September is Pain Awareness Month! I live with chronic pain because I have a couple of medical conditions such as Hydrocephalus, Chiari malformation, and endometriosis amongst many others that can cause a lot of pain. Chronic pain does not affect everyone with Spina Bifida and most people with my disability do not live with pain, but chronic pain affects over twenty percent of people in the United States, and over fifty million people live with chronic pain. Chronic is often invisible, and you won’t know someone has it unless you ask them, but is it really that invisible? I think sometimes it can be, but most of the time I think people wrongly believe that pain has a specific look and everyone in pain cries endlessly and has no idea what the signs of pain are. If I am having a good day my chronic pain is truly invisible, but most of the time, it’s not as invisible as you think and there are visible signs. Is chronic pain as invisible as people think? I think sometimes it can be, but a lot of the time it’s very visible, and people don’t know what to look for. In this post, I am going to share a few visible signs of pain that might indicate someone is struggling with severe pain.
You aren’t moving as quickly– If I am walking around with ankle weights, and doing a highly intense workout I probably don’t have severe pain, and you should expect me to move slower but if I am not wearing weights and walking slower then I normally would it can be a sign of pain. If I am not wearing my ankle weight it does not necessarily mean I am in pain and sometimes it’s my day off from exercise and I intentionally did not wear them but a lot of the time I am in pain and can’t wear them. There are days when I am more fatigued and don’t have elevated pain levels because my medication will cause fatigue but if I am not moving as quickly instead of telling me to do more exercise maybe consider the fact that I am moving slower because of elevated pain levels and ask if there is anything you can do help. You can tell a lot about someone’s pain levels by how quickly they move because people in pain often move slower or struggle to move period. If you happen to notice that I am moving slower, falling more than usual, or struggling with things I wouldn’t normally struggle with it’s probably because of pain. Skipping workouts is not always out of laziness (sometimes it is) but a lot of the time I can’t work out because of pain.
You’re eating habits change– If you live with someone in pain and get to know them well, you can tell a lot about the severity of their pain by their eating habits because pain affects your eating habits. Some people in pain eat more often because pain makes them depressed, but a lot of people have no appetite at all, and it can be a real struggle to get things down. When I am in pain, I am one of those people who will not eat because it’s too painful to move and when you see me eating less it doesn’t necessarily mean I am being healthier. I try not to severely undereat calories because I know it will negatively affect my gut health and make my constipation problems worse but it’s easy to do when you are struggling with severe bloating and aren’t getting strong hunger cues. You can learn a lot about my pain by the frequency of my meals and if I am skipping meals and not eating it’s probably because of pain.
You are sleeping more or less often- Fatigue is a common struggle that a lot of people with pain often have because pain can cause insomnia and sometimes your medication can cause fatigue. It can be harder to tell if someone’s fatigue level is due to pain because a lot of the time you don’t have elevated pain levels, and your medication is making you more tired. If you notice that someone who lives with pain is sleeping more or less often than normal it could be because they didn’t sleep well for no reason, but you should also consider the fact that maybe I have higher fatigue due to pain. If my pain levels are higher than normal, I will be more fatigued but even though I took a nap it doesn’t necessarily mean I have high pain and sometimes I am just tired.
I am going to the bathroom more often– When I was born, both my bladder and bowel muscles were damaged and have never worked properly, so it’s not uncommon for me to struggle with constipation or get a bladder infection because I am prone to these types of issues. I live with chronic pelvic pain because of endometriosis, which is constant and is not something I only have on my period, but most of the time, it’s manageable, and you won’t even know I have it. There are a lot of things that can cause me to pee more often, such as a UTI, and because of my disability, I can’t rule out other health problems but most of the time it’s not concerning, and my pelvic pain is making me feel like I have to pee every hour. You can tell a lot about my pain levels by the frequency I use the bathroom because pain can affect your bladder and bowel function and when I have low pain levels, I don’t go to the bathroom nearly as much as when they are higher.
You can tell a lot by someone’s facial expressions – If you notice that someone has their hand on their stomach or is quieter than usual, it could be that they have body image issues, but it can also be a sign of pain. You can tell a lot about someone’s pain level by their facial expressions because people in pain often are quieter and more fidgety than someone without pain.
People tend to think that everyone with chronic pain cries endlessly, but that is only true for some people and most people in pain are very good at hiding it. Chronic pain is often invisible but there are visible signs such as a change in your eating habits and fatigue levels that can indicate someone is having a higher pain day that people without pain tend to miss. People in pain often try and hide their pain from others because it attracts unwanted attention, but someone doesn’t have to be crying for you to figure out how severe their pain is. Some people in my life that I am close to are able to pick up signs of pain without me telling them because they know my habits, but even my friends are sometimes clueless and associate high pain levels with crying. These are a few ways that might indicate I am having more pain, but it’s not a complete list, and sometimes pain truly is invisible because you can’t always tell someone’s pain levels by looking at them. What visible signs of pain have you experienced that people often miss? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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