Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Smith
You may be correct, but it sounds like one of those theories concocted by someone who has never had to deal with the problem personally; something we have to deal with all too often.
IME (in discussions), painees fall into two schools of thought which seem to hinge on whether they reach "acceptance" and their interpretation of what that means. Many "authorities" claim an important key to living/coping with pain is in accepting it.
Some of us disagree, and equate acceptance with surrender/acqiescence. I agree with the first paragraph above at face value (without benefit of all the details/depth) because I believe I've been through something similar. But I credit my refusal to accept with motivating me to evolve past that plateau. I have tried to use my anger and frustration to focus on positive goals, which is no easy feat with a degenerative intractable dx.
Others impressions/opinions will vary, because we all view this thing a little differently - whatever gets us through the days & nights.
Doc
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I'll give you an example, that Dr. Brian King PhD gave us yesterday.
It is a dog story... you will appreciate this better. (brain chemistry is a tough subject with much jargon, and chemistry, dopamine, receptors, and brain anatomy).
He has to board his dog when he travels giving the lectures to healthcare groups, like the one I was in yesterday. The fellow who owns the kennel is also a friend, so they share social stories often. This kennel owner took in a dog for a brief stay with a broken leg, all wrapped up, etc. Both owners gave specific directions on how to care for him, and showered this dog with much attention. The dog walked on 3 legs when the owners were present. Once they left the kennel and the dog was on his own, he walked more normally on all 4 legs and behaved very differently and seemed quite normal in fact!
I think the same can be seen in Thunderstorm fear behaviors where pets get lots of attention during the storms and then behave that way all the time when storms come in the owner's presence.
While the lecture was 6 hrs long, I cannot go into all the details of dopamine and positive and negative reinforcement, and all the permutations we heard. But suffice it to say, the more attention a person or animal gets, the more reinforced it is to
repeat the behavior that brought this attention. For us, in the audience it was not just the "spouse" part, but the healthcare part, where some studies are showing that TOO much empathy and solicitiousness on the part of doctors/nurses, etc, the more the patient will exhibit pain and other secondary gain behaviors.
Much of this is unconscious, and not manipulative on the patient's part. It is just how the brain works with learning.
Of course, chronic pain patients tend to be really touchy IMO. So I don't expect any comments about behavior to be received warmly. But the crisis in pain management, includes this factor, as well as addiction, abuse of the systems providing it, and therefore results in some doctors ignoring pain, and not wanting those patients at all. It is a CRISIS on many fronts, on both sides and that is why the problem is so enormous. Some pain patients giving grief to the system, and others not getting proper care because of that. And much of all that is going on in the brain!
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All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.-- Galileo Galilei
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Weezie looking at petunias 8.25.2017
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