Fight Pain – or Tough it Out?

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Reactions to pain vary from person to person, but we all know someone who feels they can handle anything by themselves, that medications are for other people. They’ll just tough it out. But is this really the right thing to do? Or are they making it unnecessarily tougher on themselves?

The answer depends entirely on the problem that is causing the pain, but in many cases, yes, they are just making it harder. Pain plays a role in our lives. For the most part, it’s a sign that something is wrong.

A toothache is a pretty common example. How many people have found that ignoring a toothache is really all that helpful? Likely very few. A toothache means that there is something happening in the mouth that shouldn’t be and this needs to be fixed. How it’s fixed is up to the dentist and the person with the sore mouth, but it needs to be dealt with, not toughed out.

Other Types of Pain

When someone has surgery, their doctor prescribes analgesics, pain medications, so they can help manage their pain levels. The analgesics may not totally eliminate the pain, but they may help make the pain manageable or bearable. By feeling less pain, they should  be able to move around more. By moving around more, they will heal more quickly.

It’s been known for a while now that getting people up and out of bed as quickly as is possible after surgery results in fewer complications. Lying in bed, patients can become susceptible to developing pneumonia or blood clots to the legs. Refusing to take analgesics may limit their ability to get up and move about and may actually prolong recovery.

Chronic Pain

Arthritis can range from being mildly annoying to painfully debilitating. If the pain keeps people from accomplishing certain tasks, unless their doctor says otherwise, they should likely be taking analgesics fairly regularly. Arthritis in the hands can make it difficult to do simple tasks, even performing personal hygiene or making a meal. Read more

Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis: An Interview

A few years ago, I interviewed a woman, GT, who lives with Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.

The interview first appeared on my original health blog, Help My Hurt, which is no longer in existence, so here is it is again, so others can learn about his painful disorder:

Can you tell me about when you first started experiencing pain from the disorder. What kind of pain it was?
I started to have excruciating neck and head pain a few years ago after an attack of ADEM. Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a neurological disorder characterized by inflammation of the brain and spinal cord caused by damage to the myelin sheath.

Did you seek help right away or was it something you tried to deal with?

I went for acupuncture the morning of the attack.  Read more

10 Reasons Seniors Experience Chronic Pain

Chronic pain affects people in so many ways and sometimes in ways that they don’t realize. For example, chronic pain may lead to isolation because it may be difficult to get out and socialize when you’re in pain. Sleeplessness from chronic pain may result in irritability and/or other illnesses. In other words, chronic pain is not an entity on its own .

Living with chronic pain can be a nightmare for seniors, especially if they’re alone. Those who have little help may not get the right treatment they need either because they can’t get to the doctor or they can’t get their doctor to listen to them.

As the baby boomers are aging, this could become even more of an issue so the problem of pain in seniors needs to be addressed.

Here at 10 common reasons why seniors have pain:

1. Falls/trauma – falling from lack of balance or weakness can end up into a nightmare of pain. Safety proofing the environment is a way to help prevent these accidents. Yoga and tai chi have also been shown to help seniors regain a sense of balance and make them more agile.
2. Arthritis – osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis affecting seniors; the next most common is rheumatoid arthritis.
3. Pain after surgery – while most people seem to bounce back after surgery once the worst of the pain is over, many times seniors don’t have that ability. This can result in long-lasting chronic pain.
4. Osteoporosis – thinning of the bones causes fractures. The fractures may not be obvious like hip or arm breaks; they can be in the spine, causing chronic and severe back and neck pain.
5. Shingles – the shingles virus attacks as a result of the chicken pox virus, which most older people had when they were younger. After the shingles disappears, it can leave yet another problem called postherpetic neuralgia – very severe nerve pain along where the shingles rash was.
6. Face pain – whether due to ill-flitting dentures, teeth that need to be pulled, or other problems with the jaw, face pain can be severe and seem never-ending.
7. Back and neck pain – pain in the back and neck can result from diseases such as osteoarthritis or osteoporosis, but it can also be the result of bad mattresses, poor posture, previous back injuries and so on.
8. Abdominal pain – although there are many problems that can cause abdominal pain, one big reason among seniors is constipation. They may be taking medications that cause constipation, they may not be eating well, or getting enough exercises. This pain can become very severe.
9. Circulatory problems – if a senior has problems with the blood circulation, the resulting swelling – most often in the legs and feet – can result in a lot of pain.
10. Cancer – as people live longer, they are developing more cancers. Even if the cancer is not fatal, it can cause a considerable amount of chronic pain – or the pain can be caused by the treatments, as well.

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Images: iStock.com