A Rose By Any Other Name

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" is a quotation from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.   It means that the names of things do not matter, only what things are. I have an issue with that statement.

I was in a Lamaze class with ladies giving birth for the first time and some that had already given birth.  The instructor was a young lady that had never given birth.  This was obvious after a few classes.

In that class, the instructor told us that when we realized we were in labor to lay a certain way and to pant instead of holding our breath or breathing deep.  She said that we would know when we were starting the birthing process because we would start contractions.  One lady asked if she mean birth pains and she said no, that contractions were not pains.  Several in the class burst out laughing, me included.

For all you men reading this, or women who have not given birth, contractions and pains are one and the same.  There is no distinction between the two when you are experiencing them.  If you hurt your back, you often have spasms.  I think it safe to say that these things called spasms can also be categorized as pain.

I have the same issue with some of the symptoms those of us with MS have that are not considered pain by most doctors.  The electric shock/buzzing that most of us experience, the MS “hug”, muscle spasms and spasticity are just a few of the things that cause us pain that have only recently been acknowledged by some doctors and the National MS Society.  Until the last few years the Society and most doctors believed that MS was a debilitating disease that was without pain.

With the onset of some of these symptoms being recognized as “real pain”, the offering of more drugs and different types of tests have been developed.  It is wonderful to know that more and more people are listening to those of us that have this disease and not just taking for granted that textbooks have all the answers.

As far as pain in concerned, most people have experienced it in some form or the other.  I guess we could call it Sam, John, Lucy, Judy, George, Ruth……….or whatever…………but the feeling would still be the same!!!