What is the difference between chronic and acute pain? One out of three people suffers from some form of chronic pain - arthritis, headaches, back pain, cancer, or countless other diagnosable or undiagnosable conditions.
By contrast, acute pain occurs suddenly and serves as the body's signal that something may be very wrong. As a general proposition, acute pain almost always has a medical solution. It also has an end. One can expect that in due course, it will be totally over.
The same cannot be said of chronic pain which can persist long after we would expect it to go away.
I see a lot of people who through illness must suffer chronic pain. It usually lasts for more than 6 months, and disrupts every aspect of their normal pattern of living - work, play, sleep, sex, family, social, emotional, and faith life. Often, if requires them to choose some major, long-term changes in their life-style.
What advice do I give to these clients?
I am not a doctor so the first thing that I tell them is to pursue competent medical treatment. Sometimes early intervention can even prevent the problem from becoming chronic. In fact, you should pursue all available medical avenues. This does not mean going from specialist to specialist in hope of a magic cure (which chronic pain suffers often do in desperation) but being an active member of a therapeutic team. Seek out a practitioner who will act as the CEO of your condition.
What if a host of physicians have told you that your pain cannot be remedied as is the case with many people with whom I work? Does this mean that you are a hypochondriac? Maybe you are Woody Allen's cousin, but most people do not contrive pain.
We must respect the fact that all pain is real, whether or not a physician can find a clinical reason for it.
It's your body and you know if something hurts. You don't need to apologize for your pain or to question your judgment about it. Doubting your own perception will just add emotional pain to the physical pain you are already experiencing. If you have people in your life who doubt you, they are not your friends.
Pain is a highly subjective experience based largely on how our family taught us to deal with it, along with our own experiences of it. It feels different to each one of us, and each of us has his or her own way of describing it. In my family, although there is no religious or scientific reason for refraining from taking medication, we just did not do that.
I did not grow up with the experience of seeing my parents take pain medication. I grew up in the Midwest. My husband's family on the other hand could open up a pharmacy with all of the drugs in their medicine chest. He grew up in California. His family has a very liberal idea of pain management. It seems to have worked. My mother in law has fought many battles with her cancer and is a living walking breathing miracle.
You too might have to open your mind to taking pain medication, muscle relaxants, and anti anxiety drugs. These days, pain control techniques such as relaxing therapy, biofeedback, hypnosis, and guided imagery are widely accepted. I see clients in their 80's opening their minds to acupuncture.
Many times just accepting that chronic pain may become part of your life can help.
It is hard to see pain as your enemy, but if you have to live with it, it may be useful to try to make friends with it. It may start to feel familiar and you will stop struggling to control it.
In this way, you will not be constantly threatened by it.
Work the demands of chronic pain into your daily routine, instead of letting it rule your life. Modify your schedule to allow extra time for tasks that are now more difficult. Listen to your own body. When you are tired, relax and rest. Pursuing to hard invites more pain. At the same time, try not to just lie around idling dwelling on your own discomfort.
If you are suffering from chronic pain, I believe you and I am sorry for you. I hope that this has helped.
