She added: “It’s mind over matter really. I’m just so used to the times when it gets so bad and the rash comes back on the head. It is just like a kind of tingling feeling the whole time but more intense.
“Every so often you are sitting there and it’s like an electric shock goes through your head and you jump, then it calms itself down to a dull ache. It is like someone running a serrated edged pizza wheel across your head every couple of minutes.”
Jan went on to say that due to the rash in her hair, it makes everyday activities such as washing her hair, or putting anything on it “extremely painful”.
Remarkably, Jan has been able to deal with the chronic pain, but she finds some times are easier than others: “I like my clothes, I like my hair just so. I have to suffer in silence in order to style my hair. Sometimes it gets so bad I do feel sorry for myself. Getting yourself into a routine of mind over matter is important, but sometimes I do give into it and I feel sorry for myself.
“I have tried everything and it doesn’t work. But I am an exception, unfortunately. The thing that keeps me going is I think to myself ‘Well, if this is the worst thing I am going to be afflicted with in my life then I’ll take it’. I have friends who have got heart problems or cancer etc, so you just do what you can to sort of grin and bear it.”
