What’s it like to experience chronic pain?

We've all experienced the sharpness of a cut or the intensity of a burn, but have you ever tried to imagine what chronic pain feels like, day in and day out?

We shine a light on what it’s like to live with three chronic pain conditions. Here's how people* living with them describe their pain.

Warning: may be triggering for people living with pain

Fibromyalgia

“Feels like my bones are expanding to push their way out of my body”

“It’s like pressing on a big bruise…invisible bruises everywhere”

“Like I have a flu with all the aches and the feverish symptoms”

"Feels like a boxer has punched my back, neck and arms all over”

CRPS

“Like barbed wire wrapped around my legs”

“Like being in a beehive and being stung thousands of times all at once”

“Feels like scratching a sunburn repeatedly”

“Nerve pain that feels like a 2-3 year old messing with the volume on a radio except the volume controls pain levels”

“Like lightning strikes. the pain comes whereever it wants to. There's no reasoning or logic to it.”

Finding clarity with a diagnosis

Discovering a diagnosis for chronic pain is like finally giving an uninvited guest a name – a way to understand the intruder that's been disrupting life.

But gaining this understanding can be a tiring and frustrating journey. Many have struggled to feel heard and validated by healthcare services, often feeling like their pain is dismissed as being 'all in their head'.

The truth about opioids and “painkillers”

While they can be effective for some pains - like acute pains related to an injury or surgery, or for cancer pain relief - there is little evidence that opioids are helpful for chronic primary pain.

As all pain starts as acute, many people are prescribed opiates as a “pain killer” but are left on them or they are increased over time.

These medicines can seem like a lifeline, a desperate attempt to tame the unrelenting discomfort. However, they often don’t help and can cause potentially harmful side effects. Sometimes the strength of the drugs can blur the lines between symptoms of pain and side effects of medication.

Our understanding has come a long way

But there is a lot left to learn

Imagine having chronic pain in your life, like an unwelcome guest. The old-fashioned way of dealing with it is like trying to get rid of a stubborn visitor at your door by using just one tool: medication. It's a bit like trying to clean up a big mess with only a broom.

But there's a better way, called the 'biopsychosocial' approach. This idea was proposed almost 50 years ago and it's like getting to know this guest a bit better.

The biopsychosocial approach is like figuring out why they came, how they're making things difficult for you, and finding the best ways to make them feel more at ease or even go away. It's not just about one thing; it's about looking at the whole situation to really handle that unwelcome presence.

But because not all doctors and health professionals are familiar with the biopsychosocial approach, some still use the biomedical that's less effective for supporting people with chronic pain.