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How to deal with extreme physical pain

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Re: How to deal with extreme physical pain

#21

Post by Daishiman »

dheera wrote: post #11
bichiliad wrote: post #7

I didn’t realize how privileged I was until a relatively minor bike crash left me with a hard limp for a week or two. There’s a lot of lessons there (how can we design streets better? why don’t we focus on accessibility? why is the healthcare system hard to navigate?) but honestly the one that really hit me is how privileged I am to be healthy.

This also honestly makes me wonder how hard it must be for wild animals who get injured, and need to worry about predators throughout the whole recovery process.

There's a reason most wild animals don't live more than 5 or 6 years. Imagine living as long as a toddler, tops, because your body is completely worn out.

Re: How to deal with extreme physical pain

#22

Post by gwbas1c »

banana_giraffe wrote: post #12

I have a chronic condition that causes pain. One of the things I've learned, in as much as I can, is I don't tell anyone. I'd rather be rude than explain I'm in pain. Not because I don't appreciate sympathy. Not because I'm ashamed. It's because I don't want your advice on how to make the pain go away or to deal with it. I'm tired of advice. I've got too much advice. I try things, I research issues. I talk to doctors…

> It's because I don't want your advice on how to make the pain go away or to deal with it

Banana_giraffe isn't alone.

I had chronic obstructive sleep apnea and I quickly got tired of unsolicited woo-woo illogical suggestions to treat it.

Exercise and meditation doesn't fix problems with bone structure.

Re: How to deal with extreme physical pain

#23

Post by robotresearcher »

dheera wrote: post #11
bichiliad wrote: post #7

I didn’t realize how privileged I was until a relatively minor bike crash left me with a hard limp for a week or two. There’s a lot of lessons there (how can we design streets better? why don’t we focus on accessibility? why is the healthcare system hard to navigate?) but honestly the one that really hit me is how privileged I am to be healthy.

This also honestly makes me wonder how hard it must be for wild animals who get injured, and need to worry about predators throughout the whole recovery process.

A serious injury that limits mobility is certain death from starvation for many or most species. Adults of most species don't feed each other. This is true enough that finding a body or fossil with a healed fracture of a long bone is very interesting as it implies something about social behavior.

Re: How to deal with extreme physical pain

#24

Post by m0zg »

bichiliad wrote: post #7

I didn’t realize how privileged I was until a relatively minor bike crash left me with a hard limp for a week or two. There’s a lot of lessons there (how can we design streets better? why don’t we focus on accessibility? why is the healthcare system hard to navigate?) but honestly the one that really hit me is how privileged I am to be healthy.

It's remarkable how many people I know, including myself, had significant bicycle-related trauma. I broke my ankle in three places due to a fall (do not recommend by the way, once the shock wears off the pain is pretty bad, and then after a while you have to walk on your still partially broken foot so that it heals properly). A friend of mine broke a clavicle. Another friend nearly fractured her spine. I sold my bike after the accident and wasn't tempted to buy another one since.

Re: How to deal with extreme physical pain

#25

Post by strstr »

"A healthy man wants a thousand things, a sick man only wants one".

There are so many forms of illness where this is true. I've never experienced anything nearly as persistent and painful as frozen shoulder.

The worst thing I've experienced was probably Sciatica as a teen. It was particularly frustrating since the pain was intermittent and invisible to others. Through fairly substantial lifestyle changes, I haven't had issues in more than a decade.

I hope everyone in this thread (and the author) is able to become well enough to return to their lives.

Re: How to deal with extreme physical pain

#26

Post by softwaredoug »

Wow. Not chronic pain, but I've dealt with chronic debilitating lack of sleep (brought on by a strong urge to urinate all night). I got to some places of really deep despair with feeling complete exhaustion but no ability to sleep for any substantial period of time.

It took a while before I found some things that worked between sleep doctors, urologist, physical therapists, primary doctors etc. It was particularly frustrating because frequent urination was seen as a kind of low-level thing. Still it was causing great difficulty where I could barely keep functioning.

Ultimately, what ended up mattering was (1) enlisting family to help advocate for me to my doctors (2) getting 2nd and 3rd opinions (3) being persistent and continuing to try new things, not being stuck with one doctors opinion

I got the impression that unless you/someone is advocating for you strongly and working actively to solve the problem, continuing to keep going back to the same doctor over and over and trying to give them the benefit of the doubt doesn't work.

Re: How to deal with extreme physical pain

#27

Post by stordoff »

schoolornot wrote: post #6
alexh1 wrote: post #2

Fuck. Shit sucks. I myself have dealt with long lasting (> 1 month) pain and it's horrific. Your whole perspective changes, you think life will never be the same. I can't imagine what it's like when these issues stretch into the years.

Had invasive surgery on my humerus that involved drilling & cutting into bone and muscle. The pain following the nerve block wearing off was indescribable. Groaning was about the most I could do. The pills might as well have been made out of sugar. You're right, perspective does change permanently. There weren't "seeing the light" moments but I certainly know now who my friends are. I have an interesting view of life…

> I'm also viciously dismissive now of any legislation or practices that limit controlled substances. I'm not an addict and I shouldn't be punished for other peoples acts.

I find myself agreeing with this. Opiate overuse and addiction is certainly a problem, but I also question some of the negativity I see regarding their use (from a UK perspective). I was on tramadol (200mg/day) for about six months, and was told, by my consultant, that coming off them "will be worse than quitting heroin". I just stopped taking them, and saw no ill effects. I've twice been on codeine (240mg/day) for around 8-12 months, and was given similar, albeit less severe, warnings about withdrawal. In both cases, there were no side effects upon stopping. I have to wonder if such warnings make withdrawal symptoms more likely through the nocebo effect[1].

They certainly have been misused in many ways, but they also have their place and make long-term pain much easier to deal with.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3352765/

Re: How to deal with extreme physical pain

#28

Post by qppo »

autarch wrote: post #14

About ten years ago I had around 9 months (maybe a little more) of chronic testicular pain. It felt like someone had kicked me in the crotch about 10 minutes ago, all day every day. I've been in more pain from some injuries I've had (bike accident), but this lasted for much, much longer. It also made sleeping difficult, as for some reason lying down was extremely uncomfortable. I ended up sleeping in a chair for seve…

Another person with orchialgia here, it sucks. Mine's been on and off for almost 20 months now. After three urologists I found something that worked (and it's like a miracle).

Something you touch on here implicitly is how much it changes little things in your life. For me it was long commutes, I can't sit for extended periods of time.

What I would add is that doctors can be great for things they recognize and can treat. With something like chronic pain that can manifest due to numerous causes and doesn't outright kill you, doctors can be very unhelpful. It took a really bad bout of pain to see a new urologist who diagnosed it as a damaged nerve and prescribed a device that works.

Not everyone is the same, but my experience led me to believe that if you suffer from chronic pain you just have to keep shuffling specialists until you find someone that's read different research than the others that works.

Re: How to deal with extreme physical pain

#29

Post by Retric »

gwbas1c wrote: post #22
banana_giraffe wrote: post #12

I have a chronic condition that causes pain. One of the things I've learned, in as much as I can, is I don't tell anyone. I'd rather be rude than explain I'm in pain. Not because I don't appreciate sympathy. Not because I'm ashamed. It's because I don't want your advice on how to make the pain go away or to deal with it. I'm tired of advice. I've got too much advice. I try things, I research issues. I talk to doctors…

> It's because I don't want your advice on how to make the pain go away or to deal with it Banana_giraffe isn't alone. I had chronic obstructive sleep apnea and I quickly got tired of unsolicited woo-woo illogical suggestions to treat it. Exercise and meditation doesn't fix problems with bone structure.

Sleep apnea is like knee pain in that loosing significant weight either makes a huge difference, or does nothing. Unfortunately, if it doesn’t work for you people will still constantly bring it up.
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