Returning to the subject of pain

[sasha_feather]

I am looking for a word that doesn't yet exist, at least to my knowledge. This word would ideally describe the particular grief that results from wanting to do things, and being unable to do them due to disability. For instance I want to read novels and non-fiction books, but mostly can't. I want to crank out fanvids but have had a hard time learning the software and concentrating. I write very slowly, which means to me that writing is very important to me-- I work at it despite my pain and other barriers.

This grief involves frustration, stymied ambition, sadness, bargaining. What words come to mind for you? Can we create such a word?


I had my nerve block today. Dramatic immediate pain reduction. It's easier to breathe, talk, think, do stuff. My doc gave me a little more of the drug than last time, as I told her that it hadn't seemed to work as well over this last winter. Hopefully with the weather improving, my sinuses will be less awful.

There is something peculiarly awful about pain in the face. Even a horse will turn her hindquarters into the wind to protect her head.

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The dog I'm sitting is an Italian Greyhound with one eye and i LOVE him. It's especially nice to have an extra dog around when my roommate is away; it's good company.

Comments

[davidgillon]

Don't know if I have any suggestions, but grief is definitely a good place to start.

[jesse_the_k]

I've spent decades avoiding naming that feeling, because it's so hard.

Yay more greyhounds!

[longwhitecoats]

Maybe something building off the form of the word "nostalgia," pain caused by the past -- a word meaning "pain caused by the loss of the present." But grief seems like a perfectly serviceable word too.

[sovay]

There is something peculiarly awful about pain in the face. Even a horse will turn her hindquarters into the wind to protect her head.

That is well said.

*hugs*

[tim]

I really want that word too. Beyond grief and loss, idk what to call it.

Glad the nerve block helped!

[hellofriendsiminthedark]

What came to mind for me was "learned helplessness," but... more active? Wherein learned helplessness typically refers to habitual passivity/submission, but this is more like a kind of forced helplessness (being barred from things not even against your will, but without your personhood in mind) which is "learned" (understood, internalized or not) through desperate and unfortunate repetition.