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eLearning Series:
Relieve My Back Pain NOW!
( 23 pages )
COPING
WITH
CHRONIC
BACK PAIN
There is not a single definition of pain that is appropriate
for everybody because it is a highly subjective experience.
What, to another person, is excruciating may be nothing more
that a slight discomfort for you. Not only do views of pain
vary among individuals, your own perception of it can change
over time. Even when you do have a clear perception of what
pain means to you, there is not an objective way to measure
it you can use to convey your impressions to somebody else.
It is not unusual for patients in a doctor’s office, who have
come in because pain is severely impairing their day-to-day
lives, to have great difficulty describing it clearly.
One thing we do know, however, is the difference between when
we are hurting and when we are not. In the case of acute pain,
you may cry out from it and experience terrible suffering for
a time, but it ends eventually, and usually the sufferer returns
to their normal activities and way of life. Chronic pain is
different. A sufferer of chronic pain not only hurts, but they
keep on hurting. Indeed, the psychological impact of chronic
pain can be worse than the physical sensation itself, especially
when the daily grind of it wears you down and turns the world
grim. Acute pain usually does not change one’s personality.
Chronic pain, if not addressed properly, can alter it drastically.
Chronic pain may have a physical basis, a psychological basis,
or some mix of the two. Maybe it comes from an injury. Maybe
it comes from stress. Maybe the two factors are interconnected.
People who cannot pinpoint a clear physical connection often
say, or are told, that it is “all in their heads.” But that
is not how it feels. Chronic back pain caused by stress can
hurt just as badly as chronic pain that resulted from falling
off of a roof.
It has been estimated
that over 34 million Americans suffer from chronic pain,
be it from arthritis, migraine headaches
or their backs (with lower back pain being the most common).
15 million people experience chronic pain at work on a daily
basis. So if you are a sufferer of chronic pain you are not
alone – though it can certainly feel that way.
What Can You Do About It?
To begin with,
you must make sure clear lines of communication have been
established with you physician(s) and any other health
care providers being seen for chronic back pain. Do not just
assume it is your cross to bear and suffer in silence. Though
it is true that the majority of back pain in general is not
symptomatic of serious illness, do not assume you are therefore
free from all risk. There have been cases of people whose backs’
hurt persistently and they just mistook it for a fact of life
and went on the best they could, only to discover that “bad
back” was really a sign of something much worse, like cancer
or otherwise damaged internal organs.
In order to facilitate
communication to a health care professional it is a good
idea to spell out some specific things to yourself
first as a means of organizing your thoughts and presentation.
For example, asking yourself and answering the following
questions can go a long way toward clarifying what you are
experiencing:
- How bad, on
a scale of 1 – 10 is my pain?
- How long have
I had this pain?
- What words
can be used to describe it (tearing, burning, throbbing,
etc.)?
- What could
have caused my pain? Is there an injury, psychologically
stressful event, or activity I can
link to its onset?
- Are there any
other health problems I am having?
- In addition
to pain medication, what other medicines am I taking?
- What
kinds of things have I done to try alleviating the pain?
Have any helped, even some?
- Both emotionally
and physically, how has pain affected my daily life, be
it at work
or at home?
The
questions do not have to end with the examples above, of
course, and asking a
few may help
you zero in on more specific
inquiries – just as the information
provided will help your physician to get a clearer
picture of
what is
happening with
you. Once the chronic pain is described,
a variety of approaches, alone or in
combination, are available
to treat it.
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