Wow this book was alot to swallow at once. At times I found myself backtracking to certain points so I could get my thought in order. I totally support the author's notion that the amount of pain does not equal the amount of injury. I also strongly agree with the fact that the experiance of pain is one that varies from time to time and in person to person. I couldn't believe the processes which the body goes through to make us actually feel pain. I found the nervous system very complicated and intricate. I also found it very profound to think of pain as a guard for us. Without it we would never know to protect our injured parts, like in the case of the girl with osteomyelitis which demolished her joint's surfaces which lead to her death. I found the part about childbirth very disturbing. It made me step back and think. It is crazy that a mother has to go through that much pain to get her offspring into this world. Just think about it, our life begins and ends in pain. We grow to hate it, curse it, and dispise it, but without it, indeed, we would not be alive.
I found some of the classical ideoligies very proposterous and I wonder if in the future the current ideologies will seem proposterous since there are so many undetermined tests. If we do ever pin point pain in the brain, will it really be better for us to drug that area until we feel nothing? The placebo response on the other hand proved to me the power of the mind and believing something to the point where it is not necessary to introduce any external substances to relieve pain. Many things have emerged from the discussion of pain, and yet not enough. Wall states "pain is not just a sensation but, like hunger and thirst, is an awareness of an action plan to rid of it". I can see how depression and anxiety set in when that plan fails time and time again. But, it is important to always have some faith in medicine, even if it pays little attention to pain itself and treats patients as numbers with preset pain periods and treatments. If we believe strongly, maybe we could all be blessed with a placebo effect.
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Just think about it, our life begins and ends in pain. We grow to hate it, curse it, and dispise it, but without it, indeed, we would not be alive.
I hadn't thought of it that way until I read your blog, but I agree with that comment sfm. Does the pain we live by, define our lives? Or, is it our fight against [and in turn, the avoidance of] pain that shapes it?
I also found the placebo effect to be very...interesting. It definitely got me thinking about the ways in which we treat pain. I wonder where man would be without the effect of hope and expectation in our lives.
It's pretty crazy to think that if we had the mental power, or will, or coordination, we could end pain with just our mind. Some people can supposedly do just this, although there is no way to prove it. When I see people in chronic pain I wish they had this power.
"If we do ever pin point pain in the brain, will it really be better for us to drug that area until we feel nothing?"
I think that is the loaded question that no one is really ready for because like "1984" by Orwell and the movie "Equilibrium" the ability to take away pain, mental, emotional, and physical could take away what makes us human. With the continuing advances in science I wouldn't be surprised if we got there some day. I guess the question is would you trust it...or better yet would you try it?
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