Pain, Is It All Bad?

Two days ago I noticed a point of Pharmacotherapy lecturing that my lecturer told in front of class. It’s about emesis (vomiting).

“Emesis on a pregnant woman may be disturbing and annoying, but it’s not all bad coz we can see it as an ‘alert’ for the new mom-wanna-be to take more care of her health, especially in eating. She may eat something which not good for her fetus (she doesn’t realize it), then it physiologically rejected….”

Those statements tempted me to write this note.

The point I got from those statements is that something which you feel disturbing and annoying (all bad) may be not that bad. So may pain.

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Pain, What Is It Anyway?

We can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch coz we’re given built-in senses to do it all. Other senses include hunger, thirst, temperature, proprioception, spatial, time, and visceral sensations… and pain. The last one sounds bad. I think everyone knows how it feels and I doubt that somebody likes it.

Pain is an unpleasant sensation caused by noxious stimulation of the sensory nerve endings. It is a subjective feeling and an individual response to the cause. Pain may be mild or severe, chronic, acute, lancinating, burning, dull, or sharp, precisely or poorly localized, or referred.

People in Pain

Everyone gives different respond –verbally and nonverbally– for each pain like self-protective (a narrowed focus that is indicated by an altered time perception, withdrawal from social contact, or impaired thought processes), distraction behavior (marked by moaning, crying, pacing, restlessness, or the seeking out of other people or activities), a facial mask of pain (recognized by eyes that appear dull and lusterless, a 'beaten' look, and fixed or scattered facial movements or grimace), alteration in muscle tone (ranging from listlessness to rigidity); and autonomic responses to increasing pain (including diaphoresis, changes in blood pressure and pulse rate, pupillary dilation, and an increased or decreased rate of respiration). What about you?

Nowadays, many people seem fragile (I heard many stories from mom about how good people-in-the-past managing pain – they’re tough). It recalls my memory to my childhood when I used to cry and couldn’t stand up after falling until my dad carried me up, though it’s only for the lightest injury (oh! how spoiled I was). But now I’m no longer that spoiled of course.

Pain, Is It All Bad?

No matter what the causes or how bad it is, pain still disturbing and annoying. It can disturb you when you’re on to-dos; can’t do things perfectly, can’t enjoy works you’re doing. Days may seem going so slow though you’ve tried to end it up. So bad (in this situation people tend to ask to God why He gave them such a that pain).

But, is it all bad? Hmm… let’s see from another side.

You feel pain when you (mind and body) think and feel there’s something improper existing. Just like when a tiny spine is implanted into your skin. It mustn’t be therein. It must be released soon. Or like pain of heart burn. It tells you that there’s something wrong with your digestive tract. Delaying treatment may lead you to gastric carcinoma. And like pain of migraine.  It warns you that there’s problem inside your brain.

Pain is a part of life. It warns you that something (you may not see nor aware) is existing. So, if pain doesn’t exist, you may not know it. Then what will be going next? Maybe something worse (can you imagine?). It is an alert to let you know that there’s something needs fixing in order to avoid the worse condition. It’s an alarm which tells you that it’s time to repair it and it may be not good if delayed.

So, we can see now that pain isn’t all bad.

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Something which you feel disturbing and annoying (all bad) may be not that bad. So may pain.

There always be something positive behind a case, no matter how simple or complex it seems. Just explore (think) and find it!