In the United States, people are born everyday with all kinds of disabilities. One of them being Chronic Pain Syndrome.

Chronic Pain Syndrome is a disease that has been known to destroy the lives of the people who suffer from it. Nobody knows what the true cause of this disease is or how to treat it. However, recent studies show that more people may be suffering from this disease than previously thought.

According to Doctor Manish Singh at Medscape.com, 35% of Americans suffer from some element of chronic pain. Additionally, 50 million American are disabled partially or totally by CPS.

People with this disability struggle everyday. The normal daily tasks such as tying shoes can cause a great deal of discomfort. It usually starts with an acute injury or illness. If the pain lasts for more than six months, then it is considered to be chronic pain.

According to the instituteforchronicpain.com, people with CPS also have trouble sleeping at night because of the pain that they feel. For a lot of people, the disease can become so severe that it can force them to quit their jobs.

CPS, while treatable with different medications, is often misdiagnosed. Doctors aren’t always able to diagnose patients properly, and over time their condition can worsens.

According to Jennifer Ashley, who has been suffering from this disease since 2009, the reason why it’s so hard for doctors to diagnose patients is mostly because of a lack of education.

“There’s not enough information out there because people are often ashamed to talk about it.” Ashley said, “Chronic pain is still one of those diseases that’s very hush-hush.”                                                                                                            

Ashley also said that it’s harder to diagnose chronic pain because it is different for every patient.

“The symptoms can vary from patient to patient.” Ashley said, “Not everyone is going to experience it the same way or in the same place.”

Depression is also a major problem for patients of CPS. According to Michael Clark, psychiatrist and director of the pain treatment program at Johns Hopkins Hospital, one-third to one-quarter of people who suffer from CPS also experience depression.

It is also common for people who suffer from this disease to experience suicidal thoughts. It’s believed that approximately 36,000 people who commit suicide every year suffer from chronic pain.

However, those aren’t the only problems that people who suffer from CPS are faced with. Another big problem that they face is the stigma that is attached to them.

Often, when people suffer from pain, their peers get frustrated by what they perceive as their inability to cope with pain, according to the Institute for Chronic Pain. Due to that frustration, patients feel as though they are weak because they are not dealing with their pain the way they’re supposed to be which leads to feelings of shame and anger.

It is also common for patients to cut themselves off from their loved ones due to this stigma. They fear how they will be perceived if their condition were to flare up while they were in public, causing them to withdraw from activities that they once enjoyed.

“I would have to constantly cancel plans with friends because my pain would flare up suddenly,” said Ashley.

Ashley also says that it can be really awkward for some people to be around a person in constant pain since they often don’t know what to say or how to act if they’re experiencing these symptoms.

However, Ashley said that she feels if there were more information about CPS, it wouldn’t be so difficult for people to deal with.

“If there was more information,” Ashley said, “Then the patients wouldn’t feel so isolated, and their loved ones wouldn’t feel so helpless while watching them suffer.”