Pain is the cry of an injured nerve. It often masks its real intention and plays hide and seek in the human body and should therefore be studied with great care, so that its characteristics may be fully understood. Most people understand it to be a gauge or measure which indicates the violence of the disease which causes it, but the danger from the disease is frequently in an inverse ratio to its intensity, so that the absence of pronounced pain may be of much greater significance than its presence, and while it indicates discordance in the human mechanism, it may herald the exact locality in which there is trouble, or may be very remote from the parts affected.

Many persons suppose that serious diseases always produce pain, and lack of knowledge on this subject has made thousands of persons victims of fatal, insidious diseases, that send no advance agent - pain - to herald their approach. These painless destroyers of life glide into our very vitals, and like the poisonous reptile in our pathway, strike us a fatal blow without even a pain to warn us of their existence.

This would seem to make the value of pain in the diagnosis of disease somewhat uncertain, and yet careful study of its intensity, recurrence, location, and even its absence, greatly aids in the diagnosis of disease. In order to determine the significance of pain, we must take into consideration the relative sensitiveness of different individuals. We have all observed instances in which persons have complained a great deal from comparatively slight pain.

While others have endured severe pain with little or no complaint. If a patient says that he has a severe pain, we must determine by the appearance and character of the person, what this actually means. Does it mean that he is suffering from some serious disturbance, or is he simply exaggerating, perhaps unconsciously, what to some others would be considered slight pain? Again, it will some times be observed that children, and often adults, will endure pain without admitting it, if they fear the treatment that might follow, especially if that treatment be surgical. On the other hand, persons will often complain of pain and suffering, in order to attain certain ends. Examples: persons have often been known to complain of pain in order to secure morphine or some similar drug which they crave.

Why is it that some people actually feel pain more keenly than others? This may be accounted for on several grounds. Some persons naturally have a sensitive nervous system, and any irritation will cause greater excitement of their nerves, than it would in a person who naturally has a sluggish nervous system. As a rule, persons inured to hardships can stand more pain than those who have always had an easy life. It is for this reason that those who have had much pain can endure it better than one who has always been free from it. It is fortunate that pain is the forerunner (so-called) of many diseases, and it would be better perhaps if it were present in the beginning of others; for it is the one thing which by its persistent annoyance will drive its possessor to determine its cause and seek relief. It is not uncommon to learn ot persons who have neglected some serious disease because it had not caused them much pain. Alas, we would that pain were always the forerunner of disease; for too often it comes too late and the victim is shocked to learn that an apparently slight trouble is of a serious nature. It consequently happens that v simple distress, or uneasy feeling, develops sooner or later into actual pain.

Now the time to seek relief is soon after the distress is felt, and not wait weeks or months for it to disappear, without removing its cause. Only a physician can interpret the real value and importance of a given pain, for the real cause does not always lie immediately in the region where the pain is felt, but may be quite remote.

Under this head comes what are termed reflex pains. Example: heart disease will sometimes cause pain in the back and left arm; liver disease may cause pain in the right shoulder and back; spinal disease, pain in the legs, etc. How often we hear people who are suffering pain, say, "Oh, I think it is only a little rheumatic trouble due to the weather." While this is sometimes in a sense true, it is also true that some serious diseases early cause pains which may readily be mistaken for some slight trouble.

Let us not forget that pain under all circumstances, indicates illness somewhere, and it might be almost truly said, that aside from the pain of child bed, there are no natural pains. The belief entertained by some, that children have "growing pains" is, to say the least, a great mistake, for neither slow nor rapid growth produces pain, and it is no part of healthy development. No perfectly well person feels pain, and when he does so, it should invariably signify to him that some part of his physical mechanism is out of order, and in need of attention. It may be compared to the pounding or squeaking of an engine, or any machine, which should run smoothly; when it is heard the engineer knows that something is wrong, and at once tries to locate the cause and remove it. If it is necessary to take such precaution, with an inanimate machine, why should we not take equal or greater precaution with our living mechanism, since our very existence, as rational, active beings, depends upon its preservation? Knowing all this, why do we not more often heed the kind warning of nature, remove the cause of an injury, and repair the part to which pain directs us.

The savage, inured to pain from early infancy, meets it with a stoicism which is worthy of admiration, but which science and experience teaches, is too often the result of ignorance and superstition. Civilized men should not tamper with, or tempt disease, by violating the inexorable laws of nature. If we heed her first warning, she may be lenient, but if we disregard them, she may be cruel in the extreme. The saddest information which the physician gives, is, "you have neglected your trouble too long," and the equally sad reply of the patient, "I did not think it was so bad, as I have not suffered much pain."

These words may seem trifling to the reader, but stop one moment and reflect. May they ever apply to you? Yes, they may at any time apply to any one, and especially to those who disregard the rules of good living, and the warning of slight pains. A careless engineer who disregards slight defects in his machine may soon find that it has suddenly stopped - possibly capable of repair but often beyond such a possibility. If we could be so impressed with these facts as to be impelled by them, there would be fewer cases of premature age and early death; fewer cases of impaired and useless human machines.

Whence Arises That ILL-Sounding And Never Acceptable Word, Incurable?

Too often it results from repeatedly disregarded pain, until the disease has advanced too far - nature has too long been outraged. In those cases where there is slight pain with the onset of some insidious disease, as chronic kidney, heart, or lung disease, etc., we can understand how a person who does not recognize the importance of a slight pain, or even physical discomfort, may compromise himself to disease, but to one who does know the significance of pain, it is gross carelessness. The location of pain is also a point worthy of consideration, for it is often misleading. The real source of disease may be far from the place where the pain is feit. To illustrate, let us consider some common examples: headache - one of the most common pains - may result from disturbance of the stomach, or bowels, or it may arise from some difficulty of the nervous system, or again, from actual disease of the brain. What is so commonly called heart-burn results from disturbance of the stomach, and is in no way a heart pain, simply felt in the region of the heart.

Diseases of the female organs usually produce pain in the back, and not at the seat of the disease. Pains in the intestines can often be recognized by the patient, because of its colicky nature, but pains of other abdominal organs are not so easily recognized. How often people complain of pain in the kidneys, when in reality it is not in the kidneys, but in the muscles of the back, and may be some distance from the kidneys. Pain in the kidneys is not one-half as common as many suppose. The character of the pain is as important as the location. In the first place, sharp pains more often indicate acute diseases, and dull, aching pains, chronic diseases. Of course, this rule has1 exceptions, which only emphasize the importance of finding out the cause of pain whatever its character.

The intensity of pain also has considerable significance in disease. A pain does not have to be very intense in order to indicate a serious trouble, for some grave diseases, often exist with only a slight, if any pain at all. On the other hand the most intense pain is often found in acute and relatively slight diseases. Acute indigestion is a comparatively slight disease, as regards the probability of recovery, but the pain is often intense, while a serious form of dyspepsia may show but slight pain. Finally, we should consider the duration of pain. If pain persists for hours or days it is usually of a more serious import than if it is transient.

Neuralgic or rheumatic pains are often transient, while the pains of organic diseases are often protracted, but may vary in intensity or stop temporarily. It is usually for persistent pains that people seek relief. They can stand pain part of the time, but they cannot as a rule stand it all the time. Now with what has been said about pain it becomes readily apparent that the individual should not trust too much to himself for its interpretation, but if it is at all constant, he should secure the opinion of some physician who can tell him whether it is of any real concern. This might well be illustrated by mistakes which are quite often made in regard to pain in the abdomen; not uncommonly pain in this region has been thought that of colic or indigestion, while it proved to be the pain of appendicitis. In the first condition there is no great anxiety, but much in the latter and it should be recognized as early as possible, since a great deal depends upon the manner of treatment.

Let no one think slightly of pain, for if heeded in time serious illness can often be prevented, and much suffering avoided. The doctor, skilled in examining patients, learns to distinguish the importance of the pain, and can often relieve a patient's anxiety or inform him of its true significance. People must not think that they can persistently disregard natural laws, until they suffer from organic disease, and then expect a physician to undo all their past mistakes. The best time to treat disease is before it exists, and then the treatment is very simple, inasmuch as it only means correct living. The penalties of unhygienic living are often long delayed, but they are almost sure to come sooner or later. Let us guard ourselves, lest we suffer from having abused nature.