Since I was pregnant, I\u2019m suffering from an injury in my hip. I\u2019m trying to sort it out with help from a physiotherapist and during my first visit she asked me to explain how the pain feels. Like many times before I\u2019m struck by how arbitrary it is to describe pain: \u201cIt feels like lightning going through my hip down my leg\u201d, \u201cit burns\u201d, \u201con a scale from 1-10, 1 being no pain and 10 being the worst imaginable, it\u2019s a 3\u201d – we are left with images, metaphors or subjective scales. And it\u2019s just what pain is – subjective. That goes for all pain, physical, emotional, and mental (and yes, every other feeling or sensation too for that matter). No one except you knows exactly what pain feels like in your body. The same symptom in two people will probably not be the same subjectively. I\u2019m amazed that we humans can still understand each other reasonably well (or can we?). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I search for \u201cways to describe pain\u201d on the web I see synonyms like aching, throbbing, burning, gnawing, hot, cold, cramping, shooting, sharp, and so on. All these words point back to the experience of the word. To make a perhaps more clear example: I can tell you all that I know about apples, their shape, color, taste, and the sound it makes when I take a bite, but you will never know what an apple truly is like until you experience one of your own. And even then, it won\u2019t be the exact same experience as I had because we are built differently, you and I. Maybe my tongue is more sensitive to the sour, and my teeth and way of chewing make the texture chunkier\u2026 But maybe just eating an apple each is close enough. Close enough for us to be able to understand and share the experience of eating an apple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I write this because I want to remind you, me, and everyone that no one can tell you how you feel – only you know. Others can come with descriptions that ring true, and that\u2019s amazing! But still, only you can know. So next time you hear someone say \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense that you feel that way\u201d whether it be a professional or not, don\u2019t take it to heart unless it rings true to you. Then, of course, there are those who will exaggerate their pain, and simultaneously, those who will diminish it. Maybe that could be something to reflect on further, because what does that tell you? If you are one who exaggerates pain, maybe that is how you got heard as a child. If you are one who diminishes your pain, maybe there was no one there to comfort you so you simply gave up. You could also put it in terms of \u201clife just happens to<\/em> me\u201d or \u201cI won\u2019t let life affect me\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen to yourself describing your pain. What do you hear? What would the same statement evoke in you if your friend put it that way? Is there something you could give yourself or ask for, if applicable? <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since I was pregnant, I\u2019m suffering from an injury in my hip. I\u2019m trying to sort it out with help from a physiotherapist and during my first visit she asked me to explain how the pain feels. Like many times before I\u2019m struck by how arbitrary it is to describe pain: \u201cIt feels like lightning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t