Different Pains

Anyone who has ever experienced severe pain, especially severe pain that is either chronic and/or intermittent, understands the challenges that pain can create.

But what about severe pain in several areas? What about the different types of pain that can be experienced?

One thing I have noticed is that many people (who have experienced one type of severe pain) seem to think that a person cannot be in THAT much pain all the time, nor can a person experience that much pain in several areas.
Unfortunately, that is incorrect.

While it is true that our brains are wired to experience the most severe or most recent pain only, the brains of those who suffer from chronic pain have been re-wired. Our bodies need a way to communicate pain - to communicate that something is wrong. So if someone has one disease that causes pain, our brain tells us. If we develop another disease that causes pain, our pain receptors learn to read pain from more areas. Chronic illness completely changes the way we experience pain.
So, for an average person with an injury, if you smash your hand, the pain you feel is only in your hand (or the overwhelming majority). (Remember House? He explained that in one episode).
For someone with chronic pain, if we smash our hands, then we get to feel the intense pain in our hand in addition to the pain we feel from the diseases we suffer from.

I have a list of diseases. Lucky for me, they do not ALL cause pain. Tachycardia just sometimes keeps me from sleeping or makes me feel anxious. Hashimoto's affects my energy, sleep, appetite, and lethargy, but no real pain. Raynaud's only affects me with specific triggers, but that one is a very sharp nerve pain that travels up my arms to my back like a lightning bolt. Chronic Pelvic Pain has improved since getting a hysterectomy/oophorectomy in 2017, but still causes some pain - like little splits in the skin, and deep pressure pain. Macular Degeneration does not cause much pain, but any pain in my eyes is usually from severe dry eye. Psoriasis causes skin-splitting pain, but I have been lucky and have had no severe flare-ups of my psoriasis in recent years. Migraines create brutal soul-crushing  pain - like my head is stuck in a vice - but are not active 100% of the time.

Here are some of the different pains that I experience ALL THE TIME.

Crohn's Disease - sharp, burning, and cramping pains. The burning pain is constant. The cramping and sharp pains are intermittent.

Ankylosing Spondylitis - stiffness, sharp pain, radiating pain, deep bone pain. All of these are pretty constant, but the radiating pain tends to be more intermittent. This disease also causes muscle pain - like consistently pulled or even torn muscles.

Hereditary Angioedema - this illness varies greatly. The swelling in arms and legs is not usually painful. The swelling in my breasts is similar to PMS pain - general soreness. If I swell in my intestines it is similar to food poisoning: severe cramping pain that 'attacks' every 20 minutes or so and causes instant vomiting and diarrhea each attack. If I swell in my bladder, it feels like a severe UTI or bladder infection. If I swell in my throat and chest it presents as a tightening pain. Tight, difficult to breathe, and if it affects my chest it feels as though an anvil has fallen on my chest. Pressure. Pressure pain, tight pain.

And when they are all acting up, if every disease that can cause pain is in a flare-up, I get to feel everything all at once.

Lucky me!!