The essence of pain

I am quoting a good description ofd pain here.

The entire article is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/health/22case.html?_r=3&ref=health

and it is written by Dana Jennings.

Here it goes:



... pain falls into two broad categories: the kind you can articulate, and pain that is beyond words.

I was humbled by pain that to me seemed to transcend the basic medical scale of 1 (mildest) to 10 (most severe). And pain is a path to humility. When it hurts just to wriggle up in bed, elbows digging into the mattress for support, you generally don’t think of yourself as sitting atop the food chain.

And pain is a teacher. More than ever, I understand how abhorrent it is to inflict pain. I have learned to distinguish between mere discomfort and pain that can’t be tolerated. And tough-guy popular culture — oh, great, ultimate fighting on Spike TV — doesn’t impress me at all.

I have no patience these days with the Nietzschean cliché, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” I’ve found that the deepest pain holds no meaning. It is not purifying. It is not ennobling. It does not make you a better human being. It just is.

All the worst pain does is reduce us to our most primal animal. We want it to stop. We want to survive. It short-circuits any sense of self, diminishes us to a bundle of biological reflexes.

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The next quotes, you can find in
http://chronicfatigue.about.com/b/2009/09/25/fibromyalgia-blog-perspective-on-pain.htm

and they are written by Adrienne Dellwo:

When it comes to severe, unrelenting pain, however, it can make us feel weak, lost and alone. Pain can take everything good away from you. I don't come out of those episodes stronger -- I come out of them shaken to the core.

"All the worst pain does is reduce us to our most primal animal." This is a beautiful and accurate description of what I've been unable to express in the past -- the desperation we face, the loss of reason and rationality, the absolute, primal need for relief. Now.