How does pain affect you?

[Tom]

I think I feel it more or less as others do. But I have had to deal with it so much I have developed some coping mechanisms, mind tricks, that help me thru. One is to play a game not to show any reaction to pain and make jokes, carry on a conversation, etc. That said, the length of time is a factor, and if it is very persistant I am all for any pain medication I can get.

 

[Misery]

OH FREAKING BOY DO I HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE WITH THIS

*ahem*. Sit down, boys and girls, and I’ll rant aimlessly- er, I mean, tell you a story. My arms will hurt while I do so.

I go through a lot of pain effects… it never stops. There are many, many ways it can happen. The worst of all… which I fortunately haven’t experienced in a long time thanks to therapy… is the days when I cannot walk right. More of a… shambling sort of motion, done as little as possible. This all being when my lower back locks up. The first time it happened, I ended up on the floor, unable to get up for a good while. This was exactly as fun as it sounds.

My right arm can also flare up. The first time that happened was baaaaaaad. I dont 100% remember that. I do 100% remember that I could barely use a computer mouse for the next TWO BLOODY YEARS (because it kept happening). I rigged up a PS3 controller to operate as a mouse instead. I did this for so long that I now can’t break myself out of that habit when gaming on the PC and will use the controller even when it makes no sense to do so. I also now use a vertical mouse! Everyone should use a vertical mouse. What a magical gizmo. I tell ya, you dont realize just how much of a pile of design mistakes a normal mouse is until you spend some quality time with a vertical one.

My neck can also flare up! Oh boy! Can’t turn my head when that happens! I have to be careful of my movements, really, to avoid that. The big problem with this one is that it tends to make me paranoid… I’ll end up avoiding doing fun things because I get worried that it might set that off. Recently I’m getting better about that, but boy is that a slow process.

Overall, this nonsense has made it bloody hard to do some of my hobbies and such. Like, I’m into board games, but I can’t freaking DO that when I can’t reach around the blasted table and such because it screws up my shoulders. Though, that’s FINALLY getting better-ish. I also cannot use my VR headset too often… yet paradoxically, using it more is something that helps because it’s more exercise. So there’s a balance there.

The worst though is the headaches. I dont entirely understand this part… it actually comes from a set of small muscles at the back of the neck, but manifests as a sort of headache. My physical therapist explained how this worked. I nodded and tried to look wise while understanding none of it. But anyway, when one of THOSE comes on, I can’t do much of anything. It’s not a matter of “oh it just hurts too much”. It’s more that it’s the very specific TYPE of pain that causes me major sensory issues.

My therapist can help with that one though. There’s this… thing she does. I’m not 100% sure what it is because, as it turns out, it is hard to see right behind my neck. But I lay down, and she puts her hands under my head, and does SOMETHING, and… yeah that’s the point where I just about go cross-eyed. Talk about satisfying… Something I’ll always remember from therapy, is that while doing one of my exercises before my direct session with my therapist, she was off helping someone else, and explaining that she was going to do this very thing. Then she says “okay, lie down”. Next thing I hear is the person saying something like “oh myyyy *gurgle sound*”. Everyone is trying very hard (okay, not that hard) not to laugh at that one.

Also, there’s the Tube Of The Gods. Well okay it’s a foam roll. But you lay on this odd thing so your spine is going right along it, and then you go cross-eyed again and lay there for awhile. There are exercises that you can do while on it, but even just lying on the thing is useful. We have one at home, I have a set of exercises to do on it each day.

And lastly: FREAKING PILLS. Boy am I tired of taking Advil. Like the very Advil I’m going to take as soon as I’m done typing this. I really just… dont like taking pills, period. Never did. Never will. Ugh.

My right arm hurts.

Other side effect from all of this: a high pain tolerance and a tendency to not notice things. When I had cats, I’d often get lots of scratches due to a couple of them being the type that want to constantly be held and/or climb on you, and the claws are out whenever they want to climb. I’d end up with scratches and bleeding cuts all the time that I’d not at all notice until someone pointed it out.

Ugh. That’s enough silly rambling. I’ll go take my stupid advil now.

 

[SusanLR]

The older I get, the more pain I have.
It comes from a lot of back problems. Discs, arthritis, thoracic outlets, spondylosis, old injuries
in lower spine. And I don't like taking pills of any type either.
Ibuprofen is my go to when the aches get too bad. Heat packs also.

I have Fibromyalgia and now I'm getting polyneuropathy. Making it hard to walk and my
feet are numb and hurt at the same time. That's hard to explain.
It is a daily companion and gets in the way due to the walking problems.

Like many, I get cuts, bruises, burns and don't know when it even happens.
I've a high pain tolerance though and will go through some surgeries that most people
want to be sedated for. Doctors don't understand, but, that's how afraid I am of drugs.

@Suzette, pay special attention to your care and you'll get better. I hope.
Really think you will. Just take care.

 

[Suzette]

@Misery, your story sounds like mine in some ways. I had a whiplash injury when I was 14 and I have never been the same since with very similar pain complaints. But as I get older I also have a lot of injuries to my connective tissues. It is damn easy these days to tear stuff just "because".

By the way, I have found the most comfortable bed that dosen't cause more issues, is a pure latex foam slab over a wooden plat form. The foam gives you the softness you need while the wood gives you the firmness you need. All without making your body parts fall asleep. But it has to be latex as it resists permanent compression.

 

[Suzette]

One thing that confuses me about pain is when people ask if it's a sharp pain or some other kind of pain, and I almost never know and usually just have to guess. If they're surprised or react in some way, I change my answer.

I understand that. I often describe pain in terms of shape "like a spiky ball" or "it feels like the way a crab looks".

Oohhh, interesting! As I am searching my memories for other pain descriptions I am coming across memories of trying to describe taste. I use color in my descriptions a lot! "It tastes green." I have even used things like "it tastes pink, the way a flower looks". Until I joined this forum I didn't realize others don't usually do this.

 

[SDRSpark]

This is hard to describe but initially I will feel pain normally. Using the 1-10 scale I will say "5". But there is also a deeper physical pain that I am only aware of almost intuitively. Like I am aware my body is experiencing the pain but I don't consciously feel it.

Oof. I had appendicitis about a year ago - I was lying in bed in the hospital post-surgery, short of breath because my abdominal muscles wouldn't do the breathing thing.

I buzzed the nurse to ask for painkillers. They asked me to rate my pain on that stupid scale - I said "2...but I can't breathe though!"

I felt like an addict (amazing how the "war on drugs" makes you feel like a bad person for making a totally reasonable request for pain meds) but fortunately the nurse understood and said "yep. Abdominal pain is like that." and gave me my meds.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I am pretty tolerant of pain. If I feel extreme pain then I know something is wrong and I will schedule an appointment with my doctor. Most of the time any pain I feel is tolerable and feels more of annoyance than anything else.

 

[Fino]

I had chronic neck pain and tendonitis until I found a particularly magnificent chiropractor who healed me of both. He also led to me becoming Christian. Talk about value!

 

[Flown]

Like many others here, I process pain a bit differently.
I am a chronic pain sufferer, and some of my pain (particularly prolonged pain or nerve pain) can shut me down entirely. The pain overrides all other input when it kicks into "high gear". I have some level of "background pain" at all times.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed piercings when I had them (I thought my septum piercing felt wonderful). The healing process (and the pain involved) was not a pleasant experience, however.

Furthermore, I am VERY clumsy and VERY prone to injuring myself without realizing it. I will not realize that I have a pulled muscle, broken a bone, or that I have burned myself until several minutes or hours after the fact. As a result, doctors have been really confused and frustrated with me when I tell them "I don't know how this happened"--and as a result I have been accused of being a drug seeker.

The doctor office pain scales do not work for me at all. I think it is a terrible system, even for neurotypicals.

 

[Flown]

That stinks, that happened to me once, a doctor suspected that I tried to get pills, I guess I was unclear and confusing. I don`t eat pills and it turned out I really was sick and needed help. Very frustrating. But I guess it`s a problem doctors deal with all the time, people trying to scam them.

I can understand this. I have a hard time communicating in general, and having had multiple traumatic experiences with medical "professionals" has likely made this worse. I now know to type out a thorough list of symptoms, concerns, and what I hope to get out of the appointment (and just skip trying to talk it out altogether). I absolutely hate going to the doctor, but my health issues have made it difficult to NOT go.

Note: I don't like taking medications either (unless it is an emergency), and I am not the type to ask for pain relief medications. Doctors just assume that is why I am there.

 

[Pats]

I have a lot of neck and back issues - and with age also now deal with arthritis and other aches and pains everywhere. I take mobic (basically like motrin only once a day). With the neck issues, I have trigiminal neuralgia which can get really bad, feeling like a combination severe toothache/ear ache combination, and there used to be days I could not function because the pain was so bad and nonstop, lasting for days. It took a long time, but I finally found a doctor who listened to me and he put me on a very low dose seizue medication that slows nerve impulses, which helped tremendously. I usually take one twice a day, but can take 2 twice a day if I need to. Most pain I can deal with, but when it becomes a 10 I can't concentrate or do anything because you can't ignore it.

I'd recommend seeing a doctor about it because it'll only get worse. And be careful when they send you to physical therapy. With a ruptured disc they sent me for p.t. and they made it worse - made the disc protrude even further - and it was unbearable, I couldn't even lay down to sleep - I slept standing up. Steriods for inflammation, traction, physical therapy then, last measure, surgery - which fixed it.

 

[Judge]

Primarily in two ways.

1) The kind that hurts, anywhere from an annoyance to intense, sustained pain.
2) The kind that can make you pass out.

 

[SDRSpark]

The doctor office pain scales do not work for me at all. I think it is a terrible system, even for neurotypicals.

Everyone thinks it's a terrible system, even the neurotypicals. For some reason, medical professionals insist on continuing to use it.