Originally Posted by Littlepaw

So the teachable moment came with the assistant before the surgeon came in. I was asked if I was getting anesthesia for my single tooth extraction (insurance only covers it for multiple teeth) because I was "just so anxious" about the extraction. When I said no, because I had chronic pain he said "well everybody's pain tolerance is different". Both statements felt snarky to me and I had to make an effort to remind myself not to feel slighted and that he just really didn't understand pain conditions. I told him I'd had a devastating nerve injury and repair and multiple operations, that my pain tolerance was insanely high, but we needed to prevent further changes to my system by minimizing pain input. The whole scenario reminded me of the kinds of prejudice out there against pain conditions and the need for education about how acute pain can contribute to chronic pain. My doctor got it and I'm grateful for that. Hopefully, the medical field in general will catch up on this in time!