What A Pain! Coping with Hep C-Related Pain

You may be one of the lucky people who has had no pain associated with your hep C, and maybe no lingering pain at all, regardless of cause. I say lucky because it appears to be sort of a random thing, with no clear set of reasons or causes why some of us have lingering pain (or what is called chronic pain), while others escape with little or no pain and it is generally more episodic than chronic.

Every person's pain experience is different

It is not all about any person’s ability to grin and bear it, or their pain threshold, because that varies from one person to the next too, as we know. Some of us may complain more, and is that because they have more pain? Sometimes that is absolutely the reason and who are any of us to judge whether their pain warrants a complaint. For those people who have chronic pain, we have nothing to prove or deny to anyone. There is no shame, and there is no excuse for anyone denying the pain we can feel.

Pain is invisible

It is similar territory to how nobody can judge how sick someone is by looking at them, and we know how annoying that can be when someone says you look great when you feel like absolute rubbish or are racked by pain. That can cause emotional pain, as something we also have to deal with with hep C - at least some of us do, while the lucky ones don’t. Is there a number we can put on the lucky and not so lucky? Of course not, and that is some research I am sure not interested in reading. Are those of us who are in the ranks of the unlucky with pain any more or a fewer number really doesn’t matter, does it?

Looking for answers about pain

As a saying, we can use “what a pain” to describe a number of things not specific to physical pain. The process of being tested or other medical needs can take longer than we want, and goodness, the waiting is a kind of torture... what a pain!
At least that particular kind of pain is normally not going to last years or forever. No matter how we slice it (maybe a poor choice of words- haha), I hope that if you are in the unlucky cohort, you can find the relief and just as important for me, the understanding of why. It helps some of us to have a grip on why. Maybe you are the same?

Pain relief

Chronic pain can be caused by a lot of things. Hep C is known to do that very thing for some, over time, while the lucky ones not, or they resolve in time once cured. Like so many other things, there is no reliable way to predict or come up with an absolutely right prognosis, even in the healthiest of people. In fact, how good or not so good our general health is may not make a significant difference in everyone and every condition that is causing us pain or ongoing illness. If you are experiencing chronic pain, I hope you find ways to manage the difficulties it causes and how it can make a serious dent in our ability to have joy in our life, day to day. Don’t give up, there are things we can do if we are able, and if not, ask for help; It is out here.