Win a Lottery Without a Ticket

Try massive numbers of solutions to get you below the threshold to function. Most won’t work. Some will. Try for 2 weeks. Doesn’t work? Try something else. Inspiration about chronic pain from Dr. CJ Rhoads

Proem

Forty-six words for snow in Iceland. How many for physical pain in English? Googling synonyms: suffering, aching, torture, throbbing, discomfort, ache, sore, sting, twinge, shooting, irritation, tenderness… I recall sitting with my mom when she was dying of pancreatic cancer, trying to understand what her pain felt like. ‘Ma, is it sharp, dull, aching, constant, ebbing, and flowing?’ The more descriptors I tried to come up with, the more frustrated she became with me. No words worked for her. Yet she tried to describe it to the hospice nurse or doctor without success. Granted, my mom was homebound and bedridden. She was past the place where function mattered. How does your pain affect your ability to socialize and work? The way I manage my annoying neurological pains is to get to know them intimately. Meditate on the pain. Sensation, location, travel, duration, what makes it better or worse…. It takes the edge off, helps me be less freaked out, and I can manage with less medication. I find my professional team intrigued by my desire to describe it in such great detail. To them, I’m a bit of a freak.