September is a month to raise awareness about several different issues, each as important as the last.
One of the issues that September raises awareness for is Chronic Pain.
Why is it important to know about this issue? Because, according to John Hopkin’s nearly 100 million American’s suffer from chronic pain. John Hopkins site.
That is more than the people who suffer from diabetes, cancer, and heart disease- combined.
Think about that a second. We know how wide spread each of those diseases are. We can do the math to think of how it would be together, and then to think more people suffer from chronic pain.
We all have moments where we hurt. We all have moments where we’re uncomfortable. Now imagine that never going away.
That is some people’s reality. That is my reality.
I don’t know what it’s like to be pain free. I don’t know what it’s like to not hurt at least to some extent.
When I go to the doctor and they are asking me on a scale of 1-10 how bad the pain is, I have to ask them in general or a particular area?
Because yes, those are two different answers.
I have to think about which pain. That’s what is like sometimes to live in chronic pain.
You don’t know what it is like any more to feel normal. This uncomfortable, I hate wearing clothes, please don’t make me move, resting after a shower- that’s your new normal.
I am not severely over weight. I am not unhealthy really. I was just unfortunate enough to be hit head on one morning on my way to work.
Now I live with something that there is no cure to.
I live with something that doctors look at me like I’m a drug seeker before they read my chart, and after they do they want to know how I function.
I live in more pain than I ever knew was possible. That is my life. That is my struggle. And I am not alone.
There are millions of other Americans just like me. People who were living their life and then pain took over.
I am back working, part-time, but hey, it’s something. I am living my life still, even though I now do it in more pain than ever knew was possible.
There is no cure. There is barely any treatment. And the treatment, well it’s addictive.
There is no winning with chronic pain. You have to find a way to not let it control you. That’s all you can do. Do the best you can do.
That’s why we need to find a cure. That’s why we need to find other treatment options.
Treatment options that won’t make us addicts. Treatment options that don’t cause weight gain making our pain worse.
A cure would be ideal, and in a perfect world that would happen.
But I have learned we don’t live in a perfect world. That’s why it is my hope that you will join me in raising awareness for better, safer treatment options.
Everyone wants a cure, that’d be great. Instead, just give me something that helps.