Beech Tree News Network

In the last few days, I’ve been thinking about pain and its causes. Wikipedia stated, “Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain's widely used definition defines pain as ‘an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.’ In medical diagnosis, pain is regarded as a symptom of an underlying condition” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain). So, the causes and the intensity of pain varies.

Thinking about causes of pain, I asked friends and family: “What caused the worst physical pain you’ve experienced?” Their responses are listed below:

•Labor…no drugs. Four times. But the sickest I ever felt was after an epidural for the fifth. I think I would rather have had the pain.

•I fell and broke some ribs.

•When replacing boards on a trailer, the rear piece of metal that the ramps pivot on fell on my toe (no steel-toe shoes). It hurt really badly, and my toe and foot were badly bruised. Soaked in apple cider vinegar for a couple of days and was back walking.

•Wound vac maintenance.

•Child birth.

•Muscle spasms in neck and stiff neck

•Hemiplegic migraine followed by weeks of anxiety and a burning scalp sensation.

•My car accident. (Author’s note: This was a life-changing event.)

•The bad 4-wheeler wreck in my eighth grade year was the most painful.

•Gallbladder. Broken ankle. Some people.

•I think the loss of my mother because of the sadness, loneliness, uncertainty and being physically drained without her. It took me awhile to recover.

•Pancreatitis. Back pain is not as bad, but it is intense.

•I was fortunate to be able to deliver all three of my babies with natural childbirth. It was extremely painful, but I was afraid of the epidural.

•I broke ribs, hyperflexed my neck, then got a cold the next week, coughing and sneezing. Or the time I had a broken tailbone.

•The worst physical pain I can remember happened when I got up for the first time after my second back surgery. For a few minutes, it was worse than the pain of induced labor.

•It was the Bartholin cyst surgery when they had to leave drains. 

•The worst pain I’ve ever had was a spinal tap. A nightmare!

These responses represent a very small sample of the causes of pain. My late husband said, “There’s no special place in heaven for those with a high pain tolerance.” He believed in letting professionals determine how to cure the underlying cause or manage the pain. I agree. After all, pain is no fun.