Regardless of its source, chronic pain can disrupt nearly all aspects of someone's life – beyond physical pain, it can impede their ability to work and participate in social and other activities like they used to, impact their relationships and cause feelings of isolation, frustration and anxiety.
Typically, people experiencing acute pain will have an elevated heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate; they may shake or shiver, have goose bumps and pale skin. The more intense the pain, the more visible these signs and symptoms are.
Severe pain is defined as pain that interferes with some or all of the activities of daily living. May cause bed confinement or chair rest because of the severity. Typically doesn't go away, and treatment needs to be continuous for days, weeks, months, or years.
The concept of living well while living with chronic pain can sound impossible, but you can thrive despite chronic pain. Living well with your chronic pain isn't just about managing your pain, but rather about finding ways to live a happy, fulfilled life in spite of your symptoms.
Consistent with previous studies, the prevalences of chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain were higher among older adults, females, adults currently unemployed but who worked previously, veterans, adults living in poverty, those residing in nonmetropolitan areas, and those with public health insurance (5).
There Is a Way Out
Experiencing depression, mood fluctuations, anxiety, altered perceptions and cognition, and emotional instability, are all commonly associated with chronic pain. This is a result of the perceived stress that impacts the body on a physical and chemical level.
It Can Lead to Other Health Problems When nerve pain is ignored, it throws your entire body off. The system our body used to signal and acknowledge pain begins to break down, which can lead to other health problems. You may begin to feel more fatigued and experience weakening of your muscles.
Persistent pain is very complex and may be caused by a number of factors. It may occur alongside conditions such as arthritis, diabetes or fibromyalgia. It may occur after an injury or trauma to the body has healed. And in some cases the cause is not known.
Researchers have developed a type of treatment called pain reprocessing therapy (PRT) to help the brain “unlearn” this kind of pain. PRT teaches people to perceive pain signals sent to the brain as less threatening.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has long been believed to be a disorder that produces the most intense emotional pain and distress in those who have this condition. Studies have shown that borderline patients experience chronic and significant emotional suffering and mental agony.
The person in pain may not even realize the connection between their pain and a traumatic event. Approximately 15% to 35% of patients with chronic pain also have PTSD. Only 2% of people who do not have chronic pain have PTSD. One study found that 51% of patients with chronic low back pain had PTSD symptoms.
The percentage of adults who had chronic pain in the past 3 months increased with age and was higher among those aged 45–64 (25.8%) and 65 and over (30.8%) compared with those aged 18–29 (8.5%) and 30–44 (14.6%) (Figure 2).
Because of the complex relationship between the brain, the nervous system and the body's hormones, chronic pain requires a multidisciplinary treatment approach. It's not like having infection, where you take antibiotics and it's gone. Chronic pain is complex and there isn't one treatment or one pill that will cure it.
Those who do not understand true pain can never understand true peace.
“The study shows people with chronic pain experience disruptions in the communication between brain cells. This could lead to a change in personality through a reduction of their ability to effectively process emotions.
Often those who have a chronic pain condition will also have comorbid conditions, which can contribute to fatigue. Not giving your body all the nutrition and hydration it needs to be energized and ready to function will cause deficiencies; without the right fuel, the body will be fatigued.
Acetaminophen is generally considered safer than other pain relievers. It doesn't cause side effects such as stomach pain and bleeding.
With time, pain can spread from one part of the body to another, shift, expand or radiate, making treatment even harder. One common way that pain spreads to other parts of the body is by overcompensation, where we change our movement patterns in order to compensate the injured or hurt part of the body.