Join Pat Dennis in discussing One Thing he wants pain researchers or clinicians to know. Pain isn’t just about intensity, it’s about how it affects every aspect of life. Pat Dennis challenges clinicians to expand their approach, explore diverse solutions, and help patients thrive despite pain.
About Pat
Pat Dennis is an Australian challenged by chronic pain, sharing some of his story with the world.
Transcript
Joshua Pate: What’s one thing that you want pain researchers or clinicians to know?
Pat Dennis: Believe your patient when they tell you that they’re in pain. Acknowledge that pain exists and understand that there is avenues to assist them outside of the immediate “here’s some pain meds”.
But even in the discussions over pain meds, there was no discussion or engagement about quality of life and function of life. And a little bit of bravery goes a long way, in terms of a lot of my health practitioners have been extremely cautious about what they wanted me to do, or were encouraging of me to do. If I wasn’t sitting on the couch, they weren’t overly fond of what we were doing and it wasn’t until I sort of took it upon myself to push the limits and push out a bit…
Having enjoyable experiences has an impact on how your pain is and how you perceive your pain. And it’s probably taken me about 7 years to get to the point where I recognise how vastly my mental state affects my chronic pain, my acute pain, things like that. But there are avenues, there is research out there, there is information out there, there is support out there. But there doesn’t seem to be that doesn’t seem to be filtering into your traditional medical fields.
Joshua Pate: I think it’s a great conversation starter for so many different stakeholders that could be watching this kind of video. So thanks for your time Pat
Pat Dennis: Pleasure, man, thank you.