Chronic pain can wreak havoc on your entire life, not only causing physical anguish, but also mental depression as well. This is, in part, due to the lasting nature of this type of pain and also because for some conditions, there is no way out of it. However, it does help to know the reason for chronic pain and what diseases and conditions most commonly cause it. This type of pain affects up to 1 in every 10 adults and generally most commonly associated with back-related issues, though a number of other conditions can be to blame, as well.
Chronic pain is characterized by pain that does not go away as it normally would after an episode of being sick or a specific injury. This type of pain is often described as a burning or electrical-feeling, as well as aching and/or shooting. It can be soreness, tightness, a stiff feeling or just plain uncomfortable. Symptoms of chronic pain include an inability to sleep because the pain is keeping you up at night, withdrawal from the activities of daily living, depression, an immune system that is significantly weakened, moodiness, a sense of helplessness of hopelessness, irritability and more.
However, the good news is that this type of pain doesn’t have to stop you in your tracks. There are ways to deal with, mostly starting with understanding how to manage it and what causes it. Back pain is one of the major causes of chronic pain. From spinal stenosis, which is characterized by a narrowing of the canal in the spine, to a slipped disc, there are a number of back injuries that can cause lasting pain.
Compression fractures are also contributes to chronic pain as is spinal deformities and damage to the soft tissue around the spine. Another common cause of chronic pain is headaches, brought on by excessive fatigue, stress and injuries around the neck of back. Migraine headaches are a common cause of chronic pain as are cluster headaches, which are caused by overly large blood vessels that lead into the head area. Headaches are considered to be chronic if they occur at last half the days in the month for three months at a time.
Another common cause of chronic pain is join pain, mostly related to arthritis. This is not only felt by elderly individuals, as younger people can struggle with arthritis as well. Pain signals coming right from the brain is another cause of chronic pain. This can be caused by nerves that are in the midst of a healing process, as they tend to over-fire and cause more intense feelings of pain. This can result from diabetic neuropathy, which is a common side effect of diabetes, and sciatica, which is the nerve that runs from the back all the way down to your feet. If this nerve is damaged or compressed in any way, the shooting pain that results can be downright debilitating.
Additional diseases that can cause chronic pain include cancer, in which the pain is caused by tumors that can develop just about anywhere on the body, as well as fibromyalgia, which can also cause extreme fatigue and sleeping disorders. Depression is another common cause of chronic pain, which may come as a surprise to some people to know that mental imbalances can cause this kind of pain, but this is a fact and it can be challenging to resolve without resolving the depression itself.
Chronic pain in can be managed, particularly if the cause of the pain is identified. From medicinal options to meditation and other holistic methods, there are ways to manage this pain so that it doesn’t take over your life. Pinpointing the cause and attempting to treat it is just the first step in the process. Resolving not to give up and working closely with medical professionals to reign in the pain is the best way to stay persistent in taking on this issue and winning over it.