage years in managing pain, fatigue and multiple health conditions with conflicting diagnoses.
“You don’t just have chronic pain, you have chronic pain with other conditions on top of it”
Pain and fatigue impacted every aspect of Breanna’s life. “It impacts your mood, it impacts how you interact with people, it impacts your study, it impacts your exercise, it impacts everything.”
Breanna talks about how pain was normalised so that she thought her experience was the same as young people. “I didn’t complain about it as I thought everyone was going through what I was”
At the time, she trusted what she was hearing from health professionals…she questioned it, but was shrugged aside. “This happened repeatedly, … so
“it kind of made me feel…invalidated yeah, you think maybe it’s in my head”
Breanna
Breanna gradually worked out a plan to manage her health using a holistic approach to care with a supportive team and social network.
She describes the value of setting goals to make gradual progress, and working with a trusted health team and supportive social network to help in her day-to-day health management and life goals.
Breanna co-founded and co-facilitates a national pain support network for young people through the Australian Pain Management Association and is studying psychology.