neurOasis

Chronic pain is a daunting, often debilitating, and often not well-understood by many in the medical profession.  Even many "pain specialists" still have a firm hold on outdated theories on pain and its treatment.  This can lead to terrible stress and anxiety on the part of the patient with chronic pain (I include headache), who has often been to many doctors before finding one that can offer even a glimer of hope, or at the very least, empathy and a caring, compassionate approach.  Don't get me wrong, many doctors approach their patients in this way, but many don't - either because of time constraints from the low payments they receive per patient, ignorance about chronic pain and a tendency to view these patients as being "depressed" as the major component of their condition, or they just are not good doctors and don't care about your problem because it takes too much effort on their part. 

I know I am telling all of you with chronic pain many things you already know.  So, what is the answer?  Well, first we must understand what chronic pain is, on a basic level.  Chronic pain is a disease state in and of itself.  It begins to form after an acute injury, such as trauma or surgery; or it can begin as the result of injury to the central nervous system, such as after a stroke, multiple sclerosis and others.  The unifying feature is that it appears to be the results of what we call "maladaptive" nervous system responses to the initial pain or lesion.  This means that our brains and their neurons (nerve cells) form inappropriate connections that form a permanency to the pain perception in our consciousness.  But is it really permanent?  Probably, if you don't get treatment.  We know that treatment of acute pain prevents the onset of chronic pain.  We also have many treatments for patients with chronic pain that has been going on for a prolonged period of time, but we know that the longer the pain has been occurring, the longer it will take to treat it effectively. 

That means the patient needs to have patience.  Not such an easy thing to say, from the patient's perspective!  So, when you find a doctor that seems to understand you, take time with you, empathize with you and who wants to try every treatment available to help you, hold on to the initial euphoria you feel - hold on to it with every up and down emotion on your roller coaster ride through therapy until that light at the end of the tunnel becomes brighter and brighter and ultimately bathes you in a life of improved health, contentedness and an ability to live either pain free or with diminished pain that is manageable.