When Pain is the Right Answer

I'm taking a break from essay writing, course prep, and otherwise school-ly endeavors to...write another essay. Sigh.

Anyway, I want to speak to something that I came across in this month's Sun. It was a reader response letter discussing an article by Simon Critchley called 'The Good Death'. Critchley is an advocate of drug-free end of life care. He argues that it is more dignified to die without pain medication, which he argues pacifies the patient and avoids the issue of death. The writer of the response letter questioned this, and asked 'why? why should pain be seen as good?'

I can't speak to end of life issues... I'm not dead, nor have I ever BEEN dying. I'll let you know my thoughts when I get there. What I can speak to is pain and pain medication in another of life's passages - birth. There is much evidence to suggest that the baby benefits from a drug free birth - they are more active, more capable of breastfeeding, and have better breathing response rates, among other things. There is definitive evidence that a drug free birth is best for the baby, from all areas of medical research (I would be happy to provide references for any who want them).

What isn't addressed, however, is the impact a drug-free birth has on the mother. As mammals, we have a physiological response to birth - we produce endorphines and adrenaline that, when combined, help to create an almost trance-like state, allowing not only the effective 'pushing out' of the baby (a stage which is, incidentally, greatly increased in medicated births), but also a lovely cloudy effect after the birth, whereby the mother can't really recall how it felt 'in the moment' and bonds wonderfully with her baby. When we introduce drugs into the equation, they can have the effect of messing with this important biological process. Suddenly, the mother doesn't NEED to go into a trance state, her primitive brain never takes over. She is suddenly aware of EVERYTHING going on around her, is terrified, and the birth becomes a trauma instead of a beautiful right of passage. I have experienced this personally, as well as having found countless examples in the literature.

From a Buddhist perspective, the mother also looses the ability for mindfulness and awareness. Her senses and intellect are clouded by pharmaceuticles. She is no longer in control or aware of her reality in the accoustomed sense. It does not allow for a true experience, indeed it is the utter denial of the true experience.

The reader asked 'why should pain be seen as good?' My short answer... because sometimes pain is the correct response. To deny it, as an important function of your body, is to ignore some vital message your system is sending you. Only by paying attention to that message can you really understand what that particular experience is trying to teach you, and what meaning it might have in the future.