[iterance]

My grandfather suffered chronic sciatic nerve pain. My father suffered chronic sciatic nerve pain. Now I, too, suffer chronic sciatic nerve pain.

I wonder why that is?

You have no idea how bad it can get.

No, surely it's made up. Nevermind: how foolish was I...

[scruple]

I don't have sciatic pain, thank God, but I have bulging discs from a spinal compression injury. The first few months were excruciating -- I couldn't exist without horrific pain, no position I could lay in, sit in, stand in, etc., would provide any relief. I couldn't stand fully upright for weeks. And, even post-recovery, the last 2 years haven't exactly been pleasant. I am still managing my lower back on a day-to-day basis but I am primarily pain-free today.

Chronic pain really takes you somewhere else mentally. Now that I am, for the time being, on the other side of it, it has also made me extremely empathetic to people who suffer through it.