This is a re blog of a post that Esther on Life in Slow Motion wrote in 2014 when she was starting her blog.  It is a great piece of writing describing what so many of us with chronic pain experience with friends, family & strangers – but Esther looks at some ways that we “chronic” bunch might be able to help others to begin to understand the difference between chronic and acute pain.

“Many communication barriers exist when it comes to describing chronic pain to family, friends, and other interested and uninterested parties. It has been said time and time again – something about chronic pain defies description. And if you are like me, you begin to dread those instances when you are faced with explaining your situation to healthy individuals who inevitably won’t truly understand.

In the midst of chronic pain, few things are more frustrating than taking precious time and energy to go into the details of your pain, only to be met with unsolicited advice, vaguely related stories, and various other responses that miss the mark of what you just so honestly and personally shared.

We all have stories of being hurt or misunderstood. Conversations seeking to explain our chronic pain so often go awry, bringing increased confusion instead of clarity.

Likely there are many reasons for this. At times there is an unwillingness to honestly share and a hesitancy to carefully listen. The subjective nature of pain is much better described through metaphor and art than everyday conversations. At times people are unempathetic, make unkind assumptions, or even completely disbelieve you.

Yes, these reasons are definitely culprits, but I do not believe any are the main culprit, the main reason, or the underlying thread that leads to the most confusion……….”

Read the complete article here:

Life in Slow Motion – The #1 Reason your Healthy Friends Misunderstand your Chronic Pain