4 ms·

While the parent is being a bit crass, there is a valuable underlying point. Ignoring pain is akin to ignoring the "check engine light". We (as a society) shoul

by ed312 7y ago

While the parent is being a bit crass, there is a valuable underlying point. Ignoring pain is akin to ignoring the "check engine light". We (as a society) should really try to figure out the root causes AND (not or) find more targeted pain management. Perhaps your pain can be safely ignored (from a medical point of view). Perhaps its truly a signal there is a new or greater risk.

viklove 7y ago
Well as you can imagine, chest pain is rather worrying. I've been to the ER and seen various doctors (and had a lot of xrays and CT scans done). They haven't found anything, and told me it's to be expected with the surgeries I've been through. Humans aren't engineered like vehicles. Sometimes you just have a faulty "check engine light" and there's nothing you can do about it.
johnfactorial 7y ago
Pain was once considered a fact of life, and vital signs were those 4 signs which can indicate a patient is alive: body temp, pulse, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. Then the notion of pain as the "fifth vital sign," came about. Some argue we resultantly now have an opioid epidemic. There is a fascinating NPR show episode on this topic: https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/701219878/the-fifth-vital-sign https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/701219878/the-fifth.... Edit: another source of info: https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/publichealth/57336 https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/publichealth...
close04 7y ago
Acute and chronic pain are different. The point isn't to find the cure that blocks all pain at all times, or to do it completely unsupervised. But under doctor supervision a real cure for chronic pain (not a load of opioids) would be a life changer for so many people.
ctrl-j 7y ago
> Ignoring pain is akin to ignoring the "check engine light". I had surgery to remove a cyst that resulted in some scar tissue developing that presses on a nerve when stretched or compressed. Pretty acute pain when that happens - and pretty constant low level pain otherwise. No real "cure" as the odds are very high that the scar tissue will just re-form when excised. In my case it's more like the "check engine light" was rewired to also light up when you press the clutch pedal. Sometimes all you can do is put some electrical tape over the light.
rjurney 7y ago
Unfortunately most chronic pain has no clear cause. That's why spinal surgery is much more discouraged these days for spinal pain. Artifacts on spinal MRIs for example are only slightly correlated with pain. Many people have severe problems in their spine and no chronic spinal pain and many people have no clear problem and terrible spinal pain. The nervous system is complicated and there are a lot of risk factors for developing chronic pain: job dissatisfaction, sitting all day long, depression, repetitive strain, stress, etc. And no, it isn't mental or psychosomatic, it's very real. It's in the peripheral nervous system and the base of the brain.

by ed312 7y ago

viklove 7y ago

Well as you can imagine, chest pain is rather worrying. I've been to the ER and seen various doctors (and had a lot of xrays and CT scans done). They haven't found anything, and told me it's to be expected with the surgeries I've been through. Humans aren't engineered like vehicles. Sometimes you just have a faulty "check engine light" and there's nothing you can do about it.

johnfactorial 7y ago

Pain was once considered a fact of life, and vital signs were those 4 signs which can indicate a patient is alive: body temp, pulse, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. Then the notion of pain as the "fifth vital sign," came about. Some argue we resultantly now have an opioid epidemic. There is a fascinating NPR show episode on this topic: https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/701219878/the-fifth-vital-sign https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/701219878/the-fifth.... Edit: another source of info: https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/publichealth/57336 https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/publichealth...

close04 7y ago

Acute and chronic pain are different. The point isn't to find the cure that blocks all pain at all times, or to do it completely unsupervised. But under doctor supervision a real cure for chronic pain (not a load of opioids) would be a life changer for so many people.

ctrl-j 7y ago

> Ignoring pain is akin to ignoring the "check engine light". I had surgery to remove a cyst that resulted in some scar tissue developing that presses on a nerve when stretched or compressed. Pretty acute pain when that happens - and pretty constant low level pain otherwise. No real "cure" as the odds are very high that the scar tissue will just re-form when excised. In my case it's more like the "check engine light" was rewired to also light up when you press the clutch pedal. Sometimes all you can do is put some electrical tape over the light.

rjurney 7y ago

Unfortunately most chronic pain has no clear cause. That's why spinal surgery is much more discouraged these days for spinal pain. Artifacts on spinal MRIs for example are only slightly correlated with pain. Many people have severe problems in their spine and no chronic spinal pain and many people have no clear problem and terrible spinal pain. The nervous system is complicated and there are a lot of risk factors for developing chronic pain: job dissatisfaction, sitting all day long, depression, repetitive strain, stress, etc. And no, it isn't mental or psychosomatic, it's very real. It's in the peripheral nervous system and the base of the brain.