Chronic pain isn’t an easy condition to control, and sometimes that can lead patients to become frusterated with how treatment is progressing. It can even lead them to give up on treating their condition entirely if they resolve to just grit their teeth and bear it during the bad days.

This isn’t ideal, because unaddressed chronic pain can cause a number of different issues for your health outside of pain. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at five additional health issues that can be caused by unmanaged chronic pain.

Health Issues Related To Chronic Pain

Here’s a look at a number of new health issues you may find yourself dealing with if you don’t work to actively manage your chronic pain condition.

1. High Blood Pressure – Unmanaged chronic pain places a heavy burden on your body, including your heart and your cardiovascular system. During a pain flare up, your body releases substances that increase your blood pressure and heart rate. Prolonged elevated blood pressure can put you at a higher risk for stroke or a heart attack.

2. Decreased Sleep Quality – Chronic pain can make it harder for a person to fall asleep and stay asleep, which can lead to shorter periods of extended restful sleep. This prolonged sleep is necessary for your whole body health, wheras poor sleep quality can leave your feeling tired and groggy throughout the day.

3. Depression and Anxiety – Chronic pain can also take a signfiicant toll on your mental health. Pain is a heavy burden to bear, and it can also affect the same pathways in the brain that regulate your mood. This can increase your risk of anxiety, depression, mood swings and similar mental health conditions.

4. Weight Gain – When you’re in pain, oftentimes all you want to do is curl up in bed and wait for the discomfort to dissapate. While that can be helpful once in a while, regularly avoiding activity and becoming more sedentary can lead to weight gain, which stresses other areas of the body like your joints. Not getting exercise because you’re in pain can lead you to become more inactive, leading to an increased risk of weight gain and making it harder for you to break out of the cycle you’re now caught in.

5. Decreased Quality of Life – While not exactly a health condition, untreated chronic pain can also negatively affect your total quality of life. You may find yourself shying away from activities you once loved or avoiding social situations out of fear of a flare up. That’s no way to go through life, but it’s a reality for many people who deal with pain on a daily basis.

Chronic pain is enough of a hassle without all the other issues that can develop as a result of untreated chronic pain, so it’s imperative that you really work to find a solution to your pain issue. That’s what Dr. Cohn and his team are here for. We won’t stop until we find a solution that works for you and has you back on the path to a fuller and more enjoyable life. For more information, or to take the first step in overcoming your pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today at (952) 738-4580.