Gao Qiao Hiroshi (director of hospice ward of Japanese Yongshou General Hospital) misunderstood that you must rest when you are in pain, so that you can do housework better when you are in pain. Miss A, a 73-year-old suffering from colorectal cancer, underwent colorectal cancer surgery six months ago, and now she still needs to go to the hospital for anticancer treatment to fight the residual tumor. Good recovery, mild side effects, doctors also think that the course of treatment is quite smooth. Miss A lost her husband five years ago and now lives with her eldest son and daughter-in-law. Although the daughter-in-law is mostly responsible for housework, Miss A wants to help, do some simple cleaning or go out to help with shopping. But the family always says, "You are sick now, don't force it" and "Take more rest". (Editor's recommendation: Anti-cancer chemotherapy is thin! Which cancer nutrition should I choose first? ) Miss A: "I can help buy ingredients, or I can just go out to play." Daughter-in-law: "Don't worry about me. Mom, you're still in therapy. Let the body rest more. What should I do if I am too reluctant to make my condition worse! Miss A: I can do other things to relieve boredom. Miss A often repeats this conversation with her family. In fact, there is another reason why the family is so worried, that is, Miss A often says that her stomach will hurt. After reporting abdominal pain to the doctor, the doctor thought it was caused by surgical wound and intestinal peristalsis, which was not serious, and prescribed some painkillers as appropriate. However, Miss A hardly took painkillers on time because she didn't feel enough pain. Plus Miss A has nothing to do at home, just watching TV while drinking tea. If you ask her how her stomach feels, she will say with an uncomfortable expression, "It hurts, but it doesn't matter. Seeing her like this, the family thought she should not be too tired, and then repeated those conversations. Key pain threshold In order to alleviate Miss A's pain, let me first introduce the "pain threshold" (critical value). As we all know, some people are afraid of pain, others are not afraid of pain, and pain has different feelings for different people. Threshold refers to the sensitivity of feeling pain. As shown below, the same pain is not susceptible to people with high thresholds; It is unbearable for people with low thresholds, that is, people who are afraid of pain. Of course, Miss A should take painkillers on time according to the doctor's prescription, which will temporarily reduce the intensity of pain, as shown in the left picture below. But the analgesic effect is temporary. We might as well focus on the pain threshold and try to raise the pain threshold, as shown on the right side of the figure below, to free ourselves from pain. Doing housework can also relieve pain. What can I do to improve Miss A's pain threshold? The hint was hidden in the conversation with my wife just now. Although Miss A wanted to help with the housework, she was stopped by her family and said, "I can do other things to relieve boredom. This kind of boredom is the key factor to raise the threshold and make people feel no pain. Gao Qiao Hiroshi (director of hospice ward of Japanese Yongshou General Hospital) misunderstood that you must rest when you are in pain, so that you can do housework better when you are in pain. Miss A, a 73-year-old suffering from colorectal cancer, underwent colorectal cancer surgery six months ago, and now she still needs to go to the hospital for anticancer treatment to fight the residual tumor. Good recovery, mild side effects, doctors also think that the course of treatment is quite smooth. Miss A lost her husband five years ago and now lives with her eldest son and daughter-in-law. Although the daughter-in-law is mostly responsible for housework, Miss A wants to help, do some simple cleaning or go out to help with shopping. But the family always says, "You are sick now, don't force it" and "Take more rest". (Editor's recommendation: Anti-cancer chemotherapy is thin! Which cancer nutrition should I choose first? ) miss a: "I can help buy ingredients, or I can just go out to play." "Daughter-in-law:" Leave me alone. Mom, you're still in therapy. Let the body rest more. What should I do if I am too reluctant to make my condition worse! Miss A: I can do other things to relieve boredom. Miss A often repeats this conversation with her family. In fact, there is another reason why the family is so worried, that is, Miss A often says that her stomach will hurt. After reporting abdominal pain to the doctor, the doctor thought it was caused by surgical wound and intestinal peristalsis, which was not serious, and prescribed some painkillers as appropriate. However, Miss A hardly took painkillers on time because she didn't feel enough pain. Plus Miss A has nothing to do at home, just watching TV while drinking tea. If you ask her how her stomach feels, she will say with an uncomfortable expression, "It hurts, but it doesn't matter. Seeing her like this, the family thought she should not be too tired, and then repeated those conversations. Key pain threshold In order to alleviate Miss A's pain, let me first introduce the "pain threshold" (critical value). As we all know, some people are afraid of pain, others are not afraid of pain, and pain has different feelings for different people. Threshold refers to the sensitivity of feeling pain. As shown below, the same pain is not susceptible to people with high thresholds; It is unbearable for people with low thresholds, that is, people who are afraid of pain. Of course, Miss A should take painkillers on time according to the doctor's prescription, which will temporarily reduce the intensity of pain, as shown in the left picture below. But the analgesic effect is temporary. We might as well focus on the pain threshold and try to raise the pain threshold, as shown on the right side of the figure below, to free ourselves from pain. Doing housework can also relieve pain. What can I do to improve Miss A's pain threshold? The hint was hidden in the conversation with my wife just now. Although Miss A wanted to help with the housework, she was stopped by her family and said, "I can do other things to relieve boredom. This kind of boredom is the key factor to raise the threshold and make people feel no pain. In the past, Miss A was a housewife. She worked hard for many years to support her husband and children. Miss A can do housework well, and even simple housework is not allowed now. My family always says, "You must rest because you are ill." . The rest of her life made her feel depressed, but there was nothing else to do. Finally, she only noticed the pain in her abdomen. The doctor suggested to Miss A and her family that doing some housework would not only cause physical burden, but also help to relieve the pain caused by distraction. Miss a is quite happy to hear these words. After that, Miss A, who began to share housework with her daughter-in-law, really relieved her abdominal pain, became cheerful and actively treated cancer. What * * * did made you forget to feel pain. Is there any other way to raise the pain threshold? As shown in the figure below, the conditions required to increase the pain threshold vary from person to person. Just as housework helps Miss A realize what she wants to do and relieves boredom, there may be some people who are very busy on weekdays and have to raise the threshold through rest. It is important to think about how to raise the pain threshold. Everyone has different answers. A patient who was interested in golf once told me with a smile that although he felt pain because of his fifty shoulders, he didn't know why he didn't feel pain at all when playing golf. Another patient who is sick in bed said that if he is alone in the room, he will feel pain, but when family or friends visit, they often say forget me, and then the pain will stop. I used to have low back pain. When you work until you are impetuous, the pain will reach its peak; But as soon as I got home and turned on the TV to watch variety shows, I unconsciously forgot the pain. For me, what can improve the pain threshold is rest and variety shows. On the contrary, busy work lowers the threshold. Doctors can relieve patients' pain through treatment and advise them to use painkillers when necessary. Patients should make full use of the function of painkillers. To improve the pain threshold, you need the help of family or friends more than doctors, because they know the patients best. Please also discuss with patients how to raise the pain threshold and use your strength to alleviate their pain. ? This article is taken from No regrets hospice care: Only you can do it/Hirohashi Meng (director of hospice care ward of Yongshou General Hospital, Japan)/Dashi Culture.