I get it. Thank you for detailing this event(s)! I could write a bunch more, but right now, I will leave a couple of bullet points.
The willpower industry sure is in control. Pain is so misunderstood because the propaganda keeps it that way. So, here is a thought or two.
Threat and emergencies have direct effects on the presence and functions of dopamine. Unlike what you will typically hear from docs, dopamine has a huge role in the perception and mitigation of pain.
Those with higher tonic dopamine (many ways to assess that) at baseline (unthreatened) have a higher pain tolerance. Under threat that group has an even higher pain tolerance.
Threat can be seen as a short-acting dopamine optimizer. The problem for those who start at a low baseline dopamine presence and function is that they will also respond with a dopamine surge and that surge will further deplete manufacturing and use of their own resources (not from outside).
Post threat can be a bitch due to not enough dopamine functionality to keep the dopamine surging. Back to non-threat levels after spending a bunch of barely available resources. So, so-called downtime means pain is not being treated with your own dopamine once the immediate threats have mostly subsided.
In my world of understanding and experience with hundreds of folks who were dealing with years of untreated ADHD had "depleted" dopamine functionality which contributed to many things, like low pain thresholds, parasthesias, fibromyalgia, pancreatitis, and the list can go on.
Opioids, according to a preponderance of scientific lit, works by changing gaba and dopamine functions. More dopamine, less perceived pain. There is a large amount of research showing that dopamine enhancers of the correct kind at the correct dose can significantly change pain perception. Cannabinoids, also, indirectly via dopamine effects, can change pain perception.
That is a lot of data when I said it would be a couple of points. That is what happens when someone gets me going about how pain treatment ignores the issues of the role of dopamine in pain processing.
But, to end this long post, I would say your threat related dopamine surges were treating pain. When the threats significantly subsided, your naturally produced suboptimal baseline dopamine could not conduct adequate pain processing functions.
One example of that is how often fibromyalgia pain locations can migrate from day to day. That is because the central low baseline (unthreatened) dopamine needed for processing pain accurately is being rationed at random with certain parts of things like the insula working well, and certain parts not.
Since dopamine is a molecule that can migrate, it can unpredictably, when in short supply, be adequate for only partial processing. I hope that makes sense. Hopefully, someday I can write more about this. Take care, Ron
Good for you - showing up as we all need to when a loved one is in the hospital! And (maybe this is what the doc was saying but in layman's terms - from a physical therapist treating chronic pain for over 20 years and practicing for almost 40 yr). What I often see is that the system (dopamine? nervous system? all the systems?) will allow the emergency to take the dominant position so that we can function, and the brain only has so much available capacity to focus on pain vs. emergency. So in this case, the emergency was what was important. And for many of my patients, the pain flare comes later. When you and the nervous system can relax from the emergency, then the pain triggers can be felt and heard by the brain. As well as a potentential exaccerbation from the heightened flow of stress chemicals to manage the emergency. I do hope this doesn't happen, and I'm not at all indicating that your pain isn't real -- as I follow and support you in your frustration about the emergence of pain science to try to explain away REAL chronic pain, but I do think/wonder if the brain only has so much capacity to focus on one BIG thing or another. And on a separate but related note, how tragic that you have to worry about how your doctors will perceive and possibly judge how you NEEDED to use your medications to get through this episode. Sending you all the love and support I can.
I get it. Thank you for detailing this event(s)! I could write a bunch more, but right now, I will leave a couple of bullet points.
The willpower industry sure is in control. Pain is so misunderstood because the propaganda keeps it that way. So, here is a thought or two.
Threat and emergencies have direct effects on the presence and functions of dopamine. Unlike what you will typically hear from docs, dopamine has a huge role in the perception and mitigation of pain.
Those with higher tonic dopamine (many ways to assess that) at baseline (unthreatened) have a higher pain tolerance. Under threat that group has an even higher pain tolerance.
Threat can be seen as a short-acting dopamine optimizer. The problem for those who start at a low baseline dopamine presence and function is that they will also respond with a dopamine surge and that surge will further deplete manufacturing and use of their own resources (not from outside).
Post threat can be a bitch due to not enough dopamine functionality to keep the dopamine surging. Back to non-threat levels after spending a bunch of barely available resources. So, so-called downtime means pain is not being treated with your own dopamine once the immediate threats have mostly subsided.
In my world of understanding and experience with hundreds of folks who were dealing with years of untreated ADHD had "depleted" dopamine functionality which contributed to many things, like low pain thresholds, parasthesias, fibromyalgia, pancreatitis, and the list can go on.
Opioids, according to a preponderance of scientific lit, works by changing gaba and dopamine functions. More dopamine, less perceived pain. There is a large amount of research showing that dopamine enhancers of the correct kind at the correct dose can significantly change pain perception. Cannabinoids, also, indirectly via dopamine effects, can change pain perception.
That is a lot of data when I said it would be a couple of points. That is what happens when someone gets me going about how pain treatment ignores the issues of the role of dopamine in pain processing.
But, to end this long post, I would say your threat related dopamine surges were treating pain. When the threats significantly subsided, your naturally produced suboptimal baseline dopamine could not conduct adequate pain processing functions.
One example of that is how often fibromyalgia pain locations can migrate from day to day. That is because the central low baseline (unthreatened) dopamine needed for processing pain accurately is being rationed at random with certain parts of things like the insula working well, and certain parts not.
Since dopamine is a molecule that can migrate, it can unpredictably, when in short supply, be adequate for only partial processing. I hope that makes sense. Hopefully, someday I can write more about this. Take care, Ron
Thanks Neen, you give us strength and hope. PS...hope the POS nurse was fired... Lin
Good for you - showing up as we all need to when a loved one is in the hospital! And (maybe this is what the doc was saying but in layman's terms - from a physical therapist treating chronic pain for over 20 years and practicing for almost 40 yr). What I often see is that the system (dopamine? nervous system? all the systems?) will allow the emergency to take the dominant position so that we can function, and the brain only has so much available capacity to focus on pain vs. emergency. So in this case, the emergency was what was important. And for many of my patients, the pain flare comes later. When you and the nervous system can relax from the emergency, then the pain triggers can be felt and heard by the brain. As well as a potentential exaccerbation from the heightened flow of stress chemicals to manage the emergency. I do hope this doesn't happen, and I'm not at all indicating that your pain isn't real -- as I follow and support you in your frustration about the emergence of pain science to try to explain away REAL chronic pain, but I do think/wonder if the brain only has so much capacity to focus on one BIG thing or another. And on a separate but related note, how tragic that you have to worry about how your doctors will perceive and possibly judge how you NEEDED to use your medications to get through this episode. Sending you all the love and support I can.
I do hope you’re son and you are doing well
🤗🤗🤗 What a tough week