Psychology and Pain

To explain the unfortunate occurrence of two consecutive days without a post, let me say that I've been away from my laptop for the past couple days, as well as experiencing the flu this week.

Interestingly, this sickness wasn't just a physical struggle, and the dentist appointment thrown in on Thursday made things a lot more interesting. My symptoms this week have been pretty basic-- a sore throat, coughing, and a runny nose. I was feeling pretty good the morning I went to the dentist, and I got to see the screen showing the x-rays that were being taken of my teeth.

According to the dentist's tentative diagnosis, my wisdom teeth are not growing in as should be and might need to be removed some time soon. I hadn't felt any pain from my wisdom teeth in the past, but I could see on the x-ray that they looked sort of pointed towards my other teeth, with no room to grow. I thought no more of this, however, until two days later.

On Saturday, my jaw began to ache, almost as if my teeth had no room and were growing into each other. It worried me quite a bit-- I wasn't planning on getting my wisdom teeth worked on for a few months at least, and wouldn't want to have my teeth aching until then.

It was then I remembered my AP Psychology lessons and the power of the placebo. Was it possible I was just imagining the pain because I had seen my teeth growing together? It certainly didn't feel imagined. I was feeling a bit tired, so I took a nap. By the time I woke up, I had no pain in my teeth, but did have a small headache.

That evening, the tooth pain came back in force, and I got even more worried. With the level it was at, even waiting until Spring Break for surgery seemed like too much. I decided to formulate a theory strong enough for myself to believe-- my teeth were not growing together, as I had felt no pain before the dentist appointment. The pain I was feeling was just from my sickness, and would pass.

I might remember this as more sudden than it actually was, but after half a minute or so of debating with myself in this manner, my tooth pain subsided slightly and I began to feel a headache. There was a bit more oscillation, then I finally was convinced that my teeth weren't the problem. I had a strong headache, but that was almost a relief after contemplating dental surgery.

I'm still not quite sure what happened that night-- sickness seems to have a way of dabbling with my mind. When I got a headache, previously not one of my symptoms, my thoughts about my wisdom teeth must have made me miss-attribute the pain. At the time, it was either that or I had managed to convince myself that my tooth pain was just a headache. There were a few minutes when I could mentally switch between the sensation of an aching jaw and a throbbing head in seconds.

I'm feeling better now, and slightly more curious about how people perceive pain. I'll have to add it to the list, just beneath 'Why can't you microwave metal stuff?'