Over the last twenty or more years, ignoring pain and powering through has started to be worn like a badge of honor. The problem is that any pain is too much pain, and pushing through when something hurts – usually means it is bad for us.
Pain is one of the indicators our body gives us that there is something wrong, and most often, we ignore it in the hopes that it will get better by itself. Women are even more likely to ignore pain and push through due to societal pressures, which have caused catastrophic results in some cases.
Most of the time, the pain you experience if someone were to tell you about it – you’d see if they needed to go to urgent care.
So why should you stop ignoring the pain?
Brain Trained
The unfortunate thing is that people who experience pain often will begin to train their brains to ignore a large amount of it. This is more true for people with chronic illnesses, but it can be true for back pain, period pain, and migraines.
Over time the more this happens, the less likely you are to try and seek help for the pain, and that can become your daily way of living. And while there are many chronic illnesses that pain is a part of, in some cases, it can be managed through drugs and therapies.
More Problems
Sometimes small aches and pains are the start of something rather than a stand-alone illness. When you don’t seek help or medical care for a pain that is intermittent or seems to be intermittent but increasing, this could lead to a more serious, more difficult to treat, and ultimately more expensive illness.
Often when things happening in the body are caught and treated early, the prognosis can be much better – the root of the problem can be treated better.
Stress
Being in a constant state of pain or feeling pain often will lead to stress, and stress will lead to more pain through other illnesses. Stress can lead to acne, sleeplessness, and eventually heart problems and strokes.
Those who live with chronic pain will often have stress-related illnesses, too – which is why trial and error to find the right combination to reduce the pain is important – even though it can seem impossible sometimes.
Is all pain urgent?
While not all pain is urgent or life-threatening, it is an indicator that there is something in the body that needs to be seen by a medical professional. And, even though you might feel you can deal with it, you never know what else is happening in the body at the same time. Pain is your signal to seek help.
Start to take note of when you get pain, where it is, what triggers it, and how you manage it. This information can help your medical professional give you an answer to what is happening and perhaps better treatment and management options.
There are some things that are commonly treated at home, including colds, headaches, and backaches; if you suffer from the latter, here are tips for you: Wake Up Refreshed: The Ultimate Guide to Banishing Back Pain.
