Pain

All my life I’ve been very sensitive to lots of things. Pain is one of these things. A lot of people think I’m weak because of this, but I can’t help it. Whenever I’m in pain, that takes up all my attention. I usually immediately try to find a way to ease, or even end the pain.

Yesterday I managed to cut myself on the crust of a loaf of bread. This might seem weird, since bread is usually spongy, but fresh bread can have a kind of spiky crust sometimes. It’s hard to explain and I can’t find a picture of it, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one.

The cut was very small, but it ran deep. I didn’t cry, since it was a small wound, but did put a band aid on it. Since it ran deep, it hasn’t fully healed yet today. It stopped bleeding, but it’s still very sensitive and fragile. I wanted to take a shower today, but I didn’t know how to, since water on my wound hurts like hell. Some people tell me to simply ‘suck it up’ and just get under the shower, but how am I to withstand a lot of pain for about 20 minutes?! (I take long showers, 20 minutes is the fastest I can do… I might write about my speed with things in another blog)

People have told me to put a plastic bag around it, but I’ve tried that before and that condensates, which hurts a lot. Keeping my hand outside the shower would put me in a position where I get very cold and have to wash with one hand, which is a big hassle when putting on shampoo. And there were a few other ideas that didn’t work out. In the end I decided to wash myself with a washcloth today to stay fresh and I’ll take a shower tomorrow.

This is just an example of what my sensitivity to pain can cause. Like I said, a lot of people think I’m weak, or they call me a whimp. I’m even being told I should ‘get over it’. But I seriously wish I could. I seriously wish I could ‘just get over it’. Then everything would be much easier. The above example isn’t even the worst example.

I’ve had to get my braces out in a double appointment, instead of one, because I simply couldn’t take it anymore and went home crying and totally exhausted. (my second appointment is this Thursday) There are many more examples like this, showing that I’m not just overreacting or anything, that I wish I could ‘just get over it’ too. So please, whenever someone tells you something, that wouldn’t hurt that much if it happened to you, hurts a lot… Maybe it really hurts a lot.

To balance my blogpost out and not make everything one sad post, I’ll shed some light on the nice part of this all. Nice part? Yes, there’s a nice part. Being very sensitive to pain, also means being sensitive with touching things. This can be very nice when something is very fluffy.

One day I made a dough for a type of cake and that dough was VERY fluffy. It’s the most fluffy dough I’ve made so far. I loved it, it felt like a bowl of soap! (Don’t worry, I disinfected my hands before I started baking) I had lots of fun making this dough, because I enjoyed touching it a lot. Ever had a very fluffy blanket? Like in a hotel or something like that? And did you ever go laying down in a bed with such a blanket after a very tiring day? It’s heaven isn’t it? It’s like that.

So being very sensitive to a lot of things, in this case pain (I’ll blog more about other things I’m sensitive to), can be a pain in the… Sorry bad joke… can be very annoying. When something hurts someone who’s very sensitive to pain, please just believe that person and tend to the pain, instead of acting like that person is overreacting.

But being sensitive can be a joy too. Nice things can be even nicer.