Pain: It’s all relative

October 4, 2011

It’s that time of year.  Some people are gearing up for Halloween, others are lining up for flu shots (and I suppose some might be doing both.)  I got my flu shot today for the fourth year in a row.  It’s funny to me how people get nervous about it.  If you’ve never had one, or if you get bad reactions, then I get it.  What amuses me are the folks who worry about the pain of the flu shot.

Then again, I guess I’m not really amused.  I’m actually jealous.  It would be nice to think of a flu shot as terrible pain.  I suppose that if you rarely experience pain, if you measure pain by a stubbed toe or hitting your funny bone (I did that this morning; it’s really not so funny) then sure, a flu shot seems bad.  I’m jealous, because I have so much pain so frequently that a flu shot feels like nothing.  Ok, it’s not nothing; I felt it and it hurt a bit.  My arm is sore.  Do I care?  Not really.  I know it will make it a bit harder to sleep for a couple of nights.  I can sleep through other pain because I’m used to it, but pain in a new location will throw me off for a bit.  And then it’s gone.  That’s the thing, we all know that it’s temporary.  I would so love to know that my pain and other symptoms were temporary.

So come on people, I know you can do it.  If you don’t want to get the flu shot because you don’t believe in vaccines or something, that’s your choice.  But please don’t avoid it because of the “pain.”  My guess is that one day you’ll experience real pain, and you’ll look back and wonder what you were so afraid of.  If you want it, just do it.  At least this pain goes away.

 

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Leave a Comment » | Expectations, Medication, Pain, Rants, Raves, Symptoms | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

Temper control

October 3, 2011

I started this blog because sometimes I get angry.  I get angry at the illnesses, I get angry at the symptoms, I get angry at other people who are insensitive.  These people are coworkers, family members, friends, acquaintances, policy-makers, and strangers.  Some days nothing bothers me.  Some days I’m peeved.  Other days I’m mad.  Some days I’m angry.

Today moves past all of those emotions, right to enfuriating.  I am so angry, I want to yell, kick, scream.

This post isn’t about the details (even as an anonymous post, I’m guessing it might cost me my job, even though they’re completely wrong here.)  No, this post isn’t about what exactly happened.  It’s about the emotions

I’ve always had a temper.  Over the years I’ve learned to control it.  Most people are shocked when I say I have a temper because they never see it.  They should have heard me ranting this evening.  The trick, of course, is to control my temper when I confront the job-type folks who are causing me to feel this way.  I need to control the rage.  I will have to think rationally and present my case calmly and clearly.  I know that getting upset will diminish my position.  Still, WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?

Ok, time to take some deep breaths.  Tomorrow will be an interesting day…..

 

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1 Comment | Educating, Expectations, Frustration, Insensitive, Job, Limitations, Pain, Rants, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

The perfect gift

October 3, 2011

It’s carnival time!  I’m excited to have this post on Chronic Babe’s carnival about the perfect gift.  This is a great carnival, so please pass the word.

Leave a Comment » | Educating, Expectations, Kindness, Limitations, Rants, Raves, Support, Symptoms, Thoughtfulness | Permalink
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How do you reassure people?

October 2, 2011

Telling a stranger or an acquaintance about my health issues can be difficult, only because it is hard to make them understand.  We all know that, right?

I find it infinitely harder to talk to loved ones about it, especially when there’s something negative happening.  How do you tell your loved ones that things are bad?  The last thing I want to do is upset people.  Even when they are being the most wonderful, supportive friends and family I could ever want, I can see they’re hurting, and that is more painful than anything I deal with on a daily basis.  That’s why I don’t tell them most of what I deal with.  And that’s why I started this blog: it’s much easier to complain to anonymous readers than to upset my loved ones.  Plus, if you’re reading this then you probably have similar conditions, so you understand.  You know that as bad as things are, they’re probably not as bad as what’s in the minds of family and friends.  But how can I convince them of that?

More than anything, I want to reassure my family and friends right now that I am ok.  Yes, I need to take a few months off of work, but really, I’m ok.  I mean, sure, I’m not really ok, because if I was, I wouldn’t need the time off.  Yeah, I know that.  But aside from that, I’M OK!  REALLY!  I guess it would be more convincing if it was as true as I want it to be.

I wonder how other people handle this?  Is there any possible way to tell your loved ones that you’re worse without upsetting them?  I guess not.  I’d be upset of the situation were reversed.  But it still feels lousy.  This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional ordeal, and as I write this post, this is the first time I’ve cried.  Suddenly, I can’t stop the tears.   I can handle my own problems, but causing pain to others is unbearable.  This is the pain that no one warns you about.

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2 Comments | Educating, Expectations, Isolation, Kindness, Rants, Raves, Support, Thoughtfulness | Permalink
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