There is a horrible genetic disease which is uniformly fatal, leaving people horribly deformed and crippled. In this disease, people are born without any pain system, and therefore without any ability to feel pain.

You may think this would be wonderful. It is not. As children, if such people fall off a roof and break a leg, they have no pain and still try to walk — causing further damage. If their hand is on a hot stove or in a fire, they don't know it until they smell something burning.

The message: Although chronic pain can be devastating, it serves a critical function. Pain is a critical warning system for your body. It tells you when you need to avoid something, or some activity, or to pay attention to something so that you don't cause damage to yourself.

In addition, it tells you when your body is not getting something that it needs, such as sleep, nutrients or oxygen. To simply mask the pain with medication would be like covering up the "low oil" warning light on your dashboard because it was annoying you.

Chronic pain is the exception, as it causes more harm than good. So when the underlying problems that need attention have been addressed, it is very important to turn off, or mask, any pain that still persists.