Pain But No Gain

I’ve undergone a mess of pretty damned unpleasant medical procedures over the years, ranging from UV light treatment, to an internal biopsy, to cortisone injections. None of them are experiences I care to repeat.

However, this past week may well have been the most unpleasant yet. In an effort to determine if my chronic leg pain was due to nerve issues, I underwent a nerve conduction test. Yes, you read that correctly. I got electrocuted in the name of science.

Being somewhat apprehensive about the test, I did what most everyone else does these days — I asked the Internet. It responded in various ways, ranging from “not much worse than acupuncture” to “OMG, I was crying by the end of it.” Needless to say, the Internet was rather anti-helpful in this regard.

As it was, the test hurt quite a deal more than acupuncture. It even hurt more than when I got my tattoo. But I did not cuss a blue streak at the doctor, which is my first instinctive reaction to pain. Although Mythbusters says that swearing does help raise pain tolerance.

However, I was certain that I would get some sort of results out of this. Why else would I have done it? Certainly not for fun. But no, apparently my nerves work just fine.

On the one hand, I am relieved. Yet on the other, I cannot help but think that I went through all that pain, but with no gain in terms of getting any closer to an answer (let alone a cure) for my pain.

At the least, I now have a scientifically proven excuse for swearing at any more doctors who subject me to painful testing.