January 23, 2026
Hey Zebras,
Today I wanted to talk a little about pain. As always, this is drawn from my own experiences, and because I don’t know your specific situation, please don’t take this as medical advice.
First, I’ll share some of my personal experience. After that, I’ll move into more general information that I hope may be helpful for others. If you’d like to skip ahead, feel free to jump to the section titled “Some Info for Everyone.”
My Experience
Pain is something I’ve personally been lucky enough to largely avoid, aside from relatively short bursts that are often considered “normal,” such as childbirth.
Over the past year (and now approaching a year and a half), I’ve been living with chronic knee pain due to osteochondritis dissecans (OCD). Put simply, OCD involves a loss of healthy blood flow to a bone near a joint, which causes the attached cartilage to weaken, break down, and potentially detach. As a result, this leads to significant pain and difficulty with mobility.
Quite plainly, it sucks.
Over this time, I’ve had multiple doctor’s visits. Initially, I was reassured that it likely wasn’t anything serious — and honestly, I wanted that to be true. When I later requested an MRI or imaging requisition, it was denied. The assumption became that I must have a meniscal tear. Eventually, my private insurance case manager had to advocate on my behalf for imaging, which is how the OCD diagnosis was finally made.
After that, a follow-up appointment resulted in a referral for a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection, which unfortunately hasn’t helped. The next step will be advocating for a referral to an orthopaedic specialist to determine whether surgery may be appropriate.
Quite the kerfuffle.
Despite all of this, I’m still hopeful. I know chronic pain can be far more severe and disabling than what I’m experiencing — and I try to hold perspective where I can.
Some Info for Everyone
To those of you living with chronic pain: I see you. I believe you. And I’m sorry if you haven’t been heard or believed by medical professionals.
I see this happen far too often. Pain is a subjective experience. As someone becomes accustomed to living with pain, they may not outwardly grimace or wince the way someone with an acute injury might — yet their pain can be just as intense, or even more so. Unfortunately, this can lead healthcare providers to assume that because you appear to be coping, the pain must not be that bad.
If this has happened to you, I am deeply sorry.
Where to Get Help
If you live in or near a city, your hospital may offer a specialized pain management program. These programs typically require a referral from your family doctor or primary care provider.
Pain programs often use a multidisciplinary approach, addressing not only physical pain but also the many factors that come with it. This may include:
- medical procedures or medication
- physiotherapy and movement-based approaches
- pacing strategies
- mental health support, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- mindfulness practices
Harvard Health has a great overview of non-invasive pain management techniques here:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/8-non-invasive-pain-relief-techniques-that-really-work
Pain Catastrophization
Another topic I felt was important to touch on is pain catastrophization. If you’d like to explore the research, PubMed has a useful overview here:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2696024/
In that article, pain catastrophization is defined as “a negative cognitive–affective response to anticipated or actual pain and has been associated with a number of important pain-related outcomes.” In simpler terms, it occurs when someone magnifies their pain, ruminates on it, and feels helpless in the face of it.
This is a mental and emotional process — and importantly, it’s something that can be shifted. Pain catastrophization has been shown to increase both the severity and the lived experience of pain. Becoming aware of it, and gently reflecting on whether it may be playing a role for you, can sometimes help with pain management.
Meditations for Pain
Finally, I wanted to share a couple of meditations designed specifically for people living with pain.
The first is a written guided imagery meditation. You could ask a loved one or therapist to read it aloud for you, or record yourself reading it and listen back:
https://www.howtocopewithpain.org/resources/guided-imagery-1-special-water.html
Here’s another guided meditation from the Arthritis Society on YouTube, which I personally find very helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdr-jK4XrrM
Take care, Zebras.
Talk soon. 🦓