Originally Posted by Dr. Smith

Hi Spine,

There must have been an article or study in a medical journal around that time, because I had 2 neuros and one other doctor try to ram that one down my throat all within a year. It's like it was the fad of the month or something.

I've experienced rebound pain - several times - so I know the phenomenon is real - unquestionably - but I've never had any problem distinguishing it from chronic pain (CP) - it feels different. When I told that to the last guy, he dismissed (disbelieved) me and asked, "How do you know it's not rebound?" My response was, "How do you know it is?" When I related this to my PCP, he got a real chuckle (and agreed with me).

I can't speak for other patients; I don't know how common or uncommon it is for CP patients to be able to distinguish the difference between CP and rebound pain (and I'm not aware of any statistics or studies about this) but I sincerely doubt I'm the only one. IME, the two types of pain are so different that it's difficult for me to imagine that others cannot tell the difference, but I'm not so arrogant (like some doctors) as to dismiss/disbelieve someone who says they cannot differentiate.

Out of curiosity, can you tell the difference?

Doc