Pain In Comparison

In the past, I have been complaining about my back pain and at times took leave to get my back rested (which I can't do in office). I sometimes wonder if people doubted about my predicament and thought I'm faking it. To a certain extent, I doubted myself too; was it because my pain threshold is so low. This doubt was also encouraged by the specialists that I have gone to, also downplayed my pain - showed me x-rays of severe scoliosis (mine was slight) and lumbar disk with visible protrusion onto the nerves (my MRI showed dark lumbar disk with slight protrusion). So these days, I complained less, only doing so with my other half. Presently I have constant pain at the right hip, have slight difficulty of moving, numbness in the right leg and at times with throbbing pain, and occasionally pain in my ankle. So I take this as part of the progression of the back pain as I'm growing older. Did try to do my own exercises on and off, avoiding going to physiotherapists or chiropractors since they can become expensive. When I lie down, I often twist my body, hoping for some relief.

Recently I had to go to the dentist for root canal treatment, to save one of my tooth. It got cancelled twice; the first time is because that I was on the blood-thinning medication and I had to stop taking it at least three days earlier before the treatment. Second time, it was because of the home quarantine order. Last Saturday, I got to go to the dentist but he found out that I had a tooth stump in my gums, causing slight swelling and pus. He had to take that stump out, essentially carving my gum to pull out the stump. Despite the local anaesthetics, could still feel the pain as it was pulled out and I was in tears and was sweating withstanding the pain. I had my gum stitched up so that my gum does not bleed too much (due to the blood thinning medication). I guess, everyone can relate to pain associated with tooth extraction and know how painful this can get and the subsequent post-extraction pain. I had then the thought of comparing the pain from this dental treatment with the pain from my back. The pain while the tooth stump was being pulled out is perhaps of higher degree but not that it was incomparable to my back pain. In fact, the post dental treatment pain is really comparable with my back pain if not slightly less. So there you go, I supposed my pain threshold is quite high in a way. So, if I say, I have back pain, I hope those who doubted me before, can imagine the same pain after the tooth is being pulled out. In a way, I got used to it though some bad episodes can send me into a fever.

Just minutes ago, I had my teeth/gum x-rayed for possibly another stump embedded in the gum. Mentally preparing myself for another tooth extraction.