On Pain

Avoidance of pain can cause people to make poor choices.

There are those who seem to thrive on pain as they grind out mile after mile day after day for years.

Seems to me those that qualified for the Ironman in Kona must willingly embrace lots of pain (and pay a lot of money for the opportunity). To me that does not look like a comfortable event. I would be the first to take an Ironman slot if I did qualify, the other side of me sez “who would want to screw up a perfectly good week in Hawaii by doing an Ironman?” I fear I would be crying like a baby and they would capture it on national TV!

Some people are stuck with pain due to chronic conditions, birth defects, accidents or the effects of aging. They don’t willingly put themselves into painful events.

Having conversations with the seemingly imperviable to pain can lead to some clues to the high performance of some.  

Comments like these are clues:

• ·         “It’s only Advil”
• ·         “If I didn’t take it, I would run like you”
• ·         “My doctor said it is OK”
• ·         “I know my (XX) is going to hurt, so...”

I fell into that trap once when I wanted to ride my bike from Seattle to Portland as fast as I could a few years ago. My knee was bothering me and slowing me down. I spoke to a buddy of mine who convinced me to take Advil at the start and then every 50 miles, which I did. The good news is my knee did not hurt all day, and I had a fantastic time! The bad news is the next day my knee was extremely swollen and painful. It took years for it to heal and sometimes it still flares up. The temporary gain was not worth the long-term loss. If I had performed according to my level of acceptable pain, I likely would not have screwed it up so bad. Maybe I would not have finished the day. But, that choice would have been better than 5 years of pain.

There is no free lunch when it comes to taking medications. There is good news and bad news. There are no side effects, only effects. Research of a Physicians Desk Reference or even Google can educate you on all the stuff you should know but maybe don’t want to.

And the TV commercials.  My paraphrase is “Trade in your high cholesterol for impotence” in the last 30 seconds of the commercial while the people appear to be all happy.

I know someone who suffers from Grave’s Disease because of chronic over dosing on anti-inflammatories. His life is screwed up forever.

Not only the effects, but what about immunity and addiction issues? People can develop a tolerance for medications needing more to get the same effect.

It is not uncommon to take one medication to counteract the effects of another, and so on. Next thing your 60 and are taking 10 things regularly. What happened?

Pain is not necessarily a bad thing!

Pain is there for a reason. It is a signal that something is wrong. It is kind of like the idiot light in your car. If it comes on, the cause needs to be discovered and fixed. The wrong thing to do is to cut the wire or cover up the light. That may fix the annoying message, but it won’t fix the problem. And sooner or later, there will be a reckoning…

Lance Armstrong has been all over the waves with his podcast from France during the tour. Scrolling through the comments reveal most are good with Lance in France, but some have something derogatory to say. I wonder how many of them used pain killers to make their lives better or increase their performance. Except for the (admitted) lie, is there really a difference? “Everybody’s doing it.” Casting stones, are we?

I am not saying to not take medications. They can and likely have saved your and my life. I am saying to use your noodle and be reasonable to find the cause and fix it in a responsible way. You, and you alone, are responsible for your health choices; which range from pillow-sucking, working out, over eating or drinking or developing a drug habit.

Always do the simple first. Do non-addictive things like ice. Simple rehab. Research your condition and find out what else can be done about it. Be patient with time and healing. It can take years.

And see your local chiropractor! If you don’t have one, call (425) 432-4621. I hear they can help.