One of the following:
-Visualization-Deep Breathing
-Progressive Muscle Relaxation
-Autogenics
Pain is dulled by opioids in the brain, and over time the nerves send more pain messages and "turn up the volume." Therefore more pain can be felt later with opioid pain medication, especially when the medication isn't present
After certain dosages these pain medications offer no extra help. For example, 400mg of ibuprofen is the "ceiling" where minimal benefit happens above that dose.
Pre-planning a day, problem-solving, delegation of activities, expert-guided exercise and self-massage are also good techniques
What is this phenomena and how might you address it?
Pain catastrophizing is characterized by the tendency to magnify the threat value of a pain stimulus and to feel helpless in the presence of pain, as well as by a relative inability to prevent or inhibit pain-related thoughts in anticipation of, during, or following a painful event.
CBT, ACT, Guided Inquiry, Solution-Focused Therapy can address this.