
Ask HN: The psychological side of chronic pain - dbrosk
I know that chronic pain has been discussed a few times on HN, but I always wonder how much bigger of an issue it is in the community. There is of course a lot of talk about ergonomics and hypes about standing desks or similar, but it often seems to stay at the level of &quot;here&#x27;s a nice gadget&quot;.<p>In my early twenties I slowly realised that I was walking around more days with a tense neck than not and sometimes it would really hurt for a few days and then go back to a bearable level. &quot;Bearable&quot; meant that I told myself &quot;I am young, I shouldn&#x27;t have pain&quot; and mostly ignored it. After a while this changed to telling myself &quot;a little discomfort is normal&quot; until I BECAME the guy that always has tense muscles and little mobility. I was no longer experiencing pain, but rather pain became a normal state, a part of my identity. This is also what stopped my from reaching out to get professional assesment for years. It wasn&#x27;t THAT bad and really it felt kind of normal to be in pain.<p>In the recent years, I had a few situations that questioned that identity: Sometimes a certain stretch would release my neck and I realised how much more range of motion I could have. I&#x27;ve been getting professional help, tried courses like www.gmb.io or www.gymnasticbodies.com, stretches and excercises I was told or found myself. Taking more breaks from the desk using the pomodoro technique was also a big one.<p>What suprised me most though is not that my chronic pain is getting better, it&#x27;s that I am beginnig to understand that being in pain is not part of my identity, it&#x27;s just something I can and should work on.<p>I understand that this post doesn&#x27;t provide value in the sense that I have any solutions for chronic pain, but I hope maybe somebody can relate and understand that this is something you can and should seek help for and it&#x27;s also not some unfortunate normal part of yourself.<p>Have you had similar experiences? What are your thoughts on the psychological side of chronic pain?
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laxentasken
Almost 3 years ago I hurt my back while doing exercies in the gym. As both my
father and grandfather have had serious back issues, I was really scared.

Since then I have had somewhat constant pain but it is finally gettting better
now. However my girlfriend (who is an physician) made me realise that "you are
not your back pain" (which is pretty much what you OP also realised). I could
get really sad and angry over the pain instead of finding ways to deal with
it. I've become better at dealing with it and doing excersies daily.

I think that the easiest way to try to understand what is like to live with
chronic pain is to imaigne yourself having tooth ache which never disappears,
because mostly everyone has had tooth ache and that really sucks. It nags you
and is always around you. Constant in your head, reminding you about its
presence.

