A Personal Experience with Chronic Pain

Last night I couldn't sleep. I was exhausted but couldn't find a comfortable position. I don't suffer from insomnia, though. It was my chronic pain that kept sleep at bay. Every time my eyes would close my pain would smack me awake.

I have yet to receive a diagnosis for the searing pain that racks my body. The doctor I'm seeing now has simply prescribed pain medication and left it at that. Yesterday I ran out of pill. Over-the-counter medications don't help me anymore and pain control methods off little relief. Without my medication my pain sensitivity went into hyperdrive. Simply lying on my back was agonizing. Because of all this I find myself deeply depressed most days. The frustration at my lack of diagnosis adds to this depression. And the depression increases my pain. Unfortunately, I'm not alone in all this.

Researchers have found a direct link between chronic pain and depression. Both conditions feed off each other. Chronic pain can drastically alter a person's lifestyle which can cause depression. The depression then intensifies the pain sensitivity. The increased pain leads to more depression. And on it goes. This cycle can destroy not only the lives of the sufferer but those of their loved ones.

When a person experiences chronic pain they are 3 times more likely to develop some kind of psychiatric symptom, chronic depression being the most prominent. People suffering from chronic depression are likewise 3 times more likely to develop chronic pain. According to health.harvard.edu, pain is an emotional condition as well as a physical sensation. It affects though, mood and behavior. The pain signals may use the same brain neurotransmitters as mood regulators such as serotonin and norepinephrine. When pain intensifies so does the sadness, anxiety, and hopeless associated with depression. Because both conditions seem to alter the way the nervous system functions they perpetuate themselves.

By studying Fibromyalgia patients, researchers may be able to find a biological link between the pain and depression. Depression is more closely linked to Fibromyalgia than any other condition, according to researchers at the University of Florida. There may be a brain malfunction in Fibro patients that heightens mood changes and physical discomfort. And brain scans of these people have shown pain centers that are more active than usual. If the link can be found then there could be new ways to help sufferers of all types of chronic pain beat their depression, which in turn can ease their pain.

When I experience bouts of pain like last night, I pray for a breakthrough of some sort. No, I don't have a diagnosis; the cause of my pain is a mystery. But I do know that the more I experience the nagging pain, the immobility, the insomnia, the more depressed I get. For me and millions like me, our lives have been altered in ways we didn't want. And relief is fleeting. We become dependent on drugs for relief and suffer more when the drugs run out. Every day is a struggle for someone suffering from chronic pain.