What I wish I’d known . . .

With the benefit of hindsight any number of things come to mind, not least, of course, the fact that even if full recovery isn’t possible (although in some cases it can be) there are many tried and trusted ways of living well with pain. And that, perhaps, brings me to my ultimate “what you wish you’d known” answer. Because honesty is the underlying key.

Looking back, I sometimes wonder whether some of the healthcare professionals I encountered weren’t already pretty certain that my pain was unlikely to ever fully go away. They knew (or suspected) a truth that I was forced to confront a long time later, after many years of relentlessly pursuing a ‘cure.’

But my pain was never likely to ever go away completely. Perhaps that message should have been conveyed to me (gently) a lot sooner. Because it’s only then that you begin to appreciate the things you can do, things you can change, that would actually help. I’d have like someone to say – years ago – “look, there’s probably not much we can do for the underlying pain but there are plenty of things we do know that will help you live with it better.”

With that, of course, comes an openness to explore as many options as are safe and appropriate. Ultimately, we’ve all got to add to our pain care tool kits so that we’re as well prepared as possible for the ups-and-downs of pain self-management.

 

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Tim Atkinson is the editor of Live Well with Pain newsletter. He is currently Chair of the British Pain Society’s Expert Patient and Carer Panel, a lived-experience trainer with Live Well With Pain, a Trustee of the charity Pain Concern and patient rep. for the Physiotherapy Pain Association. In 2021 Tim published the memoir Where Does it Hurt? about his own pain journey.