True Healing of Pain

There is more than just physical pain in what the patients have when they come to this office.  Yes, they are in physical pain and that needs to be #1 in the way we treat our patients.  We look for the sources of the pain, things that are driving the pain, and where they are in their degenerative issues concerning the joint and other structures.  This is based on scientific evidence and baseline knowledge of human anatomy and physiology.

 But there are two other types of pains that a patient has when they come to this office.  First is physical pain, then there is emotion pain, and finally there is spiritual pain. 

 Emotional pain comes from the effect that this physical pain has on people.  People get stressed and the pain usually gets worse.  When people have been abused in their past or when they are hurting from emotional issues such as financial disaster or death in the family of a loved one or certain circumstances that are tragic to people; this would drive their physical pain to be worse.  There will also be something that needs to be addressed when we are treating her physical pain.  If the emotional pain is severe enough, then the stress of that emotional pain will frustrate a treating doctor’s ability to treat the physical pain.  Sometimes emotional pain is transient and will pass when the physical pain has been reduced.  Because often times the physical pain alone creates emotional pain.

 The third type of pain people have is spiritual pain.  These are the people who have been disconnected from God and are lonely and alone.  Often times, they are angry at God for the physical pain that they have or they are angry at God for the emotional pain that they have.  Sometimes they do not even know who God is and do not even realize that there is a God who loves them and cares for them.  This type of pain I explore very gingerly and compassionately.  I do not push the subject.  However, I do raise faith flags as I explain to people that there is empirical evidence that people who pray or who are being prayed over have a higher success rate and healing from cancer and from the pain of cancer.  If the patient wants to discuss this spiritual pain further, I try to make myself available to address that pain.  This is a very touchy subject and something that has to be approached with sensitivity and love.  There are those who want nothing to do with this aspect of the pain and that must be respected.

So, therefore, all three types of pain need to be dealt with at some level by the person in pain and depending on the severity and the complexity of the pain, needs to be dealt with by the treating health care provider.

God Bless,

Dr. Ron Prehn