Unlike the patient in acute pain from a kidney stone or intermittent migraine or cluster headache, the individual suffering from chronic pain may appear normal to family, friends, coworkers, and supervisors. Chronic pain is a personal and private suffering. Even physicians cannot determine whether chronic pain is mild or severe. This aspect of chronic pain can lead to discouragement and demoralization. Emotional suffering may exceed the physical suffering of chronic pain.
Constant pain drains one's energy and spirits.
This book offers practical and valuable advice for the patient suffering from chronic pain. The lifetime course of chronic recurring head pain is variable. Many people will outgrow their symptoms, while others will experience their first headache later in life. If the person from whom it is likely that headaches have been inherited outgrew the headaches, that represents a good but not absolute indication that the offspring will outgrow the headaches as well. There are no specific tests which will show if one has a migraine.