Over the last little while I have been dealing with healing and understanding more and more about it. I say understanding but I think it is more of an realization of things I already knew but hadn't experienced in a while.
The brochures and media available in the hospital mention that without managing the pain it will take longer to heal. This kind of goes against the "no pain, no gain" theory but that theory is not for healing. Almost all of the patients (mostly men) that I encountered in the hospital would say they are feeling o.k. or good but I knew there were in pain. I'm not sure if this was machismo in action or that they just didn't understand they did not have to be in pain. I started speaking on their behalf by telling the nurses what they had done (or sounded like) when I was there. Each time the nurse would say "you should ask for pain medication when that happens it will help the healing."
I've always tried to be proactive in avoiding pain, I won't go as far as stretching before doing something strenuous but I will take some medication afterwards if I start to feel something. The brochures say taking something on the onset of pain is good as well as it won't let the pain progress. Now don't go too far and over medicate as that is not good either but if you follow the dosage guidelines you should be fine.
The mental part of pain is probably the most difficult to deal with. Those feelings inside you that say something is wrong even though you know what the pain is from and that things are going well. You still wonder if that pain is right. You get a hightened awareness of your body. Things you felt before are now weird even though you've had them all along. "Why can't I feel my ass?"
"Wait, I think it's numb from sitting on it too long"
One of the charts the hospitals use has what look like emoticons on it so that patients can point to the one that best fits the pain they are feeling. I'm sure this was out before the internet but it's funny how some things are just universal. Whether you can read or not you could point to a picture of how you feel.
