I started my pain journey when I was 7. I have tried many things over the years, none of which have worked. After all this, would you believe it, on the night before my 21st birthday I got an idea. Why should pain cause suffering? In my case there was no trauma, damage or other problem yet I have pain all the time. Pain is a sense like all other senses (sight, sound, balance etc.). It tells our subconscious brain (the bit that does all the work to keep us alive) about our surroundings and ourselves. Why should we suffer?
I wondered why pain is so unlike our other senses. The things we see and hear come just as information, we don't suffer because of them. Only pain causes suffering. It compels us to check what is wrong and to avoid putting pressure onto the damaged area. Why couldn't the pain signal be passed on as information only, without suffering? Because the animal needs to feel urgency to fix the problem quickly. Our bodies haven't kept up with our transition from instinct-based thinking to logical reasoning.
But is suffering an irremovable part of pain? I think that with a lot of patience and effort we could break the connection between the two. We must or those of us who have chronic pain will be bound to a life of misery. I dream of a day when pain will be just as innocent as the information that there is a tree in front of us and that somewhere in the distance a flute is playing.
My chronic pain siblings and people who can help us please contact me with information and suggestions.
I wondered why pain is so unlike our other senses. The things we see and hear come just as information, we don't suffer because of them. Only pain causes suffering. It compels us to check what is wrong and to avoid putting pressure onto the damaged area. Why couldn't the pain signal be passed on as information only, without suffering? Because the animal needs to feel urgency to fix the problem quickly. Our bodies haven't kept up with our transition from instinct-based thinking to logical reasoning.
But is suffering an irremovable part of pain? I think that with a lot of patience and effort we could break the connection between the two. We must or those of us who have chronic pain will be bound to a life of misery. I dream of a day when pain will be just as innocent as the information that there is a tree in front of us and that somewhere in the distance a flute is playing.
My chronic pain siblings and people who can help us please contact me with information and suggestions.
Thank you for starting this blog. It will be wonderful. When my wife was 30 she start having pain in joints. For 7 years she lived this way as doctors told her that it was all in her head. Then at last a doctor that knew what he was doing . He discovered she had Lupus. she has lived with this for 30 years. I ask her how do you handle such pain. she said after time she learn to control it in her mind. about 6 years ago she started getting very week on left side and pain got greater. Doctors kept saying it was the Lupus. She would tell them I know the difference in pain. at last 3 years ago a doctor discovered she now has MS also. This pain she cannot control. I hope someone knows something that will help to separate the pain without separating the mind. thank you so much my friend for this blog hope someone knows something.
ReplyDeleteHello Pops Origami. I am sorry about your wife's pain and what the doctors said to her. One doctor told me that my pain is not real, it is just how I feel normal things. After researching online I found stories of other people being told the same thing. When they don't have an answer they start to pressurize the patient, even though the lack of knowledge is with them. I also hope that this blog will help us to join forces and look for answers together rather than everyone sitting at home alone with their pain.
Delete