Symphony of pain
There blooms the flower of pain, so bittersweet!!
It assaults us. It takes us on a crooked path. But pain is not invariably a devil. It does not always leave scarred memories. The dark tunnel of pain often has its other end in paradise. So, grin and bear it!!
My husband agreed to bite the bullet when he gave his nod for a surgery to mend his dislocated shoulder. Little did he know that the post operative pain was much beyond his capacity to endure. It was every minute a thorn in his skin for the next three weeks. It even killed his luxury sleep, often waking up twice or thrice in the middle of the night to accommodate a painless position for his arms. Yet it is a pittance paid for the post surgery life of badminton, tennis, swim or a wide stretch. He had no particular restraints thereon. He could flirt with his body thereafter :)
If a full-term mother-to-be does not co-operate with her pain, would she ever marvel and celebrate motherhood? The little bundle of joy is her paradise, an elixir that builds selfless love and care, true potions for longevity. I cannot describe enough this joy. For me, I cannot think of a bigger springtime than the moment when I held each of my little ones close to my heart the day they were born.
Perceive a situation of mental health challenges such as depression, trauma, extreme stress, anxiety and there you are living the difficult journey of emotional pain. If you can seek support in such emotional situations, often the new version of you is a better person. It needs continual self-reminders and ample journaling to keep your achieved balance.
Think of a student dealing with her stressful preparations for competitive exams. It pushes her to the verge of breaking her or making her. If she succeeds in reengineering winning strategies, she shall arrive. I cannot agree more on the philosophy of ‘No pain, no gain’, something my dad always reminded me when I would give up studying. My children have inherited this advice from me !!
Should you hop on and take the stride that promises gain after the grilling pain ? …Certainly Yes. We are all born for a purpose and we should do our every bit to accomplish the same. Wasn’t Christ too speaking loud on this — There is resurrection after crucifixion, thus He practised what He preached (well if you are to take it symbolically)!!
Not everyone is always lucky in the subject of pain. Enroute suffering while being victims of pain, here are the clinical classifications of pain -
a. Chronic pain — Usually extends for a longer period of time. Arthritis, chronic illnesses, or an emotional trauma inflicted by the loss of a loved one. It may be difficult to tide over it but over time we learn to live with it albeit complaining.
b. Acute pain — Resultant from an injury or surgery. Short lived. A caution or an alarm if it is an acute chest pain.
c. Nociceptive pain — Occurs when specific pain receptors (nociceptors) are stimulated due to tissue damage. Sharp, aching pain that needs treatment. Even ‘ego damages’ could cause such a pain on your emotions.
d. Neuropathic pain — Pain caused by dysfunction of the nervous system. Burning and shooting pain, associated usually with certain medical conditions like diabetic neuropathy.
e. Inflammatory pain — Pain in response to an inflammation in the body. A tooth-ache.
f. Referred pain — A pain at an alter location other than its source. A heart attack presenting itself on your aching arm.
g. Psychogenic pain — purely the topic concerning mind when clinically diagnosed. Stress and anxiety are main causes of psychogenic pain.
h. Phantom pain — Rarely but existent. Phantom pain happens in the part of the body that has been amputated or lost. The person still experiences sensations and pain in the missing body part.
i. Breakthrough pain — A sudden flare up of pain even when the person is undergoing a pain management treatment.
j. Migraine — Most commonly heard amongst adults and children, underlying causes could be unwanted and undue thinking or a missed schedule, causing pulsating headaches leading to nausea and sensitivity to light and sound.
k. Labor pain — Restricted to childbirth.
If you ask a medico, she will tell you how they measure the severity of pain. They call it the SOCRATES pain assessment tool. Emotional pain is known to have similar effects on the brain activities and vitals, however the SOCRATES assessment confines to the measurement of the physical attributes of pain.
Pain killers are worthy inventions for pain. It works on specialized nerve cells that transmit pain messages to the brain. These pain suppressant analgesics depress the central nervous system and reduces or blocks pain signals from reaching the brain. To some extent these analgesics are also believed to relieve emotional pain, as I mentioned earlier, this is because brain activities during an emotional pain is very similar to physical pain.
It clearly shows that pain has a common flavour !!
Of course, more often than not, there is little choice while battling with a certain medical condition either of the body or the mind. Now, did we miss the third realm? The soul or the spirit. As spiritual beings, I believe we should do some ‘soul searching’ to alleviate pains that fail manmade medicines. We must explore the power of spiritual energy. If you seek Reiki masters, they will tell you that all pain and illness is caused by energy blockage. Personally, I have not deep dived into the Reiki realm much, but it’s on my agenda for the near future. I believe we are humans inside spiritual apparel rather than spirits inside human apparel; I have umpteen personal convictions on the same. There are still mysteries to be unraveled !!
As they say, In suffering’s crucible, Wisdom is found.
