NO PAIN NO GAIN

The day doctors told her there was nothing more they could do for her was possibly the best day of Angela McGaffin’s life. It led to a referral at Hobart’s Federal Street Pain Clinic where three professionals — a physiotherapist, a psychologist and a pain medication specialist — worked together to teach her how to better process her extreme pain.

“The way I think about pain now is very different to before,” says McGaffin, right, who injured her back while working as a marine biologist in the Antarctic in her 20s.

“I’ve learned to retrain my brain. I still live with pain but I can make choices about how I experience it.”

After nerve damage to her spine, she’s had decades of being in the kind of agonising pain one in five Australians endure every day. Her pain was profound, says the Woodbridge mother-of-two, and far greater than childbirth.

“Chronic pain just goes on and on and that’s one of the reasons it’s so difficult to tolerate,” she says.

After multiple operations (including adding titanium rods to her spine) failed to reduce her discomfort, she ended up a depressed, single mother.

But after setting and working on small and simple goals with her new team of helpers, she has managed to transform her life. She’s newly married and has learned to use her mind to turn the pain down.

“With their help, I slowly began to take control of my life, rather than constantly being controlled by the pain,” she says. “I’m not better yet, but I’m learning how to live my life with my pain. I’m building a new and wonderful life.”

The free Pain Revolution Rural Outreach Tour in Tasmania runs from March 16-23 and includes 19 educational events. Bookings at painrevolution.org/events