Rebecca Margel | Special to the 51暗网
The organization Body in Mind defines physical pain as 鈥榓n unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage鈥�.
Pain is produced by the central nervous system in response to a perceived danger or injury.
The same mechanism that produces acute pain is responsible for chronic pain, however its intensity and chronicity is due to increased sensitivity of the structures and systems within the body involved in sending and processing danger messages.
Autoimmune diseases are conditions of the body where persistent and recurrent inflammation lead to ongoing pain and dysfunction in various joints and organs as well as symptoms of brain fog and fatigue. Examples include rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, crohns and colitis, and psoriasis.
Perceived social support has been found to be a significant predictor of anxiety and depression in people with autoimmune conditions. Here are some ways you can help someone living with these conditions:
- Listen without giving advice.聽
- Drop off some food when a friend indicates that they are experiencing a flare of their symptoms - cooking when you鈥檙e fatigued and hurting can be a real challenge.聽
- Offer to walk their dog or look after their child for an hour.聽
- Offer to clean, or do a load of laundry.聽
- Offer a hug (10-20 second hugs have been shown to reduce stress hormones and blood pressure, and increase natural production of cortisol), a quiet hangout, a listening ear .
- Send a text to check in and see how they鈥檙e doing, then follow-up a few days later.
- Empathize by saying I鈥檓 sorry things aren鈥檛 great at the moment
- Offer to take them to appointments.聽
- Invite them to stuff! Just because someone turns you down 6 times due to fatigue doesn鈥檛 mean that the invite isn鈥檛 appreciated, and that the 7th time they might be able to make it. Often autoimmune and chronic pain conditions have good days and bad days.聽
What to avoid saying/doing:
- 鈥淚鈥檓 sure it will get better.鈥� They might endure flares of pain and exhaustion for the rest of their lives, so this reassurance, while well-intentioned, shows a lack of understanding of the reality of chronic conditions.
- 鈥淗ave you tried eating a diet of exclusively meat?鈥� (see above about not offering advice)
- 鈥淲e were going to invite you but we thought it would be too tiring鈥� - let the person make that call.
- 鈥淒on鈥檛 you feel better now that you have a diagnosis?鈥� A diagnosis isn鈥檛 always straightforward and can actually be traumatic to process. With chronic conditions, diagnosis rarely comes hand-in-hand with a "cure".
If you are living with one of these conditions, finding health professionals who understand modern pain science and who won鈥檛 gaslight you (suggest that the pain is in your head, suggest that you are 鈥渇aking鈥� etc.) is critical to living your best possible life with your diagnosis.
Additionally, studies have shown that exercise is often the most effective way to manage stress and that stress can be a prominent trigger for autoimmune diseases. Your physio can help to educate you on pain science, management, and pacing, and can help get you exercising safely.聽
Managing an autoimmune condition can involve managing medication, fatigue, and often the loss of your support system and income.
Our society is good at rallying behind traumatic incidents like a fractured leg; however, if someone is suffering pain and fatigue for years, having days that they cannot get out of bed, clean their home, or look after themselves, people get uncomfortable and tend to push that person away.
As a community, we can do better. I challenge you to think of someone who suffers from a pain or autoimmune condition and pick something from the list above to do for them this week.
Talk to your doctor if you feel that you may have an undiagnosed pain or autoimmune condition.
This article is not meant to substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Rebecca Margel is a physiotherapist at Jasper Physiotherapy and Health Centre. The clinic uses physiotherapy, massage therapy, and exercise to improve patient recovery times and generate healthier lifestyles. Visit for more information.
