How "normal" is it to be in constant low grade pain?

[duchesse]

After reading a throw-away remark by a Saturday columnist a couple of weeks ago about how constant pain is normal in anyone over the age of 12, this topic has been playing on my mind since I can actually remember waking up a few months ago feeling absolutely wonderful and totally pain-free, and realising that I am normally in pain and very very rarely pain-free.

Usually in my case it is my gut (thanks to multiple food intolerances), my uterus (god only knows) or my head (usually the food intolerances as well) that are the site, but I was just wondering whether everyone else considers it normal to be in pain all the time?

Not in the least. Mind you, the Saturday columnist wasn't one of these wanky space fillers who reckons that everyone is in Pain and Doesn't Know it, or someone who thinks that progress is a bad thing and we should all eat grass, was it?
OK, if you have longstanding gut trouble then maybe you are in pain most of the time (and I do sympathise and hope you are getting decent treatment) but to be in pain all the time means there is something wrong.

Though (and I don't specifically mean you here) one sometimes hears from people with constant low-level symptoms of something-or-other, the sort of people who are generally helped by crystal healers, homeopaths or other con-artists alternative practitioners, basically because alll they need is someone to tell them diplomatically to get their heads out of their arses and take the occasional vitamin.

Not normal but for people with chronic pain it is often part of their lives and becomes "normality" IYKWIM.Even with the best analgesics and psychological therapies

duchesse

No it is certainly not normal to be in pain all the time. My friend had this and it took her a long time to get the proper cause of this established (in her case it was endometriosis).

With regards to the uterus pain have you ever been seen by a gynae to see if endometriosis is the cause?. Endo can cause severe pains mid cycle too.

Food intolerances may well also be the cause of your stomach problems however, endo deposits can also stick to the intestines and cause pain too. I often wonder how many women who've been diagnosed with IBS by their GPs actually have endometriosis instead - a fair number methinks.

Attila- I can't seem to get my GP to take anything I say seriously, let alone refer me to a Gynae for the fact I haven't managed a successful pregnancy in five years of trying. (Had Mirena removed June 2003 and haven't actually been pain-free for more than a day since then). I wouldn't mind if I were a habitual doctor visitor, but I hardly ever go to see GPs (maybe 5 times for illness in the last 15 years), know loads GPs and doctors socially, and not one of them will take me seriously. I also have a dodgy thyroid (not dodgy enough to treat though, although it is underperforming in blood tests, but I suspect is causing a lot of problems) that has been diagnosed by two GPs as anxiety. One even tried to prescribe ADs before I gathered myself up stiffly and left his surgery.

DUchesse, there is nothing 'normal' about this at all. Do you have a welll-woman clinic near you? They may be able to help or even refer you. I am sure there are ways of getting to see a specialist despite an obstructive GP: hopefully someone who knows more about the ways of the NHS will be along in a minute.
FWIW unfortunately there are some male GPs who think that women are just making a fuss about nothing and should put up with uterine problems: you need to over-ride this dickhead and get some help.

Duchesse, I'd second what Madamez has suggested. My GP dismissed my concerns for 3 yrs, eventually I got fed up and went to a Sexual Health Clinic, who referred me straight away. I won't bore you with my med. history and I don't want to scare you, but some (not all) GPs don't seem to give a damn about gynae problems.

Being in constant pain is not normal.