Four D’s Of Chronic Pain
- Doubt. As time goes on, doctors and relatives more out of frustration than anything else may suggest that perhaps nothing is “really” wrong. The implication is that your pain is all in your mind. You begin to wonder: Is it? Perhaps you can no longer trust your own judgment. You may even consu t a therapist, who might tell you that you have deep-seated reasons for wanting all this pain. These reasons may take years-and more dollars to analyze. In the meantime, you continue to hurt.
- Disuse. To avoid pain, you start doing less and less. You spend more time “resting,” lying on your back watching television, or simply staying in bed all day. As you rest, a terrible thing happens. You lose 1 to 3 percent of body strength for every day that you lie in bed. Gradually your muscles become flabby. You lose calcium from the bones, too, making them more fragile. The increased weakness leads to secondary aches and pains. So you hurt more, which makes you conclude that you need more rest. You are caught in a downward spiral of pain. To release from it, use Ultram.
- Depression. There seems to be nothing to look forward to. You feel down most of the time. You may even entertain thoughts of suicide.
- Disability. Finally, you come to think of yourself as totally disabled. You don’t do very much. You’re dependent on drugs. Your body is out of shape. Your self-esteem is at zero. You’re totally focused on your pain. You have developed chronic pain syndrome (CPS). You are a “pain person.”
