Pain and Agony

Every day I wake up with pain. Every day. I believe most people over thirty wake up in pain, deal with pain, go to sleep with pain every day. Here's the thing...it's so pervasive, people don't notice it, or ignore it, until it reaches well past the manageable stage. Mostly, what people do is make excuses for pain.

"It's probably arthritis." Arthritis gets blamed for a lot of pain, maybe unfairly. Maybe...it's overusing a joint. Or repetitive motion. Could just be sleeping in the wrong position. And it might literally be something you ate.

"It's just a low grade fever." Yeah? So what's causing this low grade fever? Is you body fighting something you're not paying attention to?

"I have back issues." Number one reason for back issues is? Sitting, sitting, sitting. If you don't have 'em now, you will if you continue to sit. Move around. Set a timer to remind you.

However, few people complain about pain because they don't remember what it's like to live without it. You can actually become so inured to pain that you ignore it in the general business of living--until you're incapacitated. Then it becomes a life changing issue.

I think we're wrong to ignore it. We do ourselves a disservice, possibly preventing an issue from being treated in a timely manner, because, well--it's just a little pain. Women, in particular have been taught their entire lives to just deal with it. Horrible menstrual pain? Deal with it. Vague chest or back pain? Deal with it.

Well, damn it! No. Don't deal with it. Do something about it. See a doctor, and if he/she waves it off, see another until you find one who takes you seriously. Because the doctor isn't living with your pain. You are. Male, female, old, young, if you have chronic pain, speak up. Fix it.

Fix it before you have to live with pain and agony.