Now on the wishlist...

[telophase]

Review of Melanie Thernstrom's The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering. from the review: "She shows that medical treatment of pain is suboptimal because most doctors have not yet incorporated recent scientific discoveries into their thinking, discoveries indicating that chronic pain is a disease in its own right, a state of pathological pain sensitivity."

Essentially, if I'm reading this right, her argument is that a certain amount of chronic pain is caused by the pain itself: sometimes because the people who have it behave or carry themselves in maladaptive ways which cause muscles to be disused and new pain to occur, and sometimes because the pain itself or the treatment of the pain causes changes in the brain or body.

Comments

[telophase.livejournal.com]

But it makes you more spiritual/closer to God/beautiful/whatever!

Gah, yes, I remember reading on a Usenet group a few years back a long exchange in which one person (who did not have, nor ever had, chronic pain/health issues) was arguing that she thought yes, suffering made you somehow more ... I forgot exactly what, but it was something like wise/holy/whatever. In the face of and directly contradicting a number of people who *had* chronic pain and health issues who were arguing back that all it made them was bitchy, tired, and in pain!

It's a good thing I was reading Usenet through something that I hadn't worked out how to post with, otherwise I'd probably have attempted to punch them through the internet.

[awamiba.livejournal.com]

I actually did have a person in real life tell me that "you are so much more wise and thoughtful now. God has really improved your life through this pain." In person. In a room full of people nodding along with her. *sigh* I managed not to kill her, but it took a lot of deep breaths.


I've had some sort of chronic pain or other all of my life. I do agree that at times I am my own worst enemy and move around in ways that would avoid pain when I'm not actually experiencing that pain. I've had to work hard to pay attention to make sure that I'm walking the right way rather than the avoiding-knee-pain walk that I'd started doing the last year or so.

But I've also noticed that some things cause me pain that don't cause others pain. For years I've heard people talk about this special gel that all the other RA sufferers love, but hadn't tried it because it was hard to get. Finally got some and guess what: it makes me hurt worse. Terrifically painful stuff for me, but works wonders in others.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I managed not to kill her, but it took a lot of deep breaths.

Well, that just proves her point! *ducks and runs*

I pulled a ligament in my ankle in 6th grade and because it didn't heal for six years* I ended up walking with my right foot turned inwards to avoid the pain, and it became such a habit that I didn't notice it until people pointed it out to me. It's mostly gone now - it still doesn't feel weird to walk that way - but it cannot have done me any good.


* My parents refused to take me to the doctor for something they thought could be cured with exercise, which the doctor said was bad for it when I finally got to one in college. Nooooo, I'm not bitter about that...