Chronic pain – a guest post
Sunday, July 12th, 2009In my whine about my latest medical issues, I mention chronic pain. Chronic pain is different from regular pain in the same way a bad mood is different from a blackshade depression. A beloved friend who knows more than most about chronic pain sent me the following. She gave me permission to reproduce it here.
Chronic Pain: A Rant by RLL
It isn’t fair-but it doesn’t give a shit about that. It just hurts.
Most people don’t know you’re in pain. They think you’re just in a bad mood or are just being bitchy or difficult and hard to get along with. Some still consider it malingering — a sign of weakness. Especially when pain starts canceling plans. Others take it personally – if you loved them you’d still want to do this or that like you used to or promised you would. It’s just a lame excuse.
Chronic pain and its side effects don’t show really, at least not like acute pain. If you don’t have a body part split open, are not dripping blood, have something wrapped up, slung up or taped down, it can’t really be all that bad and you’re just being a big baby. You’re just making excuses to get out of something.