Paralympian Monique Murphy believes she's endured more pain in her 30 years than most endure in a lifetime.
The cause stems from one mysterious night in 2014, just before her 20th birthday, when she recalls going downstairs at her university accommodation in Melbourne and then — nothing.
Hours later — unbeknown to her — she fell from a fifth-floor balcony, was rushed to hospital and had her right leg amputated below the knee.
Murphy suspects her drink was spiked, but the hospital didn't conduct blood or alcohol tests.
"A week later I woke up in a very, very different body," she told SBS News.
Paralympian Monique Murphy woke up in hospital to discover she had lost part of her right leg. Source: Supplied
She has had numerous surgeries since the accident, and wears a prosthetic leg.
While she recognises she's turned her tragedy into something positive, she still suffers debilitating pain where her lower leg once was.
Phantom pain relates to a limb or organ that's no longer part of the body and is possibly due to nerve damage, central sensitisation or brain remapping.
Paralympian Monique Murphy says her lower right leg gives her ghostly sensations, even though it's not there. Source: Supplied
"If you think about how much pain one body can endure in a lifetime, mine was already pretty full," she said.
The difference between physical and mental pain
While nearly everyone experiences pain, for nearly 3.6 million Australians, or one in seven people, chronic pain is an ever-present and debilitating condition, and an issue that costs our country up to $139 billion annually.
TV presenter Osher Günsberg says most days he's "a two or three out of 10" on the pain scale.
He finds this manageable, but in the past, he says pain has almost consumed him.
In 2021, complications from hip replacement surgery to treat osteoarthritis left him with a "terrible pain that left me unable to draw breath, unable to finish a sentence", Günsberg told SBS News.
Seeking help, he discovered pain hypersensitivity or sensitisation amplification, the idea that some pain is created in our heads.
"Some of my pain was from a physical thing happening inside my body, but some of it wasn't — instead just benign sensations amplified into catastrophic pain signals."
The 50-year-old, who presents new , started working with a pain psychologist who taught him to discern between actual physical pain and amplified sensations. He discovered that for the latter, while medication offered limited relief, harnessing his mind's power really helped.
Osher Günsberg says working with a psychologist transformed the way he saw pain. Source: SBS
Alongside his physical rehab, Günsberg has learned how to notice, analyse and accept his pain while "sitting slightly separate from it".
Maintaining this distance enables him to diminish its importance.
"It's hard work, but now I understand my ability to manage some of this pain, and I think we all have far more ability to manage these sensations than we think."
New ways to treat pain
In recent decades, synthetic opioids like oxycodone, morphine, codeine and methadone have become our go-to for treating physical pain.
"Fifty years ago, we thought these drugs were amazing," Dr Sam Robinson, a research scientist at the University of Queensland, told SBS News.
"We've since learned that they can destroy individuals, families and whole societies through addiction. We desperately need other ways to take away pain."
Scientists, doctors and psychologists around the world are researching new methods, medications and innovations to help people who are hurting.
Robinson is one of them. He believes venom could hold the key to pain relief for millions of people worldwide.
"Understanding the chemistry behind stinging plants and animals and what that does to our bodies is useful for understanding how pain works at a molecular level. Patient A might be experiencing pain through one pathway and patient B through a completely different pathway."
Robinson says pain research is moving into selective therapeutics, the idea that one drug may work really well for one person or one type of pain but not for others. Being more selective with pain management also reduces the risk of side effects.
"I think the current treatments for pain represent just the tip of the iceberg of what we might discover in the future," he said.
Social psychologist professor Brock Bastian says changing our narrative around pain can be helpful.
"We shouldn't see pain as a problem that needs to be medicated, eradicated and solved. Instead we should see it as a part of a healthy life. Pain provides the baseline for a lot of our happy and enjoyable experiences."
Think about runners who experience euphoria after pushing their bodies, the joy of a mother after childbirth, the elation of walking out of an exam, he says.
"Pain provides that contrast biologically, cognitively and psychologically to the experience of pleasure."
Exposure therapy can help us reframe pain as "not solely bad", Bastian says.
"When you can't avoid pain, it's better to step towards it than trying to escape from it constantly. The more we struggle with something, the more it affects us.
"Experiencing and understanding pain in a more specific way can shift this sense that it's taking over our lives and can help us manage it better."
Pain provides that contrast biologically, cognitively and psychologically to the experience of pleasure.Professor Brock Bastian, social psychologist
Listening without judgement
Alana Crofts says she thinks it's impossible to understand what it feels like to live with chronic pain unless you're someone who does.
"Before I had experienced pain like this, I had no concept of how it impacted everything from being able to do housework, go shopping, study, have a job, keep friendships, have intimate relationships and participate in community," she told SBS News.
"And one of the most grating things I hear, while I think it comes from a good place, is 'but you look so well'.
"It diminishes someone's experience."
Alana Crofts (left) and Osher Günsberg have both had to deal with debilitating pain. Source: SBS
The 28-year-old had various procedures to remove the tissue and Botox injected into her pelvic floor muscles to help them relax, but the daily pain persisted.
"It was all-consuming and took over my life for a few years. It got to the point where I didn't want to continue living."
A spinal cord stimulator (an implanted device that sends low-level electrical impulses that block pain signals from going to the brain) has now enabled her to come off medication and "get her life back".
Along her journey, Crofts found relief in mindfulness, accepting her feelings through journaling, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, a treatment approach that aims to help people identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts and learn practical self-help strategies.
The support of her parents has also been invaluable. Crofts says it's important to be curious, ask others how they're feeling and listen with empathy.
"You don't have to pretend to know what it's like, but just be a safe place for someone to open up and talk about it."
For Murphy, her endometriosis led to a hysterectomy, and her phantom pain, retirement from swimming.
She has learned that pain is very individual, and each person's way of coping will be different, whether it be medication, hypnotherapy, psychology, physiotherapy or massage.
Like Crofts, she also advocates for listening without judgement.
"Pain doesn't exist in a hierarchy; it's all valid."
Monique Murphy accepts that managing her own pain will be a lifelong journey. Source: Supplied
"When I have physical pain, it's knowing that I don't have to push through it. With mental pain around what I have to manage, it's knowing that living in frustration isn't going to help, that I need to allow myself to be sad and have time out to process those feelings.
"These days my pain may run in the background constantly, but it doesn't always get the spotlight."
premieres at 8.30pm on Thursday 21 November on SBS and SBS On Demand.
