A built-in 'off switch' to stop persistent pain

Burden of Chronic Pain & Limits of Current Care

• Multiple commenters describe chronic pain as life-eroding and invisible, with people forced to choose between “mind-altering drugs” and “mind-altering pain.”
• Current options are seen as crude: escalating NSAIDs/acetaminophen with systemic risks, long‑term opioids with stigma and dependency concerns, or invasive procedures (nerve ablations, surgery, injections) that are risky, expensive, and often temporary.
• Some rely on gabapentin/pregabalin or cannabis, valuing the relief but disliking cognitive and other side effects.

Debate Over an “Off Switch” for Pain

• Many would welcome a reliable switch for chronic or neuropathic pain, headaches, endometriosis, etc.
• Others are wary: pain can signal serious structural problems (e.g., tumors, degenerative discs). Turning it off might encourage overuse or delay lifesaving treatment.
• A middle ground suggestion is replacing pain with intense tedium or discomfort that still discourages overexertion.

Lifestyle, Exercise, and Physical Therapy

• Large subthread on back and neck pain: weight loss, walking, swimming, lifting (especially deadlifts/squats at moderate weight), glute/core strengthening, posture work, and PT are repeatedly cited as transformative.
• Some warn that “just walk” can be harmful when pain is so severe that movement worsens it; graded PT was necessary before walking was feasible.
• Specific tips: dead hangs for shoulders, “McGill Big Three” and similar protocols, rear delt/trap work, sleep positioning aids.

Neuroplastic / Psychosomatic Dimensions

• Several discuss chronic pain as sometimes a misfiring messenger: neural circuits keep generating pain after tissue damage has resolved.
• References to pain reprocessing therapy, books and documentaries on “neuroplastic pain,” and reports of decades-long back/neck pain resolving through mental/behavioral techniques.
• Others push back, noting clearly structural causes that eventually required surgery.

Hunger, Fasting, and Competing Survival Drives

• The article’s point that hunger can override chronic pain resonates with experiences: some find fasting temporarily dampens immune‑related pain or anxiety.
• Commenters link this to evolutionary prioritization of survival needs and note that behavioral states (fear, exercise, meditation) may modulate the same circuits.

Condition-Specific Experiences & System Issues

• Stories span endometriosis, trigeminal neuralgia, cluster headaches, herniated discs, joint damage, and post‑surgical pain.
• There is broad frustration with “symptom masking” in medicine, opioid‑phobia, difficulty accessing surgery at younger ages, and a call for more empathy, research, and non‑opioid interventions (including spinal cord stimulators and intrathecal pumps).