living with chronic pain

So, I have been told by all and sundry that I should start sharing the volumes of information I have gathered on chronic pain as I suffer from (or have been cursed by, or challenged by or even gifted with) six separate diagnoses which cause pain in some form or another.  I am also one of those who must research all I can about each condition and talk it to death with the few friends who will still listen to me, so possibly this is their attempt to stop the endless phone calls.

I have (in no particular order) bipolar disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, degenerative osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and spinal stenosis.  I take as well as inject medicines and supplements for these but they only nominally work.  I would like to share what I know about dealing with chronic pain and doctors and medication and insurance companies, but I'm not sure where to start.  I guess the best place to begin is with tricks that may help.

First, let me define chronic pain for anyone who is interested.  Chronic pain was originally defined as pain that lasted six months or longer.  It has been redefined recently as pain that persists longer than the temporal course of natural healing associated with a particular injury or disease process.  Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.  And yes, I know I should have sourced those but I don't remember from whence I pulled them.

Pain is subjective in nature and defined by the person experiencing it, and the medical community is just beginning to understand that chronic pain now includes the part the mind plays in processing and interpreting pain signals.  This last is probably the most important thing you must know if you are in chronic pain facing your doctors or if you know someone who is in chronic pain.  It would feel very different if it were your pain and my doctor is sure he/she would feel it far less.

There are things you can do depending on the location, severity and duration of the pain.  Anyone who has to endure hours of truly debilitating pain would benefit from labor and birthing techniques (and yes, they work for men as well), whereas anyone who has to live through hours of the same pain over and over, whether it is dull or severe must either learn to create an "off" switch or learn to become one with the pain.  I know this sounds like something from "Kung Fu" but it is, alas, true and besides, it works if you can master it.  There are other things you can do as well, but I want to know who's listening before I start to rattle of my vast encyclopedia of knowledge.  So I think this will do it for my first post.