Please note, I’m not a medical practitioner. Consult with your doctor for diagnostic and treatment options related to any health conditions. That being said, suppose you’ve been on an endless pain relief scavenger hunt. Despite concerted efforts, you’re no further with symptom abatement. Maybe it’s time to step outside conventional boxes. Physical and/or psychological incapacitation keeps us stuck. You’re unable to do the things you need to accomplish or wish to do. What if there is potential for a reprieve, no matter how slight, at no cost to you except for a few minutes of time? Would that be life-altering? If nothing else, the data that you gather from this blog series might offer possibilities for a more informed, comprehensive understanding. Use the information for future conversations with your well-care practitioner(s). Best wishes along your healing journey.
Paper cuts are so dang painful.
Image by Sashakuk from Pixabay
Dang! Paper cuts sting more than they should. No blood, lots of ouchy pain from this long, tiny slit. Nasty gashes on my knees have hurt less. There’s a biological explanation for that. Our fingers are replete with nerve endings and pain receptors. Far more than your back, arms, or on a scraped knee. People prone to high sensitivity may experience higher levels of pain than folks with tamped down nerve endings. According to “Why Do Paper Cuts Hurt So Much?“, a blog published by Wexner Medical Center, at Ohio State University,
“Those with neuropathy (nerve damage), such as the damage to hands and feet caused by diabetes, can experience greater pain with paper cuts. An immune disease like fibromyalgia, which changes the way the brain recognizes pain signals [bold emphasis added], can also make people more sensitive to cuts.” “On the other hand, some people with nerve damage may not feel a paper cut at all, which could actually lead to more damage.”1
Recognizing Pain Signals
Why did I highlight the “way the brain recognizes pain signals”? It seems logical that the pain is emanating from the injury site. Turns out, yes that site hurts, but the pain originates elsewhere. As researchers learn more about the body, brain, and nervous system, science at this time, as reported by The University of Kansas Health System has determined that,
“...the root of that pain is actually coming from the brain. Pain is simply our brains processing the fact that our bodies have been damaged".2
Pain is a Pain in the You Know Where
Although ostensibly counterintuitive, pain signals are helpful (albeit not so appreciated when you're in the throes of agony). Pain, although distracting, hurtful, and annoying, is there for a reason. Think of pain as an activated alarm that lets you know an injury has occurred. The site needs tending asap. The sooner you address the injury (or illness), the better the chance for a more rapid, complete recovery. The hurt is asking for antibiotic cream, bandage, suturing, ice, immobilization, resting the area, or potentially taking it easy for a few days to enable full recovery restoration. The first aid measures required depend upon the type and extent of the injury. Cleaning the cut area and a bandage makes sense. Bed rest? Maybe not unless you’re sorely in need of downtime and pampering. Bookmark that thought for a later blog discussion. If we weren’t alerted to injuries like a severe strain or a break, and even small cuts, we’d unknowingly continue to provoke the area. That provocation thereby exacerbates the injury, increases the chance of infection, and prolonging the healing process. Like a blaring fire alarm, heed the warning and proceed accordingly.
Programmed Healing
As the paper cut begins healing, I note occasional itching. I hadn’t noticed exactly when the hurt receded. That’s how the healing process and pain reduction works, except when it doesn’t. In cases of severe infections or other system complications, recovery is delayed whether stemming from a simple paper cut or major surgery. Fortunately, for most typical injuries and illnesses, our bodies are programmed to heal. Restoration on their own terms, on their own schedule. The pain, thank goodness, eventually goes away.
Prolonged Setbacks & Worst Case Scenarios
Aside from infections, symptom intensity and duration can be prolonged by emotional factors. Fear being primary among them. Have you ever resorted to the internet to research symptoms, causes, remedies, typical duration? Ever notice the sinking feeling or other physical fear sensations when you come across worst case scenarios? Could this headache that’s been raging for a week be a brain tumor? Is this scaly patch on the back of my neck allergic dermatitis or a precancerous condition? One site says my sprained ankle should have healed days ago. It’s now over a week, will I suffer long-term damage? Will I ever jog again?
Anything considered outside the norm could cause your limbic system, the fear center of the brain, to overreact. Fear-driven reactions include the release of stress-related chemicals such as adrenaline or cortisol, muscle restriction, decreased blood and oxygen flow among other responses to perceived danger. Your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is stimulating your body to ramp up for action, and shut down other processes not useful during fight or fleeing.
Back to the article by Kansas Health…”Here are some factors that can increase the amount of pain we feel, how long we feel it or how intense it is:”
Take note, none of those agitators emanate from the injury site. Oddly, they can contribute to continued discomfort there and elsewhere.
Where Does the Brain End and the Body Begin?
Where does the brain end and the body begin? I love that question. In the western medical world, there’s a tendency to compartmentalize parts of the body as if they operate as distinct, individual entities. Yes, there are times we need to tend to a particular aspect such as the paper cut on the finger or an improperly operating organ. There are reasons that medical specialists exist. Mainly to have an indepth expertise on a specific body part or system.
Heaven forbid, I require heart surgery. If I do, I want to seek out a top-notch heart surgeon not a general practitioner. However, for the most part, organs and all other parts of our being do not operate singularly. For optimal operation, or theoretically to operate at all, our entirety needs blood and oxygen flow, adequate nutrition, hydration, movement, avoiding toxins, and restorative sleep/rest. It needs the director at the helm calling the shots for the blood to keep pumping, the oxygen to keep flowing, digestive processes to continue to churn away, and movement to keep actuating to name a few. Most of the time we’re not aware that these processes are running which is a good thing. When the system works well, that same neural director informs the network of nerves known as the parasympathetic system (PNS) to take over after the stressful situation has been dealt with. The PNS is tasked with reregulating the body into a calm, safe state. A rest and repair state.
Our bodies are holistic entities. Without our brains driving the systemic engines and directing the traffic flow, our bodies would be rather useless. In many cases of discomfort or any health challenge, if we only focus on one area of our being, we could miss the bigger picture. The picture that holds the keys to addressing what chronically ails us. How so?
I could view the lack of circulation in my hands as a problem within my fingers also known as Raynaud’s Syndrome. For many years, I admit to blaming my fingers for the discoloration, numbness, swelling. Then it finally occurred to me that I carry inordinate degrees of tension in my neck and shoulders. I’m not a medical expert, but I’m theorizing this specific tightening is present in my sternocleidomastoid muscle. The largest muscle in the front of the neck wrapping around to the base of the skull. Mine often has perceptible tension nodules. What does that have to do with my fingers? The muscle constriction presumably limits the flow of blood and oxygen down my arms, and into my hands and fingers. BYU Counseling and Psychological Services appear to support my hypothesis.
“Stress can lead to inflammation that irritates the nervous system causing constriction of blood vessels. This constriction results in reduced blood flow and oxygen to the muscles. Lack of oxygen diminishes the ability of the muscles to recover and heal from stress and inflammation”.3
If we peel that apart further, the tension isn’t originating in my shoulders and neck. Then where? The origins trace back to my brain and nervous system, my collective thoughts, my concerns, my critiques. More precisely, the origins hold court in the amygdala within the limbic system region of the brain also known as the “fear center”. The part of the brain that monitors for dangers, real or perceived, and sets off alarm bells. Alerting you to dangers is the key to your survival. Survival, at all costs, is the predominant task assigned to the limbic system, as far as we appear to know. Research on the amgydala has demonstrated that it also serves other roles, but that’s beyond this scope for now.
Perpetually on High Alert
What if the amygdala is perpetually on high alert? Ever burn a meal causing dense smoke in your kitchen? If your fire alarm is operational, it should have triggered. In some cases of extraordinarily dense smoke, you may have had difficulty shutting off the alarm. That’s what appears to happen with a dysregulated nervous system, a perpetually triggered limbic system. The alarm bells won’t shut off. The signals for fight, flight, freeze, and fawn (exaggerated flattery) get stuck in the on-position, a continuing sense that your body is in some sort of danger. For me, the dysregulation manifests in the tight neck and shoulders among other continual and temporary symptoms.
When the Pain Continues
Back to the pain of a sliced finger, neck and shoulder tension, or any type of discomfort. What if the pain doesn’t go away? What happens if the pain becomes chronic? Why does chronic pain occur? And how do you deal with it? The answers are many and the situations are dependent on a variety of factors. From time to time, the pain is virtually inexplicable. We’re going to pick up here in the next edition in this series. Stay tuned.
1 “Why Do Paper Cuts Hurt So Much?”, Kiran Rajneesh, MBBS, MS, Wexner Medical Center, Ohio State University, April 15, 2019, wexnermedical.osu.edu
2 “Why Does Pain Happen?”, kansashealthsystem.com
3 “Muscle Tension”, BYU Counseling and Psychological Services
