Pain is meant to help you.
It’s designed to warn you of physical danger, and alert you, when something isn’t right – whether what you’re touching, is too hot, or if there’s some part of you is becoming injured.
The pain is the signal to get away. Without that kind of pain, you would be oblivious to the dangers that may affect you at any moment.
But that’s different when there’s scarcely a moment without pain. Chronic pain that persists can make life debilitating. Despite the fact that some have said pain such as this is merely a figment of the mind, most believe that such pain is real, and can even cause changes in the body.
Chronic pain isn’t felt in isolation. Whoever is experiencing pains that don’t go away, whether they’re headaches, back pain or one of a plethora of constant or recurring conditions, the effect is worsened by social issues within the person, and from the other people in the person’s life.
Once pain withholds you from your workaday life or your family life, or your social life the toll becomes greater than the sum of the pain.
The pain expands to include a host of emotional issues such as anger, resentment, and sadness that can eventually lead to depression.
While depression by itself can be a major roadblock in a person’s life, as can chronic pain, the two can create the web from which it’s difficult for a person to escape. More individuals who suffer from recurring pain stumble into depression than the rest of the population, which puts those in that category at a greater need to seek mental health.
While the symptoms of chronic pain can be any associated with pain in general, such as difficulty moving, sleeping and restlessness, when the pain is combined with depression the sufferer will go through a metamorphosis – a spiral into a terrible place where sleep, happiness, and normalcy become elusive at best.
From here, nothing will get solved – not the pain, and not the depression. They each feed on the other and disengagement will require the help of trained physical and mental health practitioners.
Symptoms of Chronic Pain and Depression
- More than six months of prolonged pain after an accident
- Seemingly phantom pain, which is known as allodynia, which appears as a hypersensitivity to objects or situations that are not painful
- seemingly increased pain, or a lack of tolerance for pain is called hyperpathia
When these pain symptoms are accompanied by two weeks of the following issues, unabated, it’s time to get help.
- Overwhelming sadness or melancholy, overshadowing the good
- Lack or increase of appetite, weight and sleeping schedule changes
- Inconsistent focus, memory
- Restlessness and tiredness
- Feelings of guilt or nothingness
- No desire to do anything fun
What To Do About It
1. Keep active, even after an accident. Don’t let chronic pain dictate your life. Be in touch with your doctor about how to be as open to activities as possible.
2. See a chiropractor to minimize pain with regular adjustments, and regain the physical strength and energy that will help both your health and your mental well-being.
3. There are many tactics to treat and live better with chronic pain. Relaxation therapy, cognitive therapy that will help you have better thoughts and improve your outlook.
4. Becoming more open with your family and friends about your condition, and involving them in your process to live through it well.