In Chronic Illnesses

Chronic pain is a mystery, often being hard to decode.  We experience a range of unpleasant pains, including neck and back stiffness, spasms, and even knee aches, when doing day-to-day tasks. But does that count as chronic pain?

Pain in essence, is your body’s way of informing you that something isn’t working properly. Whenever you feel pain, it’s a sign that there’s something wrong. It can be experienced in a number of ways, including throbbing, stabbing, hurting, pinching, and even numbness. In some cases it may be simple like a mild headache and in some, it’ll be debilitating discomfort all over! Pain is the body’s warning signal and we usually stop aching once the body recovers. However, for many people, the agony continues long after the cause has disappeared.

Physiologically, our body manifests two kinds of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain is frequently intense and short, indicating that your body has been injured. Chronic pain can range from mild to severe, lasts for a long period, and is usually caused by a disease that need ongoing treatment. Chronic pain affects 20% of the Indian population, with women making up 70% of those affected.

How can you identify chronic pain?

While the pain may be constant, there may be acute pain flare-ups as stress or activity levels increase. Among the signs and symptoms are:

• joint pain
• muscle aches
• burning pain
• fatigue
• sleep problems
• loss of stamina and flexibility, due to decreased activity
• mood problems, including depression, anxiety, and irritability