Thankfully I don’t live with chronic pain, but living with tinnitus has a very similar cycle
It’s chronic, and it’s a nuisance; so it certainly counts.
I’ve had mine since I was probably a teenager. My 9-year-old has it too. He and I are not sure how he got it, and I feel bad for him having to deal with it so young.
Some days are better than others, in so far maybe I’m busy enough to not think about it. Other days, it’s front and center (like right now) and feels louder than usual. It’s the same feeling as with my chronic pain (broken elbow never quite healed right and constantly hurts).
This is like when someone tells a depressed person ‘just dont be sad’ but I’ve had tinnitus for over a decade, mine could potentially be minor.
Dedicating a good amount of time to telling myself over and over that the noise didn’t exist in my head really helped my ability to deal with it. I don’t ever think about it or notice it unless someone says the word tinnitus and my brain keys in on it. If you haven’t heard about it before, the drumming on the back of your skill trick is also a real (if very temporary) fix for me and a lot of other people I’ve talked to.
I’m lucky to have both.
The pain gets worse every year, but I’ve been dealing with it for closing in on 50 years so… meh I’m mostly used to it.
The tinnitus has a similar timeframe but seems to be getting worse MUCH faster. And is so much more distracting and ruinous to quality of life.
They may be related: https://www.vice.com/en/article/vvb99x/now-we-know-what-causes-tinnitus-that-never-ending-ringing-in-your-ears
Chronic pain and tinnitus, the incessant ear ringing that affects up to 30 percent of the adult population, may share a common source, new research shows. The finding may bring millions of people who suffer from both conditions a step closer to finding relief.
Wow, thanks for that link.
Prefrontal cortex - IIRC that’s also the area associated with ADHD isn’t it?
Double-checked, yep, PFC malformation or dysregulation is the core of ADHD.
I suppose people with ADHD are more susceptible to chronic pain.
Here’s a great read on PFC dysfunction in ADHD, seems really much the same problem.
And then there’s the people who tell me I can’t have arthritis I’m too young, I shouldn’t get it in my early 20s. My goodness what an idea I can’t believe I didn’t think of that
Most people don’t really understand arthritis and how many types there are. I sure didn’t at first. I dealt with the same thing in my early 20’s when diagnosed as well.
I feel you so much. I have migraines since I’m around 8 years old. Back then, in the late 1980’s many doctors were of the opinion that children do not have “Headaches”. And they told us so repeatedly.
Today sience has caught up on this fortunately and when my niece started to have bad headaches at around 9 years old, there were whole protocols of diagnostics and treatments available.
I was just lucky that my mom had awful headaches as a kid as well that went away with her first prefancy (typically for migraines to start or end with a big hormone change) and she never got diagnosed with migraines, but she still knew how it feels and that I wasn’t faking for more attention as the doctors said.
I’m still unconsciously scared that doctors won’t believe me and I make a plan before every appointment of what to say, so they will believe me. Its not rational, but I still can’t shake the feeling.
my response to that would be “Well then you better go take it up with god, because the bitch done fucked up then, cause I’m in fucking agony every waking moment of every day, and just cause I mask well doesnt mean entitled cunts like you can come up and question me as if you are some appointed arbitrator on the matter”
It has a large effect on mental health and depression, too. The pain becomes sort of like being trapped under a too heavy blanket or something, and you’re always fighting with it. Good things feel less good because you’re hurting, and bad things feel worse because you’re hurting. Pain meds help a little, but it sort of numbs everything else along with the pain. The only time you can get a bit of respite is when you’re sleeping, and you better hope nothing wakes you up because then you’re laying in pain trying to go back to sleep for an hour. Awful.
I went and took maternity pictures with my wife yesterday and she was having so much fun. I didn’t complain because I didn’t want to ruin it, but I was so mad at myself because it was all I could focus on.
I’d forget for a second and make a joke to make her laugh and then right back into focusing on the pain.
I’m about burned out with it. I’ll have a good week followed by three months of nonstop misery. I can’t take pain meds because I’m a former addict. I’m terrified to have surgery for that reason.
I don’t know. Sorry to put this here. I wish I were better at suffering in silence. I know I’ve gotta be driving her crazy groaning all the time. I try not to, which makes me super aware of it. It sucks.
It is what it is and we get what we get, but damn I wish I could get some real relief. I’m feeling alright at this moment because I’ve had 4 12% alcohol beers, but when I wake up in the morning I’ll probably spend the first 5 hours of my day wishing I could just be unconscious.
I appreciate that you shared it. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in the challenges I face with pain. I’m sorry that you have to deal with that experience.
I like to think that we’re stronger for having to go through stuff like that, but sometimes it just feels like suffering for no reason lol.
It’d be nice to not suffer from what I do, and therefore not have constant pain, but also that person wouldn’t be me ig? Idk maybe that’s stupid but I think all I can do to keep going is try to be as positive as I can be.
Sorry if I rambled here. I hope things get better for you somehow fr <3
I feel this I’m my bones… and I mean that both figuratively and literally.
My wife has had a chronic neuropathic pain condition since 2008, and this is pretty accurate. One of the interesting aspects of chronic pain is that there’s no way to measure it - no way for a doctor to know how much pain a person is in other than to ask, and the answer is inherently subjective. I’ve seen with my wife that clearly the pain itself can vary, with one day being better or worse than the prior, but also her ability to deal with it varies. If she’s tired, emotional, or cranky, the same amount of pain can be untenable.
They sometimes use antidepressants for neuropathic pain, and as I understand it the thinking is that they influence how pain is proceeded in the brain, but I always wonder if part of the success is simply that people on antidepressants get less derailed by a given level of pain.
Some of the anti-depressant meds affect things like GABA or norepinephrine (so an SNRI as opposed to SSRI), so it’s not just the anti-depressant angle, as they’re often used in much smaller doses than when used for depression.
It’s pretty fascinating stuff - I just learned about the norepinephrine angle recently. The thinking is that chronic pain causes people to become more sensitive to small pain signals - their nervous system is over-sensitized to pain, and these meds help with reducing the signaling/response to signals.
If you’re curious, lookup gabapentin (it’s been around for at least 30 years) or tramadol (an SNRI), which has also been around a long time.
I have genitofemoral neuropathy. This is a totally accurate description. The location of the pain sometimes causes me to kick into fight or flight without awareness. I take Neurontin just to keep the edge off and reduce the reaction to the pain. Sometimes I think my pain is only a 4 or 5, but my blood pressure reading will prove otherwise. It’s oddly tolerable at times, and “lock myself away from the world so I’m not a total asshole” other times.
I have genitofemoral neuropathy.
Oh, man, that’s a tough one - sorry to hear it.
It is. Thanks. It’s improved over the years. Either it’s healing or I’m becoming more tolerant. My neurologist said either is possible, so I’m optimistic.
