Originally Posted by
noodle soup
Stories like this remind me how lucky I am to be pain-free.
December 8th of 2010 I wrecked at 48mph in a descent, and was found unconscious by a passing motorist. When I came to I got up, and tried to get back on the bike. They stopped me from riding, and took me to the marina where I live. Long story short, C-1, C-2, and C-3 were fractured(12 weeks off the bike) but now I'm good as new, and never experienced any neck pain.
February 26th of 2014 I was hit by a truck and had much more serious injuries. I broke all ribs on the right side, Clavicle, Scapula, and Fibula. Tore my large intestine, and punctured my lung. After nearly 6 weeks and several surgeries, they let me go home. 2 weeks later(and almost 40 pounds lighter) I was riding pain-free again.
That's amazing. And encouraging. You should volunteer for a pain study to help figure out why some folks recover so well while others continue to experience pain long after injuries have technically healed.
Coincidentally, that's the gist of the one topical analgesic I've tried that actually works --
Ted's Pain Cream. I've mentioned it before. The stuff was developed by neuro-scientists with UT-Dallas. They began investigating cannabinoids but shifted to resveratrol when it appeared to work better, particularly as a topical for surface level chronic pain. The theory is that resveratrol resets pain nerves that get "stuck" and continue signalling pain long after the injury has healed.
I was skeptical. It didn't work for me when I tried it immediately after my injury in 2018. But a year later I tried it again when I still had small, dime-sized spots of intense pain around my shoulder blade. This time it worked. It seemed to confirm the theory that resveratrol doesn't numb pain from active injuries, but does reduce residual pain from healed injuries. For athletes and active people this is important because we're inclined to re-injure ourselves if we take meds that numb all pain and resume full activities before an injury has healed.
There's probably a good scientific explanation for differences in experiences and perceptions of pain.