Dangers situations Associated with Poorly Managed Pain

Have you ever endured severe untreated pain?  Maybe you were hesitant about asking the doctor for pain medicine, or perhaps you felt you could gut it out leaving you to suffer through the nights unable to sleep.
What ever your reason for not getting your pain managed, they aren’t good enough.


Let me suggest this situation can cause unintended risks.


Here are two of my own examples:


I was in such pain that I couldn’t sleep.  So, I was laying down on the futon in the living room.


I would sit rubbing my painful toes and foot all night long thinking I wasn’t ever going to sleep.  I found out, however, that (actually) I did sleep some.

You see, I was a smoker back then.  I smoked a lot of cigarettes because (psychologically) they seemed to help.


One night I was sitting there rubbing my foot, then the next thing I realized, the room was filled with toxic-burning-foam-smoke.  I had dropped the smoldering butt onto the futon mattress, and it almost caught fire.


Another incident occurred one night, same pain situation, I put the tea kettle on for some hot coco.  Again, I unknowingly fell asleep.


I awoke to the smell of melting plastic as all the water had boiled away, a hole burned into the bottom of the aluminum, and the plastic button and whistler cap melted away.


These were two instances where improperly treated pain could have really been tragic.


My advice:  If you are in pain, you really should get it effectively treated.  You can’t let your worried that they’ll think you are a “pain seeker” (someone seeking pain medicine to feed an addiction) stop you from asking for help.


I started telling my doctor, I don’t care what you give me as long as it works.  If the medicine didn’t do the job, I let the doctor know.


Be ready to talk to the doctor about your pain.


What hurts?  How does it hurt?  When does it hurt?  What helps the pain?  What makes the Pain worse?  What have you taken for pain in the past and how effective was it? 


Having these answered when you talk to your doctor can help determine your own effective pain management and avoid sleepless night dangers like those above.