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Pain
There are 2 types of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain doesn’t last long and usually goes away as your body heals. Chronic pain lasts at least 6 months after your body has healed.
Sometimes, when people have chronic pain they don’t know what is causing it. Along with discomfort, chronic pain can cause low self-esteem, depression and anger, and it can interfere with your daily activities. Sometimes chronic pain is due to an ongoing cause, such as cancer or arthritis. Sometimes the cause is unknown.
With either type of pain, it is important to remember that medication may help, but only for a short time. With chronic pain, medications may only mask the pain. Getting the most accurate diagnosis possible helps guide the treatment, but the science behind our understanding of what pain is and how it works is still evolving.
See also: Arthritis, Depression, Chronic Pain Source: Family Doctor Online, from the American Academy of Physicians