Minimizing Chronic Pain Can Be Dangerous and Deadly (impactful Tiktok video story)

Pain hurts in a way that words fail.

Photo by Steven Arenas

Pain doesn’t announce itself politely.
It arrives like weather—uninvited, undeniable, and immune to reason.

Pain is a shadow you can’t outrun,
a ghost that follows you into the grocery store,
into the car, into the bed where rest should be.
It curls itself into your joints,
learns the architecture of your spine,
and speaks in a tormenting language only your body comprehends.

And then here come humans. With not a lick of understanding of what you are going through

but prepared to act like they know everything about it from A to Z. 

“You just aren’t doing it right” …

Like millions, I deal with chronic pain likely due to chronic trauma. I can absolutely relate to the stories you hear about neglect, bullying, and  minimization of pain. I come from a family of helping professionals who climbed mountains to just to get in the door, so it was a shock to encounter a system that had no intention of assisting …only toying with me. Stunned. 

When I started taking advocates/witnesses with me, I am not exaggerating when I tell you their mouths fell open. And these are typically cool, calm and non-expressive folks. Could not believe people it. 

That’s why you can never insult me by calling me “old”.  Me and everyone that makes it see these years are walking miracles among some people who choose to be unkind. We didn’t deserve it anymore than anyone else but we are here.

I am genuinely sorry to hear about Ben.  There are a lot of “Bens” in the Survivor community who are no longer with us. Great people…but also unheard and uncared for in the way that he needed.

Let’s send up prayers for Ben and everyone like Ben. Gratitude and appreciation for the woman who shared this story. Prayers up for her too  as she continues to deal with the loss of her friend. 

@leakyaudge

We don’t have a “opioid crisis”. We have a chronic pain abandonment crisis. And people are dying in it. If your ethical boundaries leave people dead, they aren’t ethical #chronicpain #compassionatecare #painmanagement #healthcareworker #medtok

♬ original sound – leakyaudge

📚 What the Research Says: Trauma + Chronic Pain Correlate Frequently

• A 2025 meta-analysis looking at adults with chronic pain found that 10 % to 26 % meet diagnostic criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) — and even more report subclinical trauma/PTSD symptoms. ScienceDirect

• Older research on people with severe PTSD found that as many as 80 % report “unexplained” chronic pain. PMC+1

• Among people who were hospitalized after a traumatic physical injury, some studies report that ≈50 % continue experiencing daily pain 6–12 months later. PubMed+1

• Research linking childhood adversity—physical, sexual or emotional abuse/neglect, parental loss, etc.—to adult chronic pain shows significant increases in risk. For example: one 2024 study found that adults who had childhood direct abuse or neglect had ≈ 45 % higher likelihood of reporting chronic pain or pain-related disability in adulthood. McGill University+1

• A 2020 study looking at children and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) found that for children with 4 or more ACEs, the prevalence of chronic pain was 18.4%, compared to 4.8% in children with no ACEs. PMC

⚠️ Why You Won’t Find a Single “One-Size-Fits-All” Percentage

• Definition Diversity — “Trauma” can be acute (e.g. assault, accident) or chronic (e.g. childhood neglect, repeated abuse). “Chronic pain” may be defined as lasting 3+ months or 6+ months, or may focus on particular syndromes.

• Population Differences — Some studies focus on veterans, others on childhood-abuse survivors, others on individuals hospitalized for injury. Each group shows different rates.

• Overlap but not causality — Not everyone with chronic pain has trauma history, and not everyone with trauma develops chronic pain. But trauma elevates risk significantly.

• Mental health & social mediators — The link often involves PTSD symptoms, emotional dysregulation, depression, stress, lack of support, which themselves affect pain perception, coping, and chronicity.

🎯 What This Means For the Future

• The research supports a strong imperfect correlation: trauma often shows up with chronic pain later in life — especially among survivors of abuse, neglect, combat, serious injury.

• For advocacy and healing work, this suggests that addressing trauma isn’t just emotional or psychological work — it’s physical health work. Chronic pain in survivors may be an expression of trauma that never got resolved.

• It underscores the need for holistic healing — mind, body, community, and memory. Survivor support can’t stop at emotional safety — it must include physical recovery, medical care, and long-term support.

• It also challenges narratives that treat chronic pain purely as “medical,” “genetic,” or “physical injury” — sometimes, the root is deeper, in lived trauma.