So, I’ve been reading about pain, both acute and chronic and the difference between them (which I’m assuming is obvious!) I’ve also been learning about the difference between pain and suffering, which go hand in hand to make up our personal pain experience.
The system that our bodies use to respond to pain work perfectly in response to an emergency; to acute pain. What happens? First comes the injury or the illness, in my case, Trigeminal Neuralgia, which I know isn’t acute, but is the cause of my pain. (Of course, for those of you who know me, my chronic pain journey started before the TN, but that isn’t what this conversation’s about.) So, anyway, many parts of the brain are sent a warning that a “threat” is present. Our brains try to figure out how serious it is. Some areas of the brain transform the signals as physical pain sensations. Other areas of the brain, like those that work on problem solving and emotional-processing are also triggered. These thoughts and feelings about the pain make up our perception of “suffering”. Our brain uses the pain, combined with the suffering to give us our “pain experience.” This is the brains way of making sure we are able to protect ourself. This is a normal and helpful pain response. Also, our brains simultaneously go into an “emergency stress response,” where our nervous system, endocrine system and immune system are also reacting to the emergency. Basically our body is on high alert in order to keep us alive, to allow our survival.
Here’s something I found interesting. Even once the stressor is gone, our minds and bodies want to know how to prevent this from happening again. We are automatically programmed (did that sound weird, like we’re robots or something??) to try learn as much as possible from the experience, in order to either prevent or be better prepared if the same pain, threat, illness, etc. happens again. This makes me happy and relieved in a strange way, because it normalizes my behaviour. It means I’m not crazy! I’m not as negative as I believed, lol! Why?? Because our brains go over and over the event. Recalling the pain. Telling people about it. Worrying about it coming back or being even worse the next time. So, my “tedious” ramblings about my life and my pain are actually part of a normal pain response. It is not just because I enjoy dwelling on the pain and how crappy it is. It is not for attention or a way to feel sorry for myself, like being little miss “oh poor me!” (Which I do try hard not to do!!) So, yay yay yay!! There’s an actual explanation that helps to explain why my pain seems to hang over every part of my life, why it’s almost always on my mind. I know it may seem strange for this to be something that I was excited to read, but when you’re immersed in daily chronic pain, learning that it is normal to ruminate about it is a relief. It’s not just always on my mind because I’m negative, I need to stop thinking about it, to stop dwelling on it and to just get over it or, at the very least, be more positive about the whole thing. Nope, it’s not my personal version of crazy, our minds intentionally keep the thoughts and concerns, about our illness and how we expereice it, close to the surface!! It’s trying to be ready for the next time! This entire protective response to survival and short term pain is not a bad system at all. It has likely played an important part in the survival of our species.
The problems with the above pain reactions occur when dealing with chronic pain. This system works perfectly for short, acute pain/illness. Adding chronic pain is a whole new ballpark! You know, my life and my kind of pain!! Lol!!
I’m just want to be sure to add that I am not a pain specialist or doctor. However I’m a chronic pain sufferer and I’m trying to learn everything I can about it. I do realize that my discrpition here is quite simplified. I’ve been reading numerous new books about pain and have read many during this jouney. I am writing this for my own understanding of what’s going on inside my body, yes, for purely selfish reasons!! If it ends up helping others understand then that is a bonus!! I am not quoting directly from any book, but, in an effort to not plagiarize, the majority of this information is from a book by Kelly McGonigal called “Yoga For Pain Relief.”
But, right now my body is in pain. And, my response currently is to do something, anything, to deal with it. I will take medication and I will use hot and cold packs in what will likely turn out to be a fruitless attempt to decrease the pain… Look, the negativity is back!!! Was wondering where it was hiding!! Lol! I’ll try to continue this topic tomorrow, about chronic pain and why our normal pain response backfires for this type of pain.
But, for now, please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their “Health Topic List”!!!
Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!
The Spirit Scribe 