Chronic Pain

[marcmagus]

Sitting here feeling tired and generally unpleasant and unfocused and not really realizing why, I felt a twinge in my wrist and an epiphany. Chronic pain doesn't just manifest as pain in the affected area, does it? In fact, you can experience those "secondary symptoms" while not consciously experiencing the primary sensation of pain? I think this may explain much which was unclear to me in the past...

Comments welcome.

Comments

[velvetmouse]

Bingo.

Sorry, I didn't realize that wasn't something you knew on a conscious level, or I would have tried to explain it. :(

For me, one of the hardest things about chronic pain is that I *don't notice it*. My pain tolerance is so out of whack that I quite simply don't notice the pain a lot of the time - but that doesn't mean it's not there, nor that my body isn't expending energy coping with it. I have to remind myself (or get other people to remind me) that yes, your body really is expending a lot of energy coping and letting you function. Just because you're not screaming in pain doesn't mean it's not there.

I notice it most when it's *not* there, like after an acupuncture session, and suddenly I have so much more energy at 9pm than I "normally" do.