I found this article on Lifehacker, then I remembered somewhere here on the forums has chronic pain too, and I thought it could be an interesting read for some of you, people.

How chronic pain has made me happier; at Lifehacker.com

This is an extract from the article

Quote:Despite this, chronic pain has made me happier. On the face of it I'm now pretty much normal, although I don't drink much and am almost always in bed by 1 AM. I rollerblade everywhere and run 5K in a respectable time. But at every given moment, my entire body is in pain. The first years of this were, by and large, horrific. There are a lot of very bad ways to approach chronic pain, and I've tried them all. It beats the hell out of you. It breaks you down completely. But then you get to build yourself up again from scratch.

Thanks for the link, it was interesting to read. : ) I do have chronic pain (central pain syndrome as a result of spinal problems and damage) so it might have been me you were thinking of, though there may be someone else here too. I understand some of what he means, I think I've (had to) become more patient, and learned to appreciate small things more (on the flip side, that can also lead to me getting more upset over small things). It's probably true about having to get past the anger and frustration, I think doing so can be an ongoing thing. Japanese is one of the things that most helps me, that it gives a goal to works towards, though struggling with it due to pain, being unable to type or concentrate fully, can be all the more frustrating due to that. Still, I'm glad to have it to focus on.
I can't begin to comprehend the idea of being happier with pain, though. I can't say 'The raw pain experience often isn't that bad' really applies to central pain, indeed labels like 'bad' or even 'pain' stop making sense with it - I've experienced enough 'normal' pain as well to say it's a different experience (every time I describe it, people give me that 'you must be crazy' look XD).

I wish he'd explained his condition a bit more as I would have been interested, he's not correct in saying chronic pain occurs despite nothing being damaged, it just means it's long lasting. Though, it seems they weren't really able to come up with much of a diagnosis, which must have been tough. He perhaps doesn't fully appreciate that he can still run and rollerbade, really I'd think that would make a big difference to someone's mental state, not to undermine his experience though, can't help but emphasise with anyone who has to deal with chronic pain.

[Zgarbas]

I think he meant rollerblading despite the pain. If you gotta hurt, do it whilst having fun, right?

Sounds like fibromyalgia. My mother has it and I'm amazed at the writer's high spirits.

Zgarbas Wrote:I think he meant rollerblading despite the pain. If you gotta hurt, do it whilst having fun, right?

Yeah, figured that, for me trying something like that would definitely increase the pain, and stiffness in my joints, to levels it couldn't possibly be fun, though. So, understand the feeling of wanting to try to do stuff through the pain, for me that's something more sedate like typing, though. XD

I hear a new article about a study where they show how chronic pain affects the brain, and even DNA. At the same time, they propose that by changing your lifestyle you can change your brain and adapt to cope better with the pain.

Breakthrough research suggests simple ways to reverse chronic pain

Quote:People who suffer from chronic pain often feel like the experience dominates their lives, and changes them profoundly. Now, a group of pain researchers and geneticists have discovered that this feeling isn't far from scientific truth. Being in chronic pain changes the way your brain functions on a physical level. The good news is that you can also change it back.

(...)

Tajerian and Alvarado's work centered on mice who suffered a nerve injury that put them in chronic pain. Over a period of months, they discovered that the pain was affecting regions of the mice's brains that had nothing to do with processing pain. In fact, they found that gene activity had been severely curtailed in the prefrontal cortex, a brain area that serves as the seat of higher reason and decision-making, as well as many emotions, in both rodents and humans.

"We saw chemical changes to the DNA in [the prefrontal cortex]," Alvarado told io9. Specifically, they found a 12 percent downward shift in DNA activity. "That's really big," he added. "Normally these changes are associated with cancer." This lack of activity, Tajerian said, leads to a loss of density in this region of the brain -- which ultimately causes cognitive impairment, depression and anxiety.

(...)

After two months, the mice in the enriched environment did not suffer chronic pain any longer. Or rather, their prefrontal cortexes showed normal mouse activity. Meanwhile, the impoverished mice showed the reduction in brain activity, which led to cognitive impairment. Along with colleagues, the two published a paper in PLoS One about the study earlier this year. The paper provides strong evidence that chronic pain is an epigenetic phenomenon, a life experience that actually changes gene expression in the brain.

Translated into human terms, this means that some people experience chronic pain because they have literally rewired their brains to be more sensitive to pain. The more pain they feel, the more anxious and vulnerable they are to feeling further pain.

(...)

"A different environment will give you a different experience of pain. By changing the environment we could change the pain,"

(...)

Tajerian and Alvarado's work shows, as Tajerian puts it, "you are a different person" after an injury. But that person can change again, into somebody who "cares about the pain less." She suggests that their discoveries help illuminate why meditation and mindfulness can help with pain. "Even cursing can help you care about the pain less," she laughed. These activities are all ways of changing our environment, and our brains, by making us calmer or allowing us to express feelings.

In a few words, they imply activities like meditation, a healthy social life and a positive approach towards chronic pain can actually rewire your brain and enable you to cope better with it.

japanese translation

http://www.lifehacker.jp/2013/03/130331c..._pain.html