[TheForge] blacksmith's elbow and cortizone

[Andrew Vida]

Geoff wrote:
> Absolutely. Leprosy and Diabetes supperers understand that. I read a 
> good book about it called the Gift of Pain. I appreciate what I feel a 
> lot more now that I understand better how it protects me.

Right thinking.  I seem to have been born with that hard wired into me. 
  I've never been one to take pain killers, not even aspirin for a 
headache.  I don't like being dulled like that.  It tends to make you 
forget about the injury and start doing stupid things that make it a lot 
worse.  One exception for me was when Ed's horn went clear through my 
hand.  Called my friend Jimmy, who took me to the ER and provided me 
with several mg of valium which at that moment I hoovered down 
gratefully.  Most god-awful pain I've ever experienced.  Being shot and 
grinding off the ends of two fingers was NOTHING compared with the 
shrieking, blasting, mind-scourging agony of a goat's horn passing 
through the flesh between thumb and forefinger.  By the time we got to 
the hospital, I felt next to nothing or just didn't care.  Doctor 
stitched me with no anaesthetic.  I just sat there, semi-smiling like an 
idiot.  No cares.

People have been taught to fear pain, one of our most prized assets.  I 
have found this especially so in women for reasons I cannot figure, 
given they usually have higher thresholds than men.  What so many do not 
realize is that there is a difference between pain and injury.  Pain 
does not necessarily mean injury - it can be just a warning so we can 
avoid injury.  But sometimes even pain gives a false signal in some 
ways.  Though I have not been in 8 years now, sitting in a sweat lodge 
can be very painful (can be fatal too, but that's another story), yet 
one endures without injury.

Anyhow, don't bee too quick to run away from pain with medications. 
OTOH, one must balance that with anti-inflamatory effects of certain 
compounds that actually promote faster healing.  It may just boil down 
to self awareness, bodily speaking.