Emotions and face pain

As someone who has counseled people with facial pain, I understand that it is not uncommon for someone's emotions to reach a nadir. It doesn't matter if it's my pain or the pain that belongs to someone else. So I am always concerned when I hear that someone with facial pain has emotional issues. Of course we do. What others take for granted in every day life has been taken from us, and no one seems to understand the intensity of the pain. Except the people who have it...

I wish that I could explain to the world what it is like to be unable to communicate orally with others and to not know sign language. E-mails and text messages are some of my best friends, but not everyone has email or text-messaging. Fax machines are temperamental. Just like fax machines, sometimes we can communicate orally and other times we cannot. We aren't dependable, regardless of how much we would like to be.

Pain of any type can bear on our emotions. Face pain can cause a person to have bad breath and poor dental hygiene (no brushing for days on end sometimes), robs a person of the ability to share a kiss, and going out to eat is just unthinkable. When people experience this much isolation, pain, and disability... well he or she just may get emotional.

Why some people think that the emotional issues cause the pain, I'll never know. Perhaps it's because they have never experienced these issues. I've always thought that the world would be a more compassionate place if people could experience trigeminal neuralgia or other types of face pain - just for a day.

Several types of medical issues cause face pain. It could be trigeminal neuralgia, myofascial pain, neuropathic pain, or a jaw problem. These things travel along the trigeminal pathway, and they have a life of their own. We don't know when the pain will come or go. We just know that we are out of commission until it settles down.

Recently I had to make an important decision. I knew I was too ill to think rationally. I tried to explain this, but I was pushed to make the decision. My response was emotional because my pain level was high. Now the decision is made, and I am glad it is behind me. I get emotional when I cannot speak, brush my teeth, open my mouth, or stop the pain.

If you get emotional because of facial pain, let me reassure you that it's normal. Take good care of yourself. If you are able to talk, you may want to see a counselor. But you may not be able to talk...

What I really like about prayer is that I can talk to God without saying a word. He understands why I am emotional in times of pain. I am thankful for my faith in God.

Valley of Refreshing Springs

I posted this entry on my website October 2006, and I would like to share it with you.

When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. Psalm 84:6


Have you ever noticed how much better you can feel after having a few good cries? Sometimes it seems that one cry just is not enough. I've been pondering why we sometimes go through a valley of tears instead of traipsing through a mere puddle.

Pain builds up, the dam breaks, and the tears fall onto the ground until they wash out a portion of earth. Then we stand in the valley, waiting, not sure which direction we should go. Even worse, we might not feel as though we can go in any direction. We’re stuck right where we are.

Nobody gets out of a valley without walking uphill. It isn't easy, but we have the Lord to hold our hands. He’s not going to yank us out of the valley, though. Maybe we can get motivated to walk out of the valley if we remember the tears that got us there, the tears that helped wash away some of the hurt, the tears that cleansed our broken hearts.

We can't undo the tears or the valleys, but we can choose to make that uphill walk. We can choose to hold tightly to the Lord’s hand.

Sometimes I have to think about the good things that came from the tears. My tears that hit the ground fed the plants and other beautiful living things. My pain and tears gave life to something else. I am confident that God does not let our pain go unnoticed. I'm still climbing upward, and Jesus is holding my hand.