One of the joys of still having your ovaries after a hysterectomy is that you still get 'phantom periods'. Compared to life pre-hysterectomy, these 'phantoms' are pretty manageable, but they are still rather unpleasant. And they can bloody hurt. I was woken out of a dead sleep by the pain a few nights ago, and considering how much a good night's sleep is a luxury for me, I'm really rather resentful of my ovaries for doing that to me.
Pre-hyst, I lived with chronic pain for years. I was never really not in pain for about 5 years before I had the op; even when I didn't have my period, I had a constant low-grade pain in my pelvis. And when I had my period, it was agonising.
The problem with pain is that the experience is subjective. One person's pain is not another's, and there are different types of pain, which feel totally different, but could have the same levels of intensity. Which makes it very hard to assess or measure. Failing an objective measure, doctors often use a 1-10 pain scale like this.
The problem these pain scales is that this is still pretty subjective. One person's 2 is another's 7. Before my hysterectomy, every day was at least a 2. Periods varied between a 4 and an 8. I always held back on saying it was ever a10 because I'm the kind of person who always thinks things can get worse. I have experienced a 10; that was after my op when the hospital cocked up my pain management. I have no words to describe that experience, but I still remain ever in debt to that student nurse who realised something was terribly wrong and did something. When I was in the midst of the Crohn's flare, the gastro clinic kept asking me if I was in pain. Yes, I hurt, but compared to life pre-hyst, it was rather manageable. Frankly, the problems I was having with my back at the beginning of year hurt a hell of a lot more than my abdomen.
Of course, the problem with all of this subjectiveness is that there is no objective measure of pain. Which means that lots of people who are in pain aren't believed. Like most women with endometriosis/adenomyosis, I lost track of the number of times I was told my pain was imagined, that I was attention seeking or that I was nuts. And just about anyone with a chronic pain problem has had the same experience.
So why am I wittering about this? Because I read a really interesting article about the potential use of brain scans as an objective way to measure pain. It has some interesting potential, but is very controversial. It's worth the read.
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/15/6895171/how-doctors-measure-pain-brain-scan-fmri
Pre-hyst, I lived with chronic pain for years. I was never really not in pain for about 5 years before I had the op; even when I didn't have my period, I had a constant low-grade pain in my pelvis. And when I had my period, it was agonising.
The problem with pain is that the experience is subjective. One person's pain is not another's, and there are different types of pain, which feel totally different, but could have the same levels of intensity. Which makes it very hard to assess or measure. Failing an objective measure, doctors often use a 1-10 pain scale like this.
The problem these pain scales is that this is still pretty subjective. One person's 2 is another's 7. Before my hysterectomy, every day was at least a 2. Periods varied between a 4 and an 8. I always held back on saying it was ever a10 because I'm the kind of person who always thinks things can get worse. I have experienced a 10; that was after my op when the hospital cocked up my pain management. I have no words to describe that experience, but I still remain ever in debt to that student nurse who realised something was terribly wrong and did something. When I was in the midst of the Crohn's flare, the gastro clinic kept asking me if I was in pain. Yes, I hurt, but compared to life pre-hyst, it was rather manageable. Frankly, the problems I was having with my back at the beginning of year hurt a hell of a lot more than my abdomen.
Of course, the problem with all of this subjectiveness is that there is no objective measure of pain. Which means that lots of people who are in pain aren't believed. Like most women with endometriosis/adenomyosis, I lost track of the number of times I was told my pain was imagined, that I was attention seeking or that I was nuts. And just about anyone with a chronic pain problem has had the same experience.
So why am I wittering about this? Because I read a really interesting article about the potential use of brain scans as an objective way to measure pain. It has some interesting potential, but is very controversial. It's worth the read.
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/15/6895171/how-doctors-measure-pain-brain-scan-fmri
No comments:
Post a Comment