‘Be kind to yourself and live for the good days’

AUTHOR ANNE WELSH, 39, REVEALS HOW SHE COPES WITH CHRONIC PAIN

Anne had a successful career in financial services until chronic pain forced her to give up work in 2008. She is now a speaker and author of the book Pain-less: Living With Pain, Finding Joy (annewelsh.com), which details her experience and offers advice. She lives in Hendon, north London, with her husband Marvin, 55, and children Connor, 10, and Caroline, two.

I have sickle cell disease, a blood clotting disorder that causes crippling pain during flare-ups. It’s unpredictable and attacks come on quickly. It can be brought on by various things – cold is one of them – but stress is by far the biggest trigger, like it is with many illnesses that cause chronic pain.

I was very good at my job – it was fast-paced, but my employers were understanding about my illness. I developed coping strategies like being meticulous about my work and leaving handovers for other staff in case I was taken ill unexpectedly and was unable to come in.

I was handling it well. From childhood my mum, Nancy, had helped me manage it and try to live as normal a life as possible, but at 28, when I became pregnant with Connor, I quickly found I couldn’t cope. I was always having sickle cell attacks – I was naive about the strain of pregnancy and having a child. I eventually had to leave work while still pregnant and haven’t been able to work in a full-time office job since.

I’ve had to make a new life and career for myself. I started working for the Sickle Cell Society as a volunteer to raise awareness of the disease.

From that, I moved into freelance PR, specialising in health and chronic pain matters.

I manage my condition through diet and lifestyle – that’s what I’d advise any person with chronic pain to do – and try to keep strong painkillers to a minimum because of dependency issues.

It takes a long time to come to terms with something as debilitating and depressing as knowing you will always be in severe pain, but there are plenty of ways to live your life.

The most important thing is to accept your limitations, be kind to yourself and to live for the good days.