Are You Really In Pain?
"Are you really in that much pain?"
"You can't be in pain 24/7."
Pain IS real. People living with chronic illnesses who experiencing pain are not FAKING it. Like most of you, my mom and I have heard these questions all too often. She's been asked by doctors if her pain is actually real (which is unbelievable) and from friends of her (which is even more unbelievable). Personally, I think you got some balls if you're going to sit there and question someones symptoms and ask them if they're really in pain.
My favorite lines are "you can't be in that much pain" and "you guys are always on the go so it can't be that bad." Ok, so just because we get out of the house means we're not in pain? That's not how it works. Just because we're in pain means we should stop living our life? Should we just give up and give in? Absolutely not!
There are people in our life that I think equate MS and chronic illnesses to the end of life. I think they think we should just lay down and give in. That we should just put our hand in the air and say "I'm done!" Sure, we could CHOOSE to do that. We could CHOOSE to give up and stop fighting. But we're not going to do that. We're going to do everything in our power to live a great life. We have friends that have chosen the other path. We have watched them give up. That's not a path we're going to go down.
MS and chronic illnesses are not a death sentence. Pain isn't a death sentence. Are there days where we're not going to want to do much? Of course. But we're going to get up the next day and try again.
If we want to stay home and relax all day, we have every right.
If we want to go explore what the world has to offer us, yeah, we have every damn right to.
"You can't be in pain 24/7."
Pain IS real. People living with chronic illnesses who experiencing pain are not FAKING it. Like most of you, my mom and I have heard these questions all too often. She's been asked by doctors if her pain is actually real (which is unbelievable) and from friends of her (which is even more unbelievable). Personally, I think you got some balls if you're going to sit there and question someones symptoms and ask them if they're really in pain.
My favorite lines are "you can't be in that much pain" and "you guys are always on the go so it can't be that bad." Ok, so just because we get out of the house means we're not in pain? That's not how it works. Just because we're in pain means we should stop living our life? Should we just give up and give in? Absolutely not!
There are people in our life that I think equate MS and chronic illnesses to the end of life. I think they think we should just lay down and give in. That we should just put our hand in the air and say "I'm done!" Sure, we could CHOOSE to do that. We could CHOOSE to give up and stop fighting. But we're not going to do that. We're going to do everything in our power to live a great life. We have friends that have chosen the other path. We have watched them give up. That's not a path we're going to go down.
MS and chronic illnesses are not a death sentence. Pain isn't a death sentence. Are there days where we're not going to want to do much? Of course. But we're going to get up the next day and try again.
If we want to stay home and relax all day, we have every right.
If we want to go explore what the world has to offer us, yeah, we have every damn right to.
Comments
HUH?
My last doctor didn't want to prescribe pain meds but had NO problem giving me sleep meds. So go to sleep in pain, wake up in pain. Got rid of him and the sleep meds.
Headed for another joint replacement... and a new doctor. Hope this ends better than the others.