Tips for dealing with People in Pain.

 

1. People with chronic pain seem unreliable. (we cant count on ourselves)

When feeling better we promise things(and mean it); when in serious pain, we may not even show up!

Pain people need the "rubber time" (flexible) found in South Pacific countries.

2. An action or situation may result in pain several hours later, or even the next day. delayed pain is confussing to people who have never experienced it.

3. Pain can inhibit listening and other communication skills. It's like having someone shouting at you, or trying to talk with a fire alarm going off in the room.

The effects of pain on the mind can seem like attention dficit disorder.

So you may have to repeat a request, or write things down for a person with chronic pain. Don't take it personally, or think that they are stupid.

4. The senses can overload while in pain. For example, noises that would'nt normally bother you, seem too much.

5. Patience may seem short. We can't wait in a long queue; can't wait for a long drawn out conversation.

6. Don't always ask "how are you" unless you are genuinely prepared to listen - it just points attention inwards.

7. Pain can sometimes trigger psychological disabilities (usually temporary).

When in pain, a small task, like hanging out the laundry, can seem like a huge wass, too high to climb over. An hour later the same job may be quite OK.

It is sane to be depressed occasionally when you hurt.

8. Pain can come on fairly quickly and unexpectedly. Pain sometimes abates after a short rest.

Chronic pain people appear to arrive and fade unpredictably to others

9. Knowing where a refuge is, such as a couch, a bed, or comfortable chair, is an important as knowing where a bathoom is.

A visit is much more enjoyable if the chronic pain personknows there is a refuge if needed. A person with chronic pain may not want to go anywhere that has no refuge (e.g no place to sit or lie down)

10. Small acts of kindness can seem like huge acts of mercy to a person in pain.

 Your offer of a pillow or a cup of tea can be a really big thing to a person who is feeling temporarily helpless in the face of encroaching pain.

11. Not all pain is easy to locate or describe. Sometimes there is a body-wide feeling of discomfort, with hard to describe pains in the entire back, or both legs, but not in one particular spot you can point to.

Our vocabulary for pain is very limited, compared to the body's ability to feel varieties of discomfort.

12. We may not have a good 'reason' for the pain. Medical science is still limited in it's understanding of pain.

Many people have pain that is not yet classified by doctors as an officilly recognised "disease".

That does not reduce the pain - it only reduces our ability to give it a label, and to have YOU believe us.

 

Author Unknown