Why We Feel Pain
When pain becomes chronic, however, this system is not always working the same way. Some chronic pain conditions, such as arthritis, cause permanent or continual damage, keeping your pain response system active all of the time. Other conditions may persist long after the injury has healed, such as some cases of chronic back pain. Because of this, acute pain and chronic pain may be felt differently.
Regardless of how or why we feel pain, living with chronic pain is not easy. Chronic pain can interfere with your work as well as your home life. This is why I wrote a section on coping with chronic pain. In it, you can find information about the physical and psychological effects of chronic pain, as well as some tips for getting on with your life. If you have any other suggestions for your fellow chronic pain sufferers, please leave them here!
To help those suffering from chronic pain, a doctor friend has developed a wonderful portable pain recording device called MyPainAway. The size of a modern automobile key, you carry the “pain button” with you. When you feel pain, you push the button and the device records the event. At the end of the day or week you simply plug the button into your computer and it generates charts showing your pain. You can print or share the reports online with your doctors so they more fully understand what you’ve experienced—and when. It’s a great tool to help patients more easily record their pain, view the frequency and severity of their pain, and for doctors to see if their treatment programs are working as planned.
For those interested in more, please visit: http://www.baetacorp.com/PRODUCTS_MyPainAway.aspx