The Trigger

I was asked by my doctor to try to identify any triggers that were possibly kick-starting my attacks of pain. I had already tried this and couldn’t find any culprits but, to keep him happy, I told my Doc, “Sure. No problem. Hadn’t actually thought about that before but I’ll get right on it.”

On returning home, I reported the conversation to my wife, who also suggested that I try to identify things that I could blame. Now, if my wife suggests I do something, I tend to do it, not because it avoids arguments but because she is usually right about things related to my wellbeing.

So, I spent the next couple of weeks keeping a record of everything I was doing at the time of an attack – what I had eaten, was I outside or indoors, what was the weather like, was it daylight or darkness, exactly what time of day was it, was I awake or asleep, was I hot or cold, relaxed or stressed, alone or in company, was I sitting, walking, driving, running, lying down, standing up, reading, talking, bathing, showering, shaving, peeing; what were other people around me doing, did I like what they were doing or not, was the light level too high or was the dimmer switch turned down, was it quiet or noisy, what was playing on the radio, what was I watching on television? I tracked my pain attacks every minute of every day for weeks and could not find any patterns – except one.

I rushed to see my doctor and report my findings.

“I know what’s triggering the pain,” I said excitedly.

“Ok,” he said, “What is it?”

I took a deep breath before announcing my findings, “Whenever I’m not having any fun, the pain comes.”

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