Pain is a conversation in democracy
The best metaphor to explain pain I've read is this: the nerves are the reporters on the ground sending valuable insight to the brain about what is happening. The brain is the editor who interprets those signals. The pain you feel is the op-ed published in a newspaper.
I'm very, very early in understanding the literature on pain, but I do understand that it is an opinion the body is screaming out to you as a messenger of last resort. Pain is the body saying, hi hello ladies, whatever you're doing is not working out for me. This is serious.
Pain is body saying, pause, take stock, introspect. Ask why. Ask what.
Editors sometimes underplay stories, sometimes over play stories, sometimes completely misdirect you. Only the rarest editor gets it bang on. Such is the business of pain. Your brain could be telling you you're on fire when you're not, your brain could be telling you it's nothing when you're on fire. You're probably doing both.
Eventually it's important the audience and the editor start to understand each other a bit. Hey, how are things really? How do you feel really? How do you feel today, and how did you feel yesterday, and how did you feel when you slept on time, and how did you feel when you wore that thing, or spoke to that person, or watched that film? How do you feel?
This is not an easy communication to build. Sport people have lost careers to misjudging their own pain. Banking interns have died in the shower for misjudging how much their bodies can handle. We're all abysmal at interpreting our pains.
(Some doctors will tell you it's a nerve thing. That's just half of it -- thats just what the editor hears from the reporters. There's so much more interpretation after that.)
In our cultures we're told to push through the pain. We're told that if a pain is aggravated by stress we should decide to not stress, which is like saying you should decide not to fall very sick with covid. We're told pain is something to be endured and survived, instead of engaged with. That pain is just a bad card we have to play. What it is actually is a change of game.
I'm especially bad at listening to pains. I used to be worse, but I'm getting better. Engaging with the things my body is experiencing is a whole new thing.
These are questions I never asked myself before: Where does it hurt? How much does it hurt? What does it feel like? Am I sad? Anxious? Tired? How does my stomach feel? What happened to me today? Where did my thoughts go? How have those things changed my mood?
Now I ask myself these sometimes. I'm still so far away from understanding why I feel the way I feel. What is the smallest thing I can do to feel better. But a conversation has begun.
I'm very, very early in understanding the literature on pain, but I do understand that it is an opinion the body is screaming out to you as a messenger of last resort. Pain is the body saying, hi hello ladies, whatever you're doing is not working out for me. This is serious.
Pain is body saying, pause, take stock, introspect. Ask why. Ask what.
Editors sometimes underplay stories, sometimes over play stories, sometimes completely misdirect you. Only the rarest editor gets it bang on. Such is the business of pain. Your brain could be telling you you're on fire when you're not, your brain could be telling you it's nothing when you're on fire. You're probably doing both.
Eventually it's important the audience and the editor start to understand each other a bit. Hey, how are things really? How do you feel really? How do you feel today, and how did you feel yesterday, and how did you feel when you slept on time, and how did you feel when you wore that thing, or spoke to that person, or watched that film? How do you feel?
This is not an easy communication to build. Sport people have lost careers to misjudging their own pain. Banking interns have died in the shower for misjudging how much their bodies can handle. We're all abysmal at interpreting our pains.
(Some doctors will tell you it's a nerve thing. That's just half of it -- thats just what the editor hears from the reporters. There's so much more interpretation after that.)
In our cultures we're told to push through the pain. We're told that if a pain is aggravated by stress we should decide to not stress, which is like saying you should decide not to fall very sick with covid. We're told pain is something to be endured and survived, instead of engaged with. That pain is just a bad card we have to play. What it is actually is a change of game.
I'm especially bad at listening to pains. I used to be worse, but I'm getting better. Engaging with the things my body is experiencing is a whole new thing.
These are questions I never asked myself before: Where does it hurt? How much does it hurt? What does it feel like? Am I sad? Anxious? Tired? How does my stomach feel? What happened to me today? Where did my thoughts go? How have those things changed my mood?
Now I ask myself these sometimes. I'm still so far away from understanding why I feel the way I feel. What is the smallest thing I can do to feel better. But a conversation has begun.
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