02 Jun The Relationship Between Chronic Pain and Fatigue Is Real
We cannot tell you how often pain management doctors consult with patients about fatigue. Chronic pain and fatigue go hand-in-hand for a lot of patients. Unfortunately, the fatigue aspect is often dismissed by family members, colleagues, and even some in the medical profession. Here is what we want you to know about that: the relationship between chronic pain and fatigue is real.
It matters little whether you experience chronic pain in your back or neck. The cause being a pinched nerve, a slipped disk, or chronic condition like fibromyalgia is immaterial where fatigue is concerned. The fact is that dealing with chronic pain can be exhausting on many levels. Chronic pain patients frequently experience fatigue as an additional symptom.
We specialize in finding the root causes of pain and treating them. Hopefully, those patients also experiencing fatigue will find relief from that fatigue as we address their pain. That is the goal.
Pain Itself Is Exhausting
There is more than one reason explaining the relationship between chronic pain and fatigue. Among them is the reality that pain itself can be exhausting. It is physically exhausting in the sense that your body is working hard to deal with it while still performing its normal functions. It is almost as if the pain is forcing your body to work overtime.
Beyond that, chronic pain sufferers can easily find themselves in a position where the presence of pain consumes their thoughts. At that point, the pain becomes emotionally draining. That only leads to additional fatigue.
Fatigue and Sleep Problems
Another thing chronic pain sufferers frequently complain about is a lack of sleep. That makes sense. If your back is constantly bothering you, lying in bed for eight hours can be too uncomfortable to bear. Trying to sleep becomes impossible. What is the result? Fatigue caused by lack of sufficient sleep. But wait, it gets worse.
Excessive fatigue can also cause insomnia. As strange as it sounds, being emotionally and physically fatigued can prevent your body from entering that all important REM sleep. When that happens, it is easy to end up in a vicious cycle where fatigue causes insomnia and insomnia leads to more fatigue.
Living Life with Pain
Life is difficult enough when pain is exhausting and sleep is fleeting. But chronic pain patients still have lives to lead. They still have daily tasks to perform. They have medical appointments to attend to, chores that need doing, errands that need running, etc. All these things are made more physically difficult by chronic pain. And because they are more difficult, they are also more tiring.
Finding and Treating the Cause
Hopefully, this post has successfully illustrated why our pain management doctors work so hard to find and treat the root causes of chronic pain. As a biological function, pain is good in the sense that it alerts us to something being wrong. But even biological functions can go awry. That is when they become problematic.
If you suffer from chronic pain and you live in the Weatherford, TX area, we are here to help. We treat a full range of conditions including degenerative disk disease, facet joint syndrome, spinal stenosis, migraine, and even sports injuries. Our goal is always the same. We want to treat the root cause of your pain so that you are able to live life on your terms.
Chronic pain and fatigue go hand-in-hand. If you are experiencing both, don’t let anyone convince you that the fatigue is all in your head. It is not. Instead, work with a doctor who takes your complaints seriously. You deserve nothing less.
Feel free to contact us and schedule your appointment.
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