I think most of us would agree that in some cases a splinter can be as painful at times as a severe sprain or even a broken bone. It all depends on the location of the little devil whether it can be ignored or it becomes the only thought that consumes your entire brain energy. Whatever the case, its your mind that has the final say on what is priority and what is going to be ignored until later.
I had my share of bumps and bruises growing up. Some are extremely memorable due to the origin of the injury or the pain level it created and in some cases the lack of pain sometimes made me recall it upon request throughout my life. I can remember sleighriding with my cousins when I was all of about 7 or 8 years old and I was given a sled that had no steering ability. It was point and go. The hill was extremely steep so you had to make sure you adjusted your timing just right. We were told we had to go home, I was insisting on going that one last time and thats usually when things happen right? Off I went, everything going as planned, picking up tremendous speed, essentially no one in my way except one lone person way down below. For whatever reason, I had gained so much speed that even that one lone person had suddenly become a target and I was going too fast to slow the sled and I had no way to steer. I yelled as loud as I could for them to get out of the way and with their back to me, they selected the wrong direction to get out of the way. As this person moved to my left and turned, they had no time at all to brace for impact. I hit him and my sled stopped but I kept going and I landed face first in the hard ice covered snow. I had screamed so loud from the pain, I was oblivious to what had happened to the other person I had hit. They too were screaming in excruciating pain.
Within less than a minute, my older brother was at my side trying to figure out how bad I was. It was just dark enough that he had to almost carry me to a lit area to see what had happened. He knew blood was everywhere but he couldnt see the origin of the injury. Parents began to appear to lend a hand and out of the corner of my eye I could see them lifting the other child I had hit who was now crying much louder than I was and my pain had suddenly began to disappear. I had difficulty speaking but I had asked if the other person was ok and my brother said he wasnt sure yet. I told him to run over and tell that person I was so sorry to which he said I could do so myself later, it was my cousin that I had hit. I was mortified. My cousin was three months older than I was and to think that I had hurt him just upset me beyond words. I no longer felt pain, it was the oddest thing.
Turns out, with the help of a flashlight from a neighbor, that I had split my lower lip completely open and cut my chin. No other injuries to my face, I was still crying uncontrollably not due to pain anymore but due to the fact that I had hurt someone and to make matters worse a family member. My cousin was carried home for evaluation of his injury, his mother was an RN so I couldnt wait to get home to see him. By now all the adults in the house were frantic because he was home with an injury and the person that carried him home advised that another child had been injured as well and it was revealed by the injured cousins brother that I was the other child that got hurt. Needless to say, when I was spotted walking towards the house on my own two feet, there was a huge relief that I had sustained minor injuries.
No hospital visits needed, ice packs and lots of hugs were the remedy we needed. I looked in the mirror of course as soon as I got home and I was shocked how bad I looked. As a small child you can't visualize healing so I just felt I would always look that way. As for my cousin, poor kid. The bruise on his leg was massive. How his leg hadnt broke was purely amazing. I cant recall if I had even broke the skin on his leg, I think all the thick clothing prevented that from happening but I know he had trouble walking for days.
The purpose of bringing that up was the point at which I had first recalled the ability to "will" off pain so to speak. Similar to the broken arm issue from a previous post my body had the ability to pick and chose areas of the body to target pain for chronic, relentless and miserable daily suffering but also had the ability to completely shut down an area of obvious trauma i.e. open lip/chin and make that pain go away completely.
Dysautonomia is such a complex syndrome. I have spent as I said countless hours online researching all kinds of data in reference to things directly associated with me but I also read blogs and forums that touch on either things to come or what others have in common. The one thing that seems to be the biggest gray area is the pain disturbances. I have chronic back pain, two car accidents have helped my back to become quite vulnerable so I am always in constant pain there. I can't shut that off at all, it can't be ignored, forgotten etc... Along with that I have a pinched nerve that causes sciatica and peripheral neuropathy so again something that can't be ignored. Well it makes total sense. Its part of the CNS, its a nerve issue and the back injury is near the spinal cord which is surrounded by nerves so there is no way in the world the brain could shut that down.
Now I've mentioned I had a surgery on my left hip that left me with a 6 inch incision. The following day I returned to work, no pain killers, mild discomfort more so from the sutures. I had nothing but complications, two more surgeries that led to a staph infection and IV meds for 31 days. Now I am past all that by just over 6 months and no issues that I am aware of except: I now get a severe pain in my left arm near the area where the PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter ) was inserted and if I touch the adjacent area or anywhere with 4 inches, I can actually cause enough pain for a blackout. If I leave it alone, I become systematic, I start having chest pains, dizzyness, some visual disturbances until it passes. Very odd and it happens upwards of three to five times a day.
My thigh, thats usually numb and has been since the surgery, I get the most intense, sharp, disturbing pain that only lasts a few seconds but is so violent I have often blurted out an expletive even with my children sitting there which of course my son just looks at me like I have three heads because he can't quite figure out what SpongeBob has done to get me so pissed. This pain however hasnt yet manifested any type of other followup symptoms but I am keeping a close eye on it.
Whats essentially happened to the best of my knowledge is my body has gone haywire and has picked mainly my extremities and my back as the target area for the most aggressive pain areas. My son will sometimes slap my leg joking around and I have to tell you, it feels like he hit me with a hot spatula. It stings for a good minute and actually makes me angry. I know he doenst understand, and I could never explain it too him but unless you live this, whats considered a touch to one person is considered abuse to people with Dysautonomia. The medication I am on that keeps the Fibromyalgia symptoms somewhat under control I am finding that my body is working on ways to overcome the relief I get from that medication. Now the discomfort I used to get from my shins down to my feet is all centralized to my toes and in between my toes. You want to talk about pain and discomfort? Thats some serious assault there. When my thumbs act up, its extremely annoying as well. Very painful and something I found out purely by accident, my son happened to grab my thumb when I was at the maximum threshold of pain but before I could react and pull away he stated that my thumb was ice cold. So I put up with him grabbing both of my thumbs and squeezing them evaluating that both were equally cold. I was seeing stars as he did it but it was a helpful piece of the puzzle that led me to the sink and the hot water test. I could hold my thumbs under steaming hot water indefinately when in this phase.
I had read some forums of people that had the thumb issues and had been blown off by their doctors because they had Blackberrys. There is a new syndrome I guess Blackberry Thumb Syndrome which is similar to Gamers Thumb, people that play too many video games. I do have a BlackBerry but I dont use the keyboard enough to have that issue. I am pretty certain it wouldnt cause the thumbs to go ice cold either.
So in closing thinking back to the numerous injuries I had, the ones that didnt hurt that should have and the ones that did hurt that shouldnt have are all in relation to the nerve location and most effected areas of Dysautonomia. It is a targeting syndrome so alot more things make sense. I still have mysteries to solve which I am determined to do so. Thanks for reading.
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