BRAIN INJURY 101 – Dealing with Pain

A Friend?

It may be a constant “friend” or a persistent enemy. He may visit anytime day or night. And these visits? They can be mild in nature or raging with vengeance. This “friend?” Pain. Let’s face it, those of us with TBIs may deal with this malady in one way, shape or form-constantly. My pain, however, isn’t a result of my TBI rather from the spinal cord injury that I sustained first.

And the pain I suffer is the type I would not wish on anyone. It is nerve pain. And it is constant. At times, it’s just a tingle. Other times, it can be a slow burn to raging inferno under my skin. The worst part? I’ve been told it will likely last the rest of my life.

The Worst Pain

But I have found the worst sort of pain that we with TBIs can suffer is emotional pain. That pain because we are “no longer the person we used to be”, or because we are being told “we can no longer do the things we used to do.” Or it is the pain of loss – loss of “our old self” or loss of relationships due to ours or another’s brain injury. So how do we bear up under such pain? 

Bear with me as I relate a story

There once was a man of great wealth, who held good standing in his community. He had a great business and was loved and respected by many. His family wanted for nothing, and he treated his employees equally as well. You would think he’d be quite prideful, but he was not. Then one day, calamity struck. Thieves wiped out his business, including his bank accounts. Then to add to this devastation, a cyclone struck the house his children were in, killing them all. Only his wife, his home and health remained. You would think the loss would have driven him to the brink of despair. Then, his health failed. Suddenly he became a shadow of his former self. No income, no children, near death and to boot, a bitter wife who was of no support to him at all.

Then, three of his friends show up. They tried to comfort him, but their comfort sounded more like accusations. Imagine the pain he was suffering. The man? You know him, or at least have heard of him. Job. And what did Job do when all else failed? He cried out that his Creator, would crush his life. Yet even in this he said,

“Then I would still have this consolation – my joy in unrelenting pain – that I have not denied the words of the Holy One” Job 6:10 NIV

Joy during unrelenting pain?

In spite of our individual struggles, if we are trusting in Jesus, we can say with the Apostle Paul, 

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NIV

Let us, therefore, not give in to our pain, but give our pain over to Jesus in prayer.