How much does pain cost? By my reckoning, thousands of dollars on specialist and GP visits, hundreds of hours of missed schooling and sports days, hundreds of dollars on vitamins and supplements that the internet told me would help and didn’t, and most recently, $700 on CBD oil, which did.
In other words, I can’t even count it. Iam 24 and live with constant chronic pain. At 21, my pain received a name – stage 3 endometriosis, adenomyosis and painful bladder syndrome. Since the day I got my first period, I have had, and continue to experience, a burning sensation of pain in my pelvis, and sometimes in my legs, back, arms and even my feet. Relief is occasional, for afew months at atime, depending on my current treatment regime. When the pain is searing, it lasts aweek. The level of the pain and how often it occurs have reduced over time as I’ve had treatment. It’s now about 30% of what I suffered at age 20 but I could still wake up tomorrow with a flare-up.
Over the years, I became very good at hiding my pain.
ONE IN FIVE
There are publicly funded
