For nearly 18 years now I’ve been dealing with recurrent pain and cramping in the muscles of my neck, shoulders and upper back. In the last couple of years it has grown steadily worse, and almost intractable, however many times I visit the massage therapist or the chiropractor. It never quite leaves me alone. At present I have had a continuous headache in the exact same spot for two months.
I once saw Paul Harvey do a piece on a book he had read or a documentary he had seen about a leper colony, focusing on how the disease makes lepers insensate to pain, so that they might, for instance, get burned by a cigarette without noticing it had burned down to their fingers, and many incidents like that. At the end he concluded, “You too would say, ‘Thank God for pain!’”
God bless you, Mr. Harvey.
Physical pain is the clearest proof there is that God is either nonexistent, indifferent, or cruel. I don’t mean the pain that serves as a vital warning of danger, I mean the pain you can’t do anything about. Pain that goes on and on no matter how many analgesics or opiates you take.
In 1999 I was assaulted on teh noggin and bequeathed a constellation of issues. The only major one still in existence is the constant head pain. Therefore I’m truly sorry for what you’ve got, Brain. If I could help you I would, sincerely.
Like Eben, I also suffer from migraines.
I can go for days with a low-grade headache that nothing touches, not OTC stuff, not even the occasional Vicodan.
The full-blown migraines just knock me out. I have a prescription for them, but it only works about 2/3s of the time. I’ll crawl into bed, and just lie there, trying to sleep, but knowing it’s going to be an all-day pain event.
I saw a documentary once on children born with no pain reception, and they were always banging their heads into things and breaking their own limbs without realizing it.
It’s hard to explain how chronic pain can wear a body down over time, and a mind. A little here and there seems to toughen people up, but stretch it out and hammer on it long enough and all it does is teach you just how close to the animal we all still are.
Sincere condolences, BG, it’s a crap hand to be dealt.
Me too. It’s the one thing you can truly call your own. Complaining about it help much?
I don’t mean to be a tool but we all know there’s nothing you can do about it. Pain killers? Helps but fucks your head up and there’s never enough. A couple of 800 mg Ibuprofen a day, it seems about the best it will ever get. Just enough to take the edge off it. Having suffered some pretty horrible shit like gangreen, gaping wounds, it’s just not the same is it? That shit is almost like a drug itself, it rips you apart until you wan’t to smash your head with a hammer.
Oh, and I know, it’s the intranet. So I’m probably just making the shit up. Enjoy!
My local ABC station has had some stories recently on treatments for chronic pain. They talked about prolotherapy , which involves injections of lidocaine and dextrose, and the Graston technique, which seems to involve stroking various oddly shaped stainless steel implements across the muscles. They’ve been treating athletes with these therapies for a long time, and it’s starting to move out to the more general public.