For the past five years I've been in pain. During that time, I can't recall a single day when I was free from pain. People sometimes ask how I can stand living like this. I've answered that "you get used to it", which is the truth.
Likewise. I've been living with constant, daily, disabling pain for nearly 10 years and while it's not pleasant, not fun and extremely frustrating on top of just plain old sore, you do get used to it.
That's when it happened.
I have always found that the human body has a very perverse sense of humour and chooses exactly the wrong moment to remind you that hello, I'm here and ooh, you will feel all sorts of new and exciting and absolutely horrific pain.
More painkillers were fetched and I crawled into bed to cuddle with the heating pad. After an hour or so, the pain had receded from intolerable to merely horrible.
On a tangent, what constantly amazes me with my own pain is the amount of watering my eyes do. It's not tears, it's a stream of water that trickles, specifically from my right eye at the present as I have severe TMJ in my right jaw, and my eye runs water like a very leaky tap.
The point of all of this is that I thought I was used to being in pain and could handle it well. I was wrong. I was used to being in this amount of this kind of pain, and when I got a different amount and a different type of pain, I couldn't cope at all.
It truly sucks. I know exactly where you are coming from - just when you think you have the coping mechanisms in place for the chronic pain and all that goes with it, the frustration, the medication, the changes to lifestyle, etc, the body likes to throw you a new curve ball so you have to go through it all again - but in an entirely different circumstance, AND manage to control the pain that you are currently used to and have a handle on dealing with.
I remember that five years ago, I had this kind of attack two or three times per week, except during menstruation, when it was several times per day.
Gods, that's horrible. I won't be trite and say I can't imagine how you feel, because in actuality, I *can* imagine how you feel.
The medication I'm on does have some irritating side effects,
Likewise. But for the amount of relief I get, even if it is only 10%, I will deal with the side effects.
The third point is that when I say that it could be worse, I really really mean it.
Yes. Agreed.
Star, A fellow chronic pain sufferer with the lovely side effect of it having developed into a physical disability.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 01:34 pm (UTC)Likewise. I've been living with constant, daily, disabling pain for nearly 10 years and while it's not pleasant, not fun and extremely frustrating on top of just plain old sore, you do get used to it.
That's when it happened.
I have always found that the human body has a very perverse sense of humour and chooses exactly the wrong moment to remind you that hello, I'm here and ooh, you will feel all sorts of new and exciting and absolutely horrific pain.
More painkillers were fetched and I crawled into bed to cuddle with the heating pad. After an hour or so, the pain had receded from intolerable to merely horrible.
On a tangent, what constantly amazes me with my own pain is the amount of watering my eyes do. It's not tears, it's a stream of water that trickles, specifically from my right eye at the present as I have severe TMJ in my right jaw, and my eye runs water like a very leaky tap.
The point of all of this is that I thought I was used to being in pain and could handle it well. I was wrong. I was used to being in this amount of this kind of pain, and when I got a different amount and a different type of pain, I couldn't cope at all.
It truly sucks. I know exactly where you are coming from - just when you think you have the coping mechanisms in place for the chronic pain and all that goes with it, the frustration, the medication, the changes to lifestyle, etc, the body likes to throw you a new curve ball so you have to go through it all again - but in an entirely different circumstance, AND manage to control the pain that you are currently used to and have a handle on dealing with.
I remember that five years ago, I had this kind of attack two or three times per week, except during menstruation, when it was several times per day.
Gods, that's horrible. I won't be trite and say I can't imagine how you feel, because in actuality, I *can* imagine how you feel.
The medication I'm on does have some irritating side effects,
Likewise. But for the amount of relief I get, even if it is only 10%, I will deal with the side effects.
The third point is that when I say that it could be worse, I really really mean it.
Yes. Agreed.
Star,
A fellow chronic pain sufferer with the lovely side effect of it having developed into a physical disability.