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Do you talk about your pain or do you keep it to yourself? so many people who live with chronic pain due the latter. And it’s not always a good idea. In my new post for Mango Health, I write about why talking about your pain can be good for you:

“It’s not considered polite to talk about pain. With the possible exception of your doctor, no one is thrilled if you bring up the fact that you are hurting. Many people simply don’t know how to respond to the unique qualities of each painful sensation as you experience them. 

So we who live with chronic pain or other less understood symptoms, like insomnia, often learn to silence ourselves. When around others, we don’t wince or massage our aching body parts. We do our best to camouflage with makeup or a smile any signs that we are not feeling well.

Silencing our pain has consequencesAnd it has ripple effects. If you feel you can’t talk about your symptoms to the people closest to you, you start not talking about your health, period. Before you know it, you are at your doctor’s office claiming you’re fine with a capital F – when in reality, you’ve been cancelling all social engagements because you are ailing.

Silencing your pain has a very real potential of preventing getting the care you need. But it also has an emotional impact. Living with chronic pain can have an isolating effect on you in a physical sense, as it often makes it more difficult to socialize or even leave the house. If you are also closing off a very important part of your life — the sensations of your physical body — it isolates you emotionally, too. When one part of your life becomes taboo, it creates walls between you and the people you care about.”

Read the rest of my post on talking about pain on the Mango Health blog.