Explaining your journey...and what the heck is pain, anyway???

Welcome, welcome, welcome to episode three of the Unweaving Chronic Pain Podcast. I'm your host, dr Andrea Moore, and, as always, this is not a substitute for medical advice, so please do not treat it as such. Now, today we're going to have a bit of a two-part episode, two short parts, and the first thing we're going to be diving into is just discussing a little bit more about what to expect and how to think about this pain journey you are on. In the second part, we're going to get a little more technical and actually just talk about what the heck is pain Like. Let's make sure we've established a definition, So we'll be diving into what pain is in the first place. 

So, to dive into the healing journey, i like to think of it a little bit like an analogy here of walking around when you have chronic pain with a 10,000 pound bag on your back, and healing is about unloading this bag, letting go of what's inside and maybe discovering some other hidden gems that are inside this bag in the first place. Now, when you're beginning to unload this bag, oftentimes it starts piece by piece, which can feel slow, and, let's face it, if a bag is weighing 10,000 pounds and it's on your back, you're probably not noticing one or two pieces that are missing. Right, and this is just so common on this journey is that people miss the wins the little baby wins, the step forward, the thing that actually did start to heal. So, celebrating anything you notice, and even just celebrating any actions that were taken or things that were different, because all of those are starting to unload your bag, whether you notice it or not, right away, when you're walking around, chronic pain again it can feel literally like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. You're gonna walk around with a heavy ass bag on your back, makes every step literally painful and challenging, and it can take so much effort to take each step forward. So I just want to bring in so much compassion and love and just understanding to that piece and just say that I hear you. I hear you And that's why we're on this journey together, to make the journey, you know, a little easier, because as we do start to unload, piece by piece, things do start to add up and all of a sudden you wake up one day and you're like huh, move forward actually a little bit easier. 

Now the tricky thing is is we don't get to just sit and unload without any efforting or work. Unfortunately, it's often not how it works. It requires action to create any type of movement here, and a lot of times that action might be with this load still on our back. And here's the thing. You've made it this far. You're here, you have this load on your back for probably a while And you are here. You are listening to this. You have made it this far Like think of all the amazing things you have been able to do, even in the presence of your pain Not saying it's not hard, and you've been able to do it. So just acknowledging that right now and just celebrating all the things you've done with this pain on your back Now, just taking action and guided, intentional action. 

You know that is healing and individualized to you. And even just if you listen to the first episode of even just trying to start a night or the second episode of just starting to identify your values, that is an action. Just even doing that can start to unload this bag. So each action starts to cause some pieces to fall out. Maybe even if you're lucky, if you're really dragging that bag on the ground, you can rip a hole in the bottom and a whole chunk falls out. 

Some actions can create massive change very rapidly And those are always really fun and what we always, you know, want, and oftentimes it takes little steps to get there right, like literally think about if you were dragging the bag on the ground. Each step is action and requires a massive amount of effort and work, but over time it's going to start to create a hole at the bottom of your bag And that's going to be what allows it to spell out. So so often we like to think that it's like oh man, had we just done this thing in the first place, we would have created this huge, massive change. But oftentimes it's that thing, whatever it is, that creates like the big kind of instant gratification feeling. Oftentimes it only worked because you had all these things leading up to it, and that's really the case for this in our work, which is what I really am going to emphasize as we are working together. 

So the other pieces and this is why I really wanted to introduce this analogy right now is I want to be able to reference this in future episodes of like what to expect from different things we're talking about, and there are absolutely some pieces to heal and chronic pain that kind of might be like putting your bag on wheels, like you get all of a sudden these temporary wheels that just make it way easier to walk forward. So not, it might not be unloading any pieces out of the bag. You know, maybe you move forward enough some pieces might fall out. But that's not really the intention. It's just kind of lets you coast for a little bit And those things might be and we'll talk about this way more but those things might be things like massage or physical therapy, manual work, chiropractic, whatever is worked, and kind of given that like short term relief. It's exactly like putting your bag on wheels. It's not addressing the root cause, but it is absolutely making your journey temporarily a whole lot easier and that's always welcome, and the whole goal is to ditch what's not ours in that bag in the first place, right? So let's talk about that piece for a second. 

What's in this bag? One, everyone's bag is going to be a little bit different. No, two people even with pain that sounds incredibly similar have the same things in their bag, and a lot, a lot of what is in this bag is not even ours in the first place, and it can take effort to let go of what is not ours, because first we have to understand that it's not even ours. It's shit that has been piled on you. People are like, oh hey, look, she's got a bag, let me just dump that in there, right, let me dump my problems there. 

And especially if you're a woman listening to this, you know what I'm talking about. People dump their shit on you all the time And there's a lot of that you're aware of. But I bet you there is so much that you're not aware of, because a lot of this this handed to you the day you were born. This is like societal programming, programming in your lineage through your from your ancestors, just things your parents modeled for you during childhood, things that that one random bitchy woman said to you one day. That really stuck That you still remember. You know someone saying to you, especially like as a teenager those like things that just leave those imprints Some we might be very aware of in other pieces We aren't even aware that they are impacting our system so much or in our bag. 

So a lot of the journey is being able to figure out how to unload that shit that is not yours, because underneath and within all of that is your true self is like the gemstones and the gifts and your beauty, and like amazingness. All of that is in there too, and we get to like find it and then like decide what to do with it. And once you can pull out that gem, and you can like let it shine and like hold it out to the world, for the world to see. Or maybe you, you know, you tuck it into your pocket because it's one that you don't want anyone else to see And it's yours and yours alone, or one only your partner gets to see, or your kids get to see. Right, we get to do what we want with these gems, but a lot of them are hidden in this bag covered by shit That's not ours, and so that's the thing is, this journey is not about fixing anything, because right now, exactly as you are, you are already whole and perfect and precious and just amazing. 

You're already in possession of these gems and these gifts that you have to bring to the world, and you might not be able to see them yet. Maybe you do, maybe you see some and just celebrating the hell out of the ones you're already recognizing and have already been able to put on display, and also, i guarantee there are so many there that are still waiting to be discovered, but they're already there, right, you're not broken. This isn't fixing something that is broken. This is kind of clearing off the shit that's covering them up, and that's a huge part of this journey, and that's not a quick fix. And this is where pain becomes the greatest gift we can ever receive, because it's that what often is like having pain can be the driver and the motivator to go on this journey, because most people, even people without pain, are walking around with their gifts hidden and like undiscovered, and they may never have the impetus to search for them. But pain kind of forces us to because it gives us no other choice. So that's where pain can be this just amazing gift, even though it might not feel like that right now, totally feeling that if you're like, what are you talking about? I hear you And we'll find it with time, don't you worry. 

So, going back to the pieces that aren't yours, what I want to invite you to do is and you don't need to really know what this means yet, you don't need to understand it, you know if this really already is resonating, awesome. But if you're like, what are you talking about, not mine. Don't worry about that piece, don't? we don't need to logically understand it, and of course, we're going to be explaining this later in way more detail, but for right now, i just want you to ask kind of like your true self, your authentic wisdom, the question of like, what is mine? What even is mine here, what can I start letting go of? Just kind of drop that in at the end of your next exhale. Just drop it in, how much of this is even mine? and invite your authentic wisdom to just start clearing off what's not yours. And if you're like, how do I invite my authentic wisdom to clear off what's not yours? What the hell are you talking about? Totally understandable, because it's the first time we're introducing this on this podcast right, it's literally just saying that, you don't even have to say it out loud, just in your head, being like, hey, authentic wisdom, i've never talked to you before. If you haven't, can you start clearing off? It's not mine, it could be super cash, and we will talk about that. 

Authentic wisdom. And just really briefly, authentic wisdom is just your true self And however you want to refer to it, everyone has their own, you know, like your heart, your soul, you. However, whatever resonates with you is what's important here. I will refer to it as authentic wisdom, as that is my preferred terminology, but whatever resonates with you And, yeah, all you have to do is just trust that your authentic wisdom will start doing it in the background. And I'm just inviting that in for you as well here. This intention of just, hey, let's start clearing what's not even yours in the first place. 

Ah, trust, that's the other big piece of this journey, especially when you're going piece by piece and like, not really sure what's happening. It's really just trusting And we're going to talk again. There's so many things I'm like, oh, my God, we're going to talk. We have, like, we have 100 episodes I could talk about here, but we're going to be talking so much more in depth about, like, how to have this trust of like. We don't want blind trust, right, that's not helpful, but it's really this trust from this place of like, yes, okay, i can trust this process because, like, i've checked in with my body, i've cleared this with myself, not just because you're listening to me, that's not what I want. I want you to like be able to start checking in with your system, checking in with yourself and it's like is this something I want to trust? And then trusting that, of course, we don't do blind trust here. Ask me questions, challenge me. Blind trust is not healthy And trusting a process that will take time is also crucial. 

And there is a lot of trust on a healing journey because it can feel really new, it can feel really foreign and sometimes you don't see the results for a while And, like I said, that's when those results, often when they do come, can just like be massive and all of a sudden you wake up and you're like, did that wait? Is this how I'm feeling today? This is really different. What, what even happened? And you might not even be able to, you know, there might not be this one thing that did it. It's just like this culmination that all of a sudden clicks in your nervous system. Anyway, so that is my analogy of the healing journey. 

Next, we're going to be diving into the definition of pain. So we're going to really switch gears here And we're diving into the definition of pain because I feel like it's really important to set a really good foundation. I really want someone listening to this podcast to be listening in order and have a really solid understanding of pain. And then what we'll be going into next week is pain, neuroscience And really then, when we get to the a little bit of the other side of things, where we get what some might consider to be a little bit more woo woo, when it's really not woo woo, it's all back to neuroscience. We already have this base information as to why I find it's really easy for people to get stuck in one Or the other. 

Some people get so stuck in like staying super sciencey that they miss that. Mindfulness. Like you know, our mindset, our thoughts, our beliefs all these patterns are actually rooted in neuroscience. Somehow that gets missed. When people get really stuck in the data, which actually doesn't make sense because the data actually supports it, that's a whole other topic. Or people get really kind of go off the deep end in terms of, like energy work and holistic work, which I love, all of that stuff. But when it's not backed in neuroscience and we don't have it from, like the understanding of pain, sometimes it doesn't have the full effect it could have. So you'll notice that I do bounce back and forth between the two because they are so intricately linked. I can talk sometimes And I really want to help kind of bridge that gap between what can seem like two very different worlds of like alternative medicine and like really hardcore conventional medicine, but they're really linked and they are completely related and one without the other. 

If you're trying to treat chronic pain without one and stick with just you know, whatever your preferences, we're going to probably end up missing a lot, all right, anyway. So, again, we're talking about chronic pain here. Let's establish what the hell is pain like. let's talk about that, okay, so in 2020, i think it was like in June or something the International Association of the Study of Pain actually updated their pain definition And that's the one I'm going to be using because I really, really love it. 

And, if you weren't aware, there are absolutely different definitions of pain according to who you ask and what foundation and what you know body of research you look at. So I'm going by theirs. There's other, a lot of other really great ones too, but theirs is incredibly comprehensive. So their main definition is an pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage. All right, well, that's a mouthful right, don't worry, they'd go on to explain it a little bit more And they actually expand on it with six elements which we're going to be going through one by one, but first just coming back to their main definition. 

Okay, we have an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience. Both it's sensory and emotional. Really, they're very, very linked together. So I love that they include both of them and how important that is that it is both sensory based and emotional. And then they really emphasize the associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or it resembles actual or potential tissue damage, right? So we have a lot of already so much nuance within this definition, because pain is incredibly complex and nuanced. So we're going to go through the six sub like bullet point elements that they have to further define pain, and then I'll be talking through each one. 

So, element number one pain is always a personal experience that is influenced to varying degrees by biological, psychological and social factors. All right, so what does this mean? In short, pain is really personal, all right. This means no other person, including practitioners, get to judge you or doubt the pain you're experiencing. This means two people undergoing the exact same experience, like, let's say, two people slam their finger at the door, they both have their fingers stuck in the door and someone slams it, i don't know why. So the exact same time, exact same experience, okay, but they might have two very different pain response. One person might be crying and screaming like fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, i don't hurt, okay. Or and the other one might be just like totally stoic and like, oh, that hurt, right. And in that moment, when dictates that person's reaction? or the two very different reactions are due to biological, psychological and social factors, okay, and this really includes even the environment you're in. 

So I don't know if you've ever I feel like I am such a great example of this If I am at home and you know, let's say I dropped something on my toe or something happened like I'm super dramatic about it, like there's, but I think now my husband just ignores me. But there's definitely been times when my husband's like, oh, my God, are you okay? Because I'm like, i'm like totally that person that's screaming out And because why not be dramatic, right? But I've had situations like I remember one time, very, very clear time I was in the clinic and I was treating and I had someone like face down And I was, you know, they were already like really anxious and stuff. So I was really trying to like calm down and have a much, you know, like a nice calm environment. I was walking up and I slammed my knee. It was like square on my knee, cap on like a metal pole. That was like sticking out from underneath the table And like the massive amount of pain in that moment was I mean, it was it hurts, so bad, but I did not flinch, i did not have it. 

Well, actually I probably did flinch, but like I did not make a sound, whereas had that happened at home, at home, i would have been like on the floor, you know, without even like thinking about it. But in that moment my brain is able to be like okay, you got to be professional here, right, and it's able to like dampen it down. It hurt, it really, really hurt. The pain wasn't different, but my reaction was very, very different than had the same thing happened when I was in the, like the safety of my own home. So really, we what this means is that we actually do have the control and ability to change our future experience with pain by changing the factors that influence our personal experience. So if I wanted to, i absolutely could start to change a reaction both at home or when I'm in a professional environment, if it's something I still wanted to do. Personally, i'm pretty fine with how I react at home versus in professional environments, so I have no desire to change that, but it could. 

So this really is going to include taking an in depth look at our beliefs and thoughts around pain, which again, something we are going to be covering extensively in this podcast. But for starters, here, when you feel pain, it's just starting to notice what thoughts are going through your mind. Are you someone who tries to ignore it? Like? are you actively like I'm fine, i'm fine, i'm fine, i'm depressing it? Does it make you feel weak? Do you get anxious, like what is happening? Just noticing? okay, oftentimes some of these thoughts are so, like me, jerk reaction thoughts that we sometimes don't even notice them anymore. They're so habitual, so it's like they're really quick and fleeting. So it really can take intention to start to notice that initial reaction And right now we're just noticing it. That's all just getting super curious, that's it. 

And then the other thing I was gonna say here is that the other thing to notice is even how do you react to the word pain? Right, for a lot of people in chronic pain, just hearing the word pain brings up a lot of negative thoughts or Feelings in their body, like it almost makes can make you tighten up, and that in itself can be an interesting thing to examine, right? some people are like, well, of course pain brings up negative thoughts, but I like not so fast here, because I'm gonna take myself as an example again. I'm the weirdo you could call me who hears the word pain and I'm like, ooh, super exciting, like tell me more, and I'm really passionate about it. Right, like pain. The word pain literally brings me joy because I love talking about it. Just that much Doesn't mean I like to, doesn't mean feeling pain brings me joy. But I'm just talking about just hearing that word doesn't bring any negative emotion. In fact, it like floods me with like excitement and energy. All right, all right then. 

Element number two Pain and no seception are different phenomena. Pain cannot be inferred solely from activity and sensory neurons. If you just heard that and you're like, okay, that was some scientific mumbo jumbo, what the hell are you talking about? Don't worry, we're gonna talk about this. So Let's get clear on a few words in there. So One we use the word no see section, that pain and no see section are different, so most people might not know what no see section is, which, again, nobody taught you. So here we go. 

No see section is the brain's interpretation of the signals It's getting from no see scepter cells. What the hell are no see scepter cells? So a no see scepter is a specific type of sensory nerve cell That will send signals up to the brain. They can be thought of as threat receptors, and that's often how I'll identify them, as it's just they're your threat receptors. No see scepters are not pain receptors. We do not have pain receptors in their and the body. Nobody has a pain receptor in their body. Pain receptors do not exist. They are not a real thing. 

Okay, we have no see scepters, and this distinction is incredibly important for treating chronic pain. So, for example, if the brain is receiving sensory information About temperature, once it gets past a certain threshold, the temperature, okay, once it gets past a certain temperature that the brain is like or the body is deeming as a threat, and the no see scepters will fire off. That's what's telling the brain. Whoa, hey, like this might be dangerous, you could burn yourself, okay. And so the brain is getting this message of like shit, it's hot, take your hand off whatever you're touching. Why? why are you touching a stove right now? Take your hand off of it, okay, and then oftentimes, you will then feel pain, but it's not the pain Like pain. 

The pain here is a different thing. It's the no see scepter that made you want to take your hand off this threat level, and sometimes it's the pain, though, that will make you take action. We're gonna get into, like, the nuance. They're even more in depth, don't worry So here, because here's where things get really tricky with that is, you can have the same message But a different scenario. 

So let's say someone is feeling eighth, you know this past a safe threshold of heat. The brain's receiving that message of like, hey, it's really really hot, This is dangerous. You could get, you know, severely burned here. But the brain might be like cool, i hear you no see scepters, i'm going to ignore you and I'm not gonna send the message of pain, because right now I need to get through this heat to save my child from this burning building. Okay, so this is an example of where we have a no see sceptic signal that's saying hey, danger, danger, danger. And the brain is actively choosing to ignore it and will not produce pain in that moment, Because it has deemed you saving your child. Because the scenario here is you're apparently walking through a fire To get your child, okay. So it's like the brain's like yep, got the message from the no see scepters. It's not a pain receptor, right? If we have pain receptors, that would hurt. We wouldn't be able to turn that off then. So again, let's keep complicating things. 

You can have pain with no no see scepters, all right. So the most straightforward example and easiest best example is phantom limb pain. This is someone who was, you know, let's say, somebody is missing a foot, so their foot was amputated. They do not have any no see scepters, they are gone, they have been Refysically removed from the body, yet They will have pain in their foot that isn't, isn't even like attached to their body Anymore, but they will have pain in their foot. Okay so, pain with no no see scepters. You can have no see sception with no pain and then many times you have the combination of both and no see sception ascending Like a threat signal and then we have pain. So, like I said, and I'll say, continue to say, pain is complex as shit, but the good news is it's super manageable Once we can start to understand it better. All right. 

Element number three Through their life experiences, individuals learn the concept of pain. All right, so this is telling us that the concept of pain is learned through life. All right, and we do not all have the same experience or the same concept of pain. This means you, subconsciously, are now primed I'm assuming that we're all adults listening to this To have a certain reaction to pain, and that can depend on things such as how your parents responded to pain, what Google said when you googled why does my back hurt? or what Karen decided to say without any freaking permission, and she just decided to tell you hey, oh my gosh, you have knee pain. Wow, i had that same knee pain and now I can never squat again and Move and I'm like half disabled, right, like these fun little messages that we just pick up can, or also cannot, really start to subconsciously Shape our experience and concept of pain. So the really cool thing is is, if you know that you and pain have a rocky relationship, there's a lot you can do to mend it, because if we are shaping our Experience of pain, that also means we can shape it. Once we become conscious of it. We can shape it any way we want and we can always change it. 

And Becoming aware of your thoughts is kind of the crucial first step here, because we have to even like we have noticed What we're thinking about pain in the first place. So we've already talked about just noticing those thoughts when you have pain. Here's another fun little thing to do is just starting to ask is this thought even helpful? so you know, if you get up first thing in the morning and you're like The first thought you have is just such a common experience of chronic pain is oh okay, is this gonna be a good day or a bad day? is my back gonna hurt when I get up? right, you're already thinking that. Is that a helpful thought? Does that feel good in your body to think that first thing in the morning? And it's just noticing it, don't worry if it seems true or if it's not true, like the truth here is completely irrelevant, it's. Does it feel helpful to think, oh, wow, if my back hurts, the rest of my day is ruined? And you might be like, yes, this thought feels fantastic, i love it, cool. If not, then oh, super interesting, right, it's starting to notice that, because once we notice it, we can actually choose a new thought, which is an entire other you know again episode in itself, but just noticing that you can pick a thought that feels helpful to you, and here the perceived truth is really irrelevant. Right now It's all about just being able to say a thought and feel like this feels very helpful, with absolute confidence, all right. 

Element number four a person's report of an experience as pain should be respected. Now, i hate that they had to include this, like this is in the International Association of the Study of Pain. Okay, and within their definition, they are making sure that people know that a person's report of an experience as pain should be respected. Okay, that tells us a lot about how pain has clearly not been respected in the past, so I love that they include this. I have so many stories from clients and even directly like experience in my own life. 

This was my, exactly what happened to me, where my pain, other people's pain you know people are telling me this now was completely ignored, brushed off. We were told we were crazy. We were told, oh, it's not that bad, or oh, you're fine or no, you're really not feeling pain. Basically, just completely gaslighting our experience, right, and I'm sure you've had this happen And just the whole, the whole concept that one human can think they have the right to define another human's experience is kind of like the epitome of the problem in our society right now, not just around pain. So I don't think this is going to change anytime soon, sadly again. Hopefully it does, but it's like, hey, social justice movement, you know, this shows up in a lot of areas And it's rampant in the medical world as well. 

So, since the reality is it's probably not going to end anytime soon, the best we can do right now, and the most important thing to do right now because this is what drives change, drives change is to never allow another human to have that kind of authority over our experiences. Right, if you are going to a doctor right now who has been gaslighting you, has been brushing off your experiencing experience, has been making you feel like your pain isn't important to treat, or that it's not real, or that you're making it up or whatever. If you were leaving that office feeling like this bad taste in your mouth, that bad feeling in your gut that you're not being respected, find a new doctor, okay, find someone, find a new medical professional who can actually listen and respect your experience. Okay, because this is literally now you can be like. This is in the definition of pain, but you don't need to try to convince another doctor who's not, who's already gaslighting you. Find someone who's going to listen. Okay, demand better for yourself, because you deserve it. The unfortunate reality is, as we need to be our own advocates when it comes to medical care, we cannot trust that you know, whatever doctor you're seeing is going to be doing the best for you All right off that soapbox Element number five although pain usually serves an adaptive role, it may have adverse effects on function and social and psychological well being. So basically, this is saying pain is super helpful until it's not, and couldn't agree more. 

So I'm just going to share a little story that happened last summer. I am about 99% sure I broke my toe. I never bothered to get it x-rayed because, you know, middle of a pandemic didn't really seem that important, but I mean definitely pretty sure it's broken. So after the initial swelling went down and there was like an immense amount of pain at first, heard the crack and everything, my toe actually felt pretty good and I was actually really surprised. Because here I am, like after breaking my toe, because I'm the weirdo who's like, oh, this will be such a fun experiment to see how this plays out. And I'm like probably extensively studying my reaction to my toe, more so than any normal human would do, because, like I said, pain to me is super exciting Again, not feeling it, just learning about it and noticing it and like noticing my body's reaction to it. So, anyways, okay. 

So after the initial swelling went down, i was really surprised that it really probably took like three or four days and it was pretty pain free And I was like, wow, that's like amazing, until my three year old at the time decided to stomp on my foot, like I was doing good, and then he comes and like literally like just stomps right on it, which, of course, just like sent me the skyrocketed my pain levels. I mean like insane, immense amounts of pain at that moment. And then the other time I would have like shooting significant pain was when I tried to do a plank, which, of course, is like literally bending at your toe. Okay, other than that, it's like I was. It was pretty manageable And thank God for all of this. This is like really adaptive and useful, because had I been trying, like had it not hurt when I was doing the plank because I was doing a lot of yoga at the time I would have probably just totally not thought about the fact because I clearly didn't think about the fact, since I tried to do a plank right Of the fact that that's bending my toe like that's not going to allow a fracture to heal properly. 

So my body's like what are you doing? Do not do that Here, let me make it hurt. So you stop right. Super, super adaptive. And again, it's like really, really good to have this guide when we want to do like stupid things or forget that we're injured. We need this to heal properly, okay. So again, this is all is great, especially temporarily, right after we have an injury. Until it's not helpful, okay. 

So even after the injury, it also wouldn't be helpful, even though it's still healing, if my pain, if my toe, is hurting all the time And I'll have this, you know people will come in even after an acute injury and it's constant pain, even at rest, which doesn't really quite make sense for musculoskeletal injuries. It really shouldn't be pain at rest if you're not moving it. It happens, though, so it's like if I'm sitting here spiraling into fear and anxiety of like, oh my God, when's my toe going to heal. When I had to stop running because of it, because running hurt too, obviously because it's bending through your toe. If I'm like, oh my God, i'm never going to be able to run again, i just need to lay in bed and let this heal. That would have been really maladaptive If I was really worried that, you know, anytime I felt pain, it's like that I was worsening the damage Again. That would have been really not helpful. But in my experience it was really helpful because they're stopping me from doing things, that we're going to injure it more. 

Now what becomes really tricky is when we're convinced our pain means something it doesn't. So, for instance, we might think that the pain means an injury is getting worse, or that it's helpful, or that it's stopping us for a really good reason. Right, and there's times where this is really true, like in the case of my toe. But if you're listening to this, you have chronic pain. It is different from an acute injury. So, like when I have my chronic pain and have had my chronic pain, there is no longer like. That pain is now maladaptive, it's no longer protecting from anything because there's nothing there anymore, because if you've had pain for more than six months, there's a 99% chance your pain is now maladaptive because the underlying things have already healed, because in six months things are already healed. 

As a total fun side note from my broken toe experience, it was like really really fascinating when, like my toddler would be playing around me, to like notice how much like I would feel almost this like I don't know, almost like this throbbing swelling, like this hyper awareness of my foot when he would come around, especially after he stomped on it, and when it was, i would be like completely unaware of it. It's just all of a sudden my brain's like holy shit, that's a threat. Are you aware that this child is over here? And it was fascinating to see like that, like just how much my brain was like always tuned in on where he was. So it was really cool because, again, that was super protective in the moment, because my toddler literally was a threat to my toe. All right, question number six is the last one. 

Verbal description is only one of several behaviors to express pain. Inability to communicate does not negate the possibility that a human or non-human animal experiences pain. Now, hopefully, this one feels like a duh. Okay, until you realize that it wasn't until the early 2000s where anesthesia and pain management for infant circumcision slowly started to become the norm. This is that recently, where they were just cutting babies' penises and were like whatever, they can't talk, therefore they must not have pain. That was literally the thought around that. Okay, i'm sure it was maybe not that exactly in those words, but they weren't providing infants with any type of pain management or any type of anesthesia or cutting the foreskin of one of the most sensitive organs in the body right Off. Okay, so this just, i think, sums up so much about how pain is so misunderstood, mistreated and even obviously this is like in babies. It just shows how much we lack the understanding of pain in the medical community. 

Okay, and again, interesting sign note, there's actually research that shows being circumcised leads to an increased likelihood for a boy to have chronic pain later on in life, and I think that's probably a huge reason. I'd be super curious to now then see updated like infants who then are getting anesthesia or pain management. Do they have that same thing? I have no idea. I don't think the research has been done yet, because it's only been so recent that they started doing. 

Giving infants pain management all right, but literally this causes increased likelihood for chronic pain later in life. And why? Because pain becomes a traumatic experience at the most vulnerable time. It's no surprise that body imprints and remembers this is trauma, okay. So does this mean just for moms out there, okay, does this mean like, oh my gosh, my babies had pain and my toddler hit themselves Like they do. I have a toddler. They hurt themselves all the freaking time, like that's not a problem, okay, so babies and toddlers are going to hurt themselves constantly. The problem is is, if we are dismissing it, if we're not like noticing it, if we're trying to like gas like them, i'm like, hey, it's okay, you're fine, get up Right. Um, that becomes a problem. But experiencing pain as a baby or as a toddler isn't a problem. It's just making sure that we're like holding them and caring for them and staying close by and making sure they feel like they're being nurtured in that moment. So, really, if your child is crying from pain, listen to them. Don't invalidate their pain experience. Okay. And if you have, it's okay, just start validating it now And again. That can be it. If you're interested in that, let me know I could make that a whole episode. I'm not sure if they're how much interest in their interest there is in that piece, um, but just by staying calm yourself, helping them realize that pain isn't bad or assigned for concern, it can really help them develop a more familiar relationship with pain. All right, i think that's enough for today. 

This ended up being a lot longer than I intended. The hardest part of this podcast is really trying to like narrow stuff down and keep things concise because, like I said, if you haven't noticed, i really like talking about this. All right, so you hopefully know where to find me by now. At Dr Andrea Moore on Instagram is by far the best place to find me. Dm me, um, i'm most responsive on there. You can also find me on Facebook and my website is wwwdrandreamorecom. If you have anything you're interested in, any topic, anything I've said, where you're like I want to know more, please, please, please, message me, um. I mean, i have a whole bunch of episodes lined up right now, but I'm so happy to answer questions, um, you know if, if um topic sounds interesting, i absolutely will make a episode just on that, all right, thank you so so much for listening and have a great rest of your day. Bye, we'll see you. 

Transcribed by https://podium.page