Originally Posted by alycidon:
“People who describe intense pain as 'chronic'. It isn't, it's acute. A chronic condition is one that has lasted for a long time, from the Greek word 'chronos' - time. A chronic condition may or may not be extremely painful, but it will have lasted for a period of time.
So, if you are hit by sudden pain, and let's face it, we all are, it is 'acute' and not 'chronic'.”
People who remove nuance and dichotomise things into black and white. What if you have an acute exacerbation of a chronic condition? The pain can have a short lived, acute onset but be part of a chronic, on-going condition.
Facetiousness aside, the words acute or chronic do not describe, in any way, the intensity of the pain so you are also incorrect by stating "it isn't, it's acute". How do you know whether or not it is acute? You're simply making an assumption that most people don't know what chronic means. I've only ever heard people use chronic correctly when taking a history.