Your Eyes Look Rested.

I had been seeing a patient for years and have tried EVERYTHING for her chronic pain syndrome.  We ended up on a multimodal regimen that included opioids.  Each medication helped with a different aspect of her pain, and we were doing about as well as we could for her.  She was understandably frustrated as she is the kind of person where I don’t think her pain will ever all go away, but “pain free” is very much her goal.

She saw me at an office visit after I had my surgery and the pain from my complex regional pain syndrome was at a minimum.  She commented, “Your eyes look rested.  I want that.”  I can’t recall a more poignant and succinct comment from a patient describing the toll chronic pain takes on one’s body, mind, and soul.  Her statement was so beautifully terse.  Unless one goes through a chronic pain syndrome, they simply cannot understand the toll that the anguish takes on one’s entire being.  Everyday tasks wear us down, requiring an, at times, herculean extra energy and effort.  It destroys creativity, stamina, and spontaneity because our reserves are depleted simply getting through the day.

Perhaps the marker of a successful intervention is not simply a reported percent benefit, but the rested appearance of our patients’ eyes.