Understanding pain.

What does it mean "to understand pain?" I want to give you an example. Something called Post-nucleotomy syndrome can occur in some patients after herniated disk surgery. This means that the same or similar pain experienced before surgery returns after surgery. How is this possible? How can something be painful when it is no longer there? Pain is often hard to understand. I have been organizing patient education events for many years. I sometimes learn more about pain form the patients that attend the Pain Management Colloquium than I do during office hours. Being together with people facing the same problems, away from the clinical setting, makes talking a lot easier. And someone who can talk to experts and fellow patients alike has an easier time understanding complicated issues.

Most pain patients have wandered from doctor to doctor for years, each time hoping to finally find help. Unfortunately for many, help could not be found, leaving only frustration with doctors and medicine. Many have the feeling that no one takes them seriously anymore and become disillusioned; some pain patients suffer from depression as a result. This happens more often than one might think.

All this usually means that one's entire life is slowly but surely dominated by pain. Such people begin to withdraw from life, stop leaving the house, begin turning away from family and friends. One is afraid of not being taken seriously, of becoming a burden to others or, worse still, of becoming a nuisance. In the end this process leads to isolation. The pain determines the way one lives. But shouldn't it be the other way around? The patient should regain control of his or her life. This is what we work on; this is our common goal.

recognizing pain

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