I have been pretty lucky in my life so far regarding experiences of pain, but I just got surgery on my tongue this morning, and it hurts. I’m on drugs, and it hurts less than it would without them, but it still is notably uncomfortable even when hopped to the gills. I’ve tried not to sleep during the day today because I don’t want to be awake tonight tossing and turning, and I also haven’t eaten much today because well - I’m not that hungry yet.
But seriously I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. I’m tired and woozy and shaky and just want to curl up somewhere. I don’t think it’s the procedure itself - that took less than 5 minutes and is a super small ‘insult’ to my being (I’ve had bicycle accidents that caused more actual damage) and I don’t think it’s the food directly, because I fast once a week anyway and do fine.
So I’m thinking it’s the pain, but that’s just signal noise - what is it about the sensation of pain that is wearing me out? What is going on chemically or mentally that is so draining? I’m not sleepy, or really tired, I feel worn down like I do with a fever.
IANA medical anything, but I’m going to go waaay out on a limb and suggest that being hopped to the gills on pain suppressing meds has a pretty strong sedative / anti-ambition effect.
All the more so if you’re not used to that stuff. Many people take enough over the years that even though they’re far short of dependent, their body is not naïve to the meds. Docs know that and overprescribe for somebody like you to properly cater for somebody like them.
I have rheumatoid arthritis. While I treat it, I don’t use narcotic pain meds. I can attest, based on my 50+ years with chronic pain that it definitely does wear on you and make you fatigued. I’ve always felt that pain should burn calories in accordance with how tired it makes you. If it’s a real effort to walk a half a block, for example, that should burn more calories than if it was an easy walk. But it never seems to work that way.
A good question, one I’ve wondered about myself for a long time–as OP sadly demonstrates, your mind works sometimes overboard precisely to get back at your fucked up body/life/situation of painful torpitude.
I do hope someone comes along with more info on pain as a subjective and objective event.
Plus: Bandname above. As well as autocorrect suggestion with “turpitude.” Which is more 80’s metal.
Pain meds allow one to relax and get some rest I bet modern muscle relaxants are an attempt to accomplish the same thing without all the side effects.
A similar problem arises when operating in extreme cold environments. If one is not equipped properly for it, getting good sleep particularly, the constant shivering and tense muscles will really wear a person out. It’s super fatigueing, once they get to a warm environment they will sleep for a day or two straight through.
Pain and the “faint” maneuver both sap the ability of the body to continue doing whatever it is that the body does not like.
The instant sleeper hold often screwed up shuts down a critical blood flow to the brain.
By dropping instantly, the brain and heart are again on the same level - a trick to increase blood pressure/flow to brain.
It’s not just the medicine. For the past two years I’ve been dealing with severe hip/back pain, and unable to take any pain killers. Especially during the initial six weeks, when I was virtually immobilized, I’ve been wiped out, with very low energy and chronic exhaustion. When I go food shopping (using the cart as a walker), I’m totally wiped out for the rest of the day. I believe it takes a certain amount of mental energy to deal with this amount of pain, energy that normally would be used for other activities.
I have OsteoArthritis and if I eat anything with spices, tomatoes, or pork, I have trouble walking the next day. I use a lot of Fish Oil to eliminate the pain and gain flexibility
I’ve noticed two elements, aside from the effects of medications.
One is that everything we do uses up energy, and when we are in pain, we are using a LOT more of our bodies to react to it than we are using when we aren’t in pain. I get very tired from anything where I have to focus all my attention on something, whether it’s painful or not.
The other element seems to be psychological, more or less. Maybe almost Pavlovian. When I feel muscle pain, I subconsciously ASSUME that I must have done a lot of work to cause that, so I make myself sleepy in order to get the rest I need. It’s similar to why allergies that make my eyes itch, also make me sleepy. Itchy eyes is a normal result of staying awake too long, so I assume I need rest.
