Join Trudy Maunsell in discussing One Thing she wants people challenged by pain to know. How to address the invisibility of persistent pain? Explore the current state of pain science research and clinical practice in this straight-to-the-point interview with Trudy.
About Trudy Maunsell
Trudy has a clinical background as a Registered Nurse and Midwife and has been involved in pain management as a Clinical Nurse Consultant for the past 18 years. Trudy’s interests in pain management include clinical care delivery, the establishment of outcome based key performance indicators for acute pain services and pain management education. Trudy is also the Immediate Past President of the Australian Pain Society. Find out more about Trudy here.
Transcript
JOSH: Thanks Trudy, so what’s one thing that you want people challenged by a pain to know?
TRUDY: I think the, the main thing is that there’s lots of people out there that really want to help you, and really want to help you to help yourself, and help to make your life better and those around you better.
So there’s, don’t be alone, there’s lots of people around. For so many people, particularly with chronic pain. They feel that they’re the only one in the world that’s got this, you know, that they, and they’re incredibly lonely with that, that pain, you know? And for a lot of them to have been told, look, you know, sorry, there’s not anything more surgically or medically we can do to help you with your pain. We’ve got to. You know, help you to live with this. That is an incredibly lonely thing for them, you know? And I think just sometimes having someone listen and acknowledge that, “yeah, this is awful, but we can help, and we can help you to help you”. I think because people with chronic pain feel so alone, and they feel somewhat defeated and they’re frustrated, I think sometimes they just need someone to listen to them and say, “it’s okay, this is awful, you’re right”.
JOSH: Yeah, I can’t help but think that like, if you compare pain to other conditions, that are more like visible, that the invisibleness makes things harder. I don’t know. Do you think, do you see that in your clinic?
TRUDY: Absolutely. People say sometimes I get so frustrated when someone says, “Hey, Trudy, you’re looking well”. “Well, actually, I’m having a really awful day today and you can’t, you can’t see that. You don’t know how much pain I’ve got, but I actually feel awful today” and it’s so frustrating when someone says, “Hey, you’re looking good today”. And that, that silent, that invisibleness. You know, they might be feeling absolutely wretched, but someone says, “Hey, you look good”. And to them it invalidates, I think, how they feel.
JOSH: Yeah. If someone’s listening to this and hearing, okay, there are people out there who can help me. What’s the very, very first step? If this is a completely new idea, what should they do?
TRUDY: I think ask for help. Don’t suffer silently. Don’t try and do it all by yourself because most people who’ve got persistent pain, people who’ve got cancer pain, a lot of people with acute pain have tried to fix it themselves and sometimes they just need a bit of a hand.
So come and see someone, be proactive. Do the different things like, you know, every day you come across people and, you know, my niece’s partners one, you know, has a persistent pain problem, shovelled, you know, two tons of earth round last weekend. And when I said to him, so, “how are you now”? And he said, “I’m suffering for it”. We need to talk about the principles of pacing again. You know, listen to what people do. Give it a try. Don’t just say, no, that won’t work. Give it a try, give it a shake. You’re never going to know until you try.
JOSH: Great, that’s really encouraging. Thanks so much for sharing your one thing.
TRUDY: That’s alright.