I actually meant to complete this post earlier in the month because September is Pain Awareness Month and it is an important topic, but just was not able to because of too much fatigue and ironically enough pain. However, I do have a lot of information I want to share with y’all.

Pain is an awful thing many are forced to live with. Pain unfortunately affects way too many people’around the world. Speaking from my own personal experiences, I battle with pain every day and every minute of my life and it is anything but easy. Of course some days are worst that others, but even on a good day I still hurt more than anyone ever should have to. In all the years I have survived pain and Multiple Sclerosis, I have found that my pain increases drastically later in the day, like after about 2:00 PM. However even when I am in pain, I refuse to give in, but instead try my best to rise up again and keep fighting the battle.

There are five types of pain a person can suffer from:

1.) Acute:

*Pain is felt short-term

*Pain will start suddenly

*The pain is related to soft tissue damage

*Gradually will resolve on its own, when the injury heals.

2.) Chronic:

*This type of pain is felt over extended periods of time.

*Effected areas include back, neck, joints, mouth and face and muscles and bones.

*This type of pain is possibly caused by inflammation or dysfunctional nerves

*Diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, Fibromyalgia, and ailments due to cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Stomach Ulcers, AIDS and Gallbladder Disease.

3.) Neuropathic Pain-

*This type of pain and come and go.

*This is caused by damage or disease affecting the somatosensory nervous system. It is possible it could be associated with abnormal sensations called dysesthesia.

*There are many symptoms for this type of pain, which include: Sensation of pins and needles, uncomfortable tingling and burning, burning and tingly pain, uncomfortable and uncontrollable nerve pain. These symptoms can be felt during a certain time or day or felt the entire day without a break.

4.) Visceral Pain:

*Results from activation of nociceptors of the thoracic, pelvic or abdominal viscera (organs).

*Sensitive to stretching, ischemia and inflammation, but insensitive to small stimuli, like cutting or burning that typically cause pain

5.) Breakthrough Pain:

*Severe pain that rears its ugly head, when a person is already medicated with long-term pain killers.

*Very common in cancer patients.

*Felt in between regular and scheduled pain killers.

Lower back pain, migraines, facial pain, and neck pain are the four most common issues among those that suffer from chronic pain. Only 7% of men deal with chronic pain, where 18% of women deal with this nasty issue.

After reviewing the statistics of people around the world that deal with chronic pain, the United States has the highest numbers.  For many reasons, I was not all that surprised that American’s rank highest in this category. I am going to list 6 major points of American’s and pain.

*50 million of the population live with chronic pain

*Between 560 and 630 million dollars is lost annually because of chronic pain

*Chronic pain is the leading cause of early long-term disability

*Lower back pain affects 26 million people (which is 80%)

*Pain accounts for 78% of emergency room admissions (This is a huge number of people that are forced to go to an Emergency room,. knowing how awful insurance is and knowing the bill will be obscene.)

*Pain disrupts 42 million American’s sleep

Canada, having free health care also has many people that deal with pain. I have heard that the only thing that could be difficult is getting in with a doctor quickly, but at least they won’t go bankrupt dealing with their health issues. I am going to list a few stats from Canada.

*1 in 10 Canadian’s experience chronic pain

*9% of men and 12% of females experience chronic pain

*1.5 million of Canadian’s suffer pain issues

*34.6% of those deal with chronic pain, consider suicide

Considering that pain does affect so many around the world, I also wanted to share some random stats. The stats below are either worldwide or are to a specific area.

*20.5% or 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer with chronic pain

*20% of pain related suicides are a result of back pain

*30-50% of middle age people have neck episodes yearly

*Patients experience persistent pain after a routine surgery 50% of the time

*Back surgery fails up to 40% of the time. 2^nd and 3^rd interventions fail up to 70%

*Between 15% and 100% of patients with depression also battle with pain

*People with less education are 80% more likely to have chronic pain, than those with higher education

*500 million working days in Europe are lost to chronic pain

*20.2% of the Danish population suffers with chronic pain

I know many of you live with an illness that also causes a great deal of pain and I truly hate that for all of you. I stand by my beliefs that no one should ever have to suffer throughout their lives and there should be many more cures than there are. I guess there is a huge part of me that thinks, ‘It is 2019 and there are many brilliant minds out there. Why are these highly intelligent people not finding cures? Or why if these people have found the cures, why aren’t they shared?’

It takes a strong and determined person to work around the challenges that pain inflicts on our lives. I may have never met any of you in person, but through reading your posts and your comments on mine, I know you are one of these incredibly strong individuals . With it being “Pain Awareness Month”, I wanted to share information that struck a nerve for me. Pain may be able to hide from others, but it is so real for many people. All I can say is a strong positive mind can do amazing things and even if it doesn’t take the pain away, it could carry you through to better times.

Thank you so much for visiting my site today. I always appreciate you taking the time to not only read what I share, but also leaving amazing comments. I hope you have had a wonderful weekend and you are feeling the best you possibly can. I know it can seem difficult to remember, but y’all are very strong and have loving hearts. The amount of compassion y’all share is breathtaking! Please never forget that i am always sending y’all LOTS of love , comfort, and many positive vibes!

Always, Alyssa