PAIN. . . BY THE NUMBERS, PART II. .

As I sit down to put finger to key this morning I am continuing to ‘manage’ my pain. What is the ‘pain’ I am striving to ‘manage’? Well, as I noted in my last posting it is referred to by some folks as a ‘number.’ In this case, my number ranges from 2-8.5. It is easier for me to manage a pain at 2 than a pain at 8.5. Currently my 8.5 pain takes center stage every 20-40 minutes and remains there for about 5 minutes. These are the numbers. AND, The numbers don’t describe, for me, the pain.

I have been thinking about ‘Pain’ on and off for more than 30 years (the number of years I have been managing chronic pain). This recent ‘acute’ Pain has motivated me to focus once again on this concept we call ‘Pain.’ So, is there a definition, not a number that might help us begin to understand Pain? Perhaps a definition of ‘Pain’ will help. Consider the following:

Pain = physical suffering or distress; it is a distressing sensation in a particular part of the body; it involves physical and emotional suffering or torment.

Well, gentle reader, this definition begins to capture it for me. It is a beginning. I would, however, add to the ‘physical and emotional’ dimensions the ‘intellectual and spiritual dimensions’ – the four dimensions that help ‘define’ us as fully human beings. So, given this, here is my ‘revised’ definition of ‘Pain’. Pain = physical suffering or distress; it is a distressing sensation in a particular part of the body; it involves physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual suffering or torment.

‘Physically’ I seek to manage my current ‘Pain’ by breathing slowly and deeply when my pain spikes to 8.5. I do have some pills available to me but they do not help much and I seek to avoid using them if I can. ‘Emotionally’ I manage my pain by ‘self-talk’ – ‘This too shall pass!’ Also, by focusing on the ‘now’ rather than projecting out how many days of this I will have to endure I am more able to cope emotionally.

‘Intellectually’ I am not able to focus as sharply and I am not able to concentrate as intensely as I did prior to the onset of this ‘Pain’ – for example, I will read and reflect for shorter periods of time and I will break my writing up into smaller ‘bits of time.’ ‘Spiritually’ I am more aware of my own mortality and I am more aware of how this ‘Pain’ has enabled me to tap into my ‘spiritual resources’ – meditation, for example – in order to help me cope.

As I reflected on ‘Pain’ and these four dimensions I began to realize that I needed a few more ‘descriptors’ – these were not quite enough. What emerged for me was four words/concepts. So, gentle reader, next time, we will briefly explore these four words/concepts that also help me ‘describe’ what I am referring to as ‘Pain.’