Chronic pain can increase fears of recurrence. 

Since we do not always know how common chronic pain is and the fact that this can be random and lifelong, when we continue to experience pain we worry that there could be recurrence. Add to that the fact that many doctors say cancer tumors are not painful, even though many have experienced painful tumors and the warning bells get even louder.

This is a very common feeling. The best thing we can do is get our questions answered in a way that alleviates the concerns. So you can set aside the worry and change the story.

My knee has a large scar post car accident. It had been accurately predicting the weather for a decade before my surgery. For me when I had pain I could check it against what was happening with my knee. They were usually telling the same story. That checkin made it easier for me to reconcile scar tissue pain from any other unwanted conditions. It also helped me when my port was placed and it started predicting the weather, usually in a sharp, shooting pain kind of way.

If you don’t have an existing injury to compare you could try using a symptom tracker to get a better understanding of when you have pain. For me it is 12 to 24 hours before the weather happens when the barometer is shifting. That may mean a beautiful day and pain where on the rainy day no pain. Or multiple rainy days may make the pain seem to make no sense at all. Tracking is always a good place to start.

Have you experienced random, chronic pain? Does it freak you out? Do you have a process for quieting the warning bells?

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