National Pain Awareness Month: Painfully Aware

September is National Pain Awareness Month, and my latest article on MyRACentral.com has come out just in time:

'September has always been about beginnings. As a child, it meant it was time to start school again. As a producer living in New York, September was the annual kick off of a new performance season. Three years ago, September became the month when I experienced a level of pain so severe that I was forced to admit something was going wrong.  September then became the month I was first tested for an autoimmune disease called rheumatoid arthritis; the first month in which I contemplated what living with pain for the rest of my life might mean. It turns out that September also happens to be National Pain Awareness month. Go figure.

For those of us living with rheumatoid arthritis, pain is a force with which we are all too familiar.  Sure, before RA, most of us had probably experienced our fair share of pain from broken bones, braces, or even the emotional pain of a broken heart. But the pain that comes with a disease like RA alters one’s awareness and understanding of pain in a deeply personal, permanent way.

You can read the rest of the article here and then leave a comment at MyRACentral.com or right here. I'm curious to know- how do you all let people know you are in pain? What does 'pain awareness' mean to you?

Comments

[Britta]

Thank you for this!!! It really hit home...I posted it on my Facebook and Tweeted it.

[sara]

Thanks, Britta! I appreciate the retweet and post. Glad if I could help, and hope you are doing OK these days!