Pain as we know is a very uneasy sensation. This is the word a physician hears the most in his whole career. This was one of the key sensations elicited to torture the enemies in captivity after war for centuries. We also use this term in emotional aspects too.
Whatever it be the fact is that this sensation called pain cannot occur or stand without a cause. And the cause always may be a physical damage or stress on living body. A cut, contusion, burn etcetera. And hence the pain perish only if the trauma is reversed or treated.
The pain sensing neurons sense the gravity of injury an hence the intensity of pain gives the idea of damage occurred.
But in OPD patients only mention about unbearable pain. Same unbearable pain -Joint pain, limbs, headache, forehead and abdomen. The physicians are the ones who are should differentiate the exact pathology. Is the reason of pain is due to injury, inflammation, rheumatic or autoimmune reaction. But a majority of doctors feel like we need to address the pain because it is the main complaint from the patient side. Many physicians give medicine for osteoarthritis ( of 5 years history ) and ask the patient after one month about their health and if the patient says the pain has subsided both are happy. After stopping the medicine for two days the pain recure. All treatments are targeted towards relieving pain somehow. Patient also demands the same. Physicians need to get out of the illusion that subsiding pain giving pain killers, anti-inflammatory drugs and oedema reducing drugs are treatment for these physical disease. Especially many pseudoscientific spok-persons copying scientific medicine want to somehow kill the pain where they have good medicines for pathology. They derail from their treatment codes aiming at reducing pain give multiple medicines tinctures and external oils and also apply hot applications. The kindness towards the patient, professionalism, and sense of responsibility force them to think irrationally otherwise how can someone hope that the pain in severe osteoarthritis case would subside within few weeks of commencement of treatment.
My only intention through this chapter is to convey that pain is not a disease and the treatment aimed at reducing pain is an irrational attempt that would perhaps give relief to the patient but does not help the prognosis and waste patients time and health.
-FOH