Chronic Pain Can Happen to Anyone
/By Crystal Lindell
There’s this thing about chronic pain that people without it like to ignore: It could happen to anyone.
When you’re still healthy, the very concept of “pain that never ends” feels impossible.
Unfortunately, not only is it possible, it’s likely.
Between injuries, illness, genetics and bad luck, you never know how long you’ll have your health. You could be in a car accident tomorrow that permanently damages your back. You could get cancer and the treatment permanently damages your nerves. You could fall off your bike. Stumble on a Lego. Slip on some ice.
Suddenly, the body you thought you could count on doesn’t function like it used to. You can’t do the activities you once did, you have no energy, and the medical bills are piling up. Even the concept of time feels different because you’ve lost your stamina and simple tasks take forever.
In an instant, you could lose your job, your social life, and even your personality.
People spend decades trying to prevent such fates. They eat healthy, stay active, take vitamins, practice yoga -- all in an attempt to avoid the inevitable.
Perhaps some of those efforts would be better spent making the world a better place for people living with chronic pain or chronic illness. After all, if you know it will likely happen to you, shouldn’t you prepare for the day you will join them?
There are so many ways society could better serve people with chronic pain and illness.
There’s the obvious ones, like universal healthcare and universal basic income. But there are also the things you don’t even notice when you’re still healthy. Things like a better public transit system for when you’re in too much pain to drive. Or government funded food delivery programs for when you’re in too much pain to cook.
There’s also the fight for better pain care. Access to opioid medication or even 7-OH might sound frivolous today, when you’re still walking around in a healthy body. But one day, when you need them, you’ll regret that it took so long for you to care.
I understand why people live in denial about their body’s eventual decline. It’s much easier to get through the day that way. But if you take the time to care about things like affordable healthcare and disability rights today, it will be that much easier to get through your painful tomorrows.
We should be building a world that plans for our bodies to age and get injured, instead of building a world around denial of that fact. It’s only when we truly accept our fate, that we can actually make our lives better.
