September is Pain Awareness Month

The title seems a bit odd. Do we still need awareness for something that is so obviously influencing our lives in a negative way? Many people chose to ignore or hide the pain they feel, mostly because they would otherwise feel embarrassed. Admitting pain is still considered as a form of weakness. In order to increase public attention towards this set of problems that continues to cripple our lives, the month of September has been declared Pain Awareness Month. 2001 was the first year that included an entire month dedicated to raising awareness on this subject and the tradition went on for 15 consecutive years.

The Partners for Understanding Pain is an important name behind the initiative of allowing September to be labeled as Pain Awareness Month. Assembling different organizations from all layers of society, the consortium is build around the common denominator of reducing the negative impact of pain.

The key factor for having success, while raising awareness on a particular topic, is to get as many people as possible involved. Like in every other case, there are many things you can do in order to support the collective effort behind the Pain Awareness Month. Friends and family should always be your first reach when it comes to spreading useful news and information. Open their eyes to the true problems society is facing and see how they will carry the light-giving torch to others around them.

Media always has a few ears open towards the real problems of the community so asking for a piece of their space to expand the topic of pain awareness month can offer an unexpected audience. With blogging and social media, you can even have your own initiative to support the cause of pain awareness.

Pain management techniques are a very important tool when being forced to live a life where pain is also present at each step. Few people understand that there is also an important philological side to the action of dealing with psychical pain and trying to live a normal life.

Good communication with your health care provider as well with those supporting you are essential building blocks for welcoming relief and keeping your life in balance. Pain is probably the human symptom which receives the biggest hate and injustice, although it is probably the most useful.

Pain itself is a distress signal given by your body when something does not work quite well inside. Pain is by no means a condition on itself. From this point of view, the strategy of focusing only on the results (the pain itself), without digging for the real cause, will never lead to real relief.

Continuous pain eventually numbs the body, although the soul might experience increasing load acting upon it. Dealing with a constant level of pain each day requires a strong psychic and constant care towards it.

Chronic pain is a serious threat to the quality of one’s life. Being under constant stress can strip away all joy from day to day activities, and ultimately leave a person being just an empty shell. Friends and family can also be affected by one’s incapacity to deal with constant pain. Positive thinking, backed by the right kind of medication and a healthy and active lifestyle can put at bay the damages produced by chronic pain.

Choosing to admit defeat and to consider yourself a victim of the condition you are facing should never be someone’s limiting belief. But growing a warrior approach on pain is never an easy task, as some of us rely on the principle that it’s easier to ignore than to confront something.

The latest breakthroughs of modern research in terms of medicine and bio-chemistry entitle us to belief some of us, or at least our children will live to see a day when the button for turning pain off will be discovered.  This is far from being a childish utopia and the idea of “curing” pain forever is a hope worthy of keeping somewhere in our minds. Will we become stronger once this flaw/weakness of the human body will be put to rest?