Chronic Pain Sufferer Learns Many Ways to Handle Condition

Sally Milne has lived with fibromyalgia for 40 years. More than 20 years ago, a doctor added the autoimmune disease, lupus, to her list of ailments. Couple those with memory loss, and Milne, now 72, has had to develop some serious coping mechanisms.

She leaves herself notes, carefully records her medication intake, meditates each morning, reads the Bible and other books on spirituality in the afternoon, takes naps and uses a wheelchair to traverse around town or through the grocery store.

She used to run, she recalls with a smile. Then she walked—fast, then more slowly, and now, she says, she walks as little as possible. Pain in her feet from the fibromyalgia, a disease that causes widespread aches and fatigue, has put her in the sporty, electric chair.

The chair positioned near the front door of her apartment at the Red Lion Inn in downtown Randolph and the Bible, filled with bookmarks and awaiting its afternoon read, are ways Milne gets through one pain-filled day after another. They’re mechanisms this onetime social worker and substance abuse counselor developed on her own. But what she lacked was community. She found that about two years ago in a Healthier Living Workshop held at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph.

"I’m a licensed social worker and a licensed substance abuse counselor," Milne says, "and groups were kind of the thing I was interested in." She was even trained to lead them.

But, she says of the Healthier Living Workshop participants, "I’ve never seen a group bond so fast."

She recalls talking about confidentially, feelings, coping, and men and women of all ages suffering from various diseases, or even abuse, speaking with such openness that Milne hoped the workshops wouldn’t end. She shared how she coped and was left feeling that she had helped.

And, perhaps more importantly, she was left knowing that she wasn’t alone with her pain. "That’s very comforting because sometimes you do believe you’re the only one around having this," Milne says. "Getting to know others, getting to know others who have chronic health issues, I felt they were incredible."

Healthier Living Workshops are offered through the Vermont Blueprint for Health. Designed for anyone living with chronic conditions, such as arthritis, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, emphysema and multiple sclerosis, they teach how to deal with frustration, fatigue and pain. Improving strength, flexibility and endurance; managing medications; improving communication with family, friends and health providers; and healthy eating are other topics addressed by the six-week courses.

A new workshop is upcoming at Gifford. It begins August 7 and continues on Thursdays through September 11 at the Gifford Conference Center from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The workshops are free. Call Susan Delattre at 728-2118 to register.

People who have completed the workshops report increased energy, more self-confidence; fewer social limitations; fewer doctors’s visits; and less stress.

Milne certainly recommends the workshops to others. Her pain hasn’t diminished, but if her bright smile, quick wit and easy kinship are indicators, she’s living with remarkable strength of character, an accepting heart and a peaceful state of mind.

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