When patience isn’t enough
As a child, you fell down and learned all about pain. For the most part, it passed quickly. This gave you confidence to keep on learning to walk or to ride that bicycle. As an adult, if you get in an accident or have short-term pain, you know it will only take a week or so for the wounds to heal and then you can get on with your life as if nothing had happened. This makes the pain easier to bear. You simply take a painkiller like Ultram and wait to get better. Even if bones are fractured so recovery will take longer, most cope well. But all bets are off once the doctor tells you the pain is chronic, i.e. it will be with you for months or years. Even though the actual level of pain may be exactly the same as you felt when recovering from the accident, your anger or despair magnify it. Patient acceptance disappears and your mood shades toward a depression. Inactivity leads to an increase in weight, insomnia appears and stress builds. Any pain is considered bad and many abuse Ultram and other painkillers by taking excessive amounts. You have to break this cycle into depression and achieve a more positive outlook. Accepting the pain and working round it is a necessary step to getting on with your life. Any other course leaves you a victim to your own despair.
