Pain is “physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury.” Pain is entirely subjective, meaning that every person has a different perception of pain.
To really grasp the fact that pain is subjective, you should know what pain tolerance is. Pain tolerance is the maximum level of pain that a person can tolerate before breaking.
Say that you’re at the park with your kids. You’re watching the two of them run around and play. They both fall down and bust their knees open. One of them comes crying and screaming to you, and you’re expecting a trip to the ER is needed. The other kid seemed to brush it off, and because his/her knee looks cut up really bad, you’re repeatedly asking him/her, “Are you sure you’re okay??” And they assure you they are. I really do have a point here.
My point is that what may be extremely painful to one person may not be to another due to pain being completely subjective. (I have another point similar to this that I will get into later.) One person can get shot in the leg and still be talking to you, while another person can get shot in the leg and pass out from the pain. They both endured the same experience and the same level of pain, but handled (or tolerated) it differently. They just both “perceived” it differently.
However, this is not the case with CRPS. We sufferers all feel the same pain. At all times.
(Trust me, I still have a point about pain tolerance.) People have told me before, “It can’t hurt that bad because you’re sitting here talking to me.” Have you ever been with a woman going through childbirth? At times, she is talking and laughing with you, and others, she has her eyes closed with the most unbearable look on her face due to the pain. The human body can only tolerate 45 del units of pain. Childbirth is 57 del units of pain, and CRPS is rated a higher pain than childbirth.
I know I may seem all over the place, and this blog would probably make much more sense if I weren’t sleep deprived. I only sleep when passing out from exhaustion, so bear with me. Think again of a woman going through childbirth. At some point, she acclimates to the pain. Now bear in mind that every person has a different pain tolerance, so some women may not acclimate for those short periods of time.
My point for saying this is, this analogy is kind of what it’s like to live with CRPS. Just because we may not be currently screaming does not mean that we are not in pain (and honestly, you more than likely will not be around when we are screaming out in pain). Think yet once again of the woman in childbirth. She may have a contraction and not be able to speak, but when that contraction goes away, she acclimates a little more to the pain. The flare ups with CRPS are similar to this. We acclimate to the pain in the sense that our brain is saying, “Okay, the pain isn’t leaving, so we must endure this.” That doesn’t mean the pain is tolerable, and it doesn’t mean that it diminishes. It is always there. And it often feels worse.
As I’ve stated in my first blog, I really write for my own therapeutic purposes, but I also write to describe what it’s like to live everyday life with CRPS so that others can fully understand just how severe it is. If nothing else, I also wish to inspire others and spread awareness.
CRPS Perseverer 