Weird question

My husband has brought up an issue to me, that I sort of want opinions on, because our point of view on it vary quite a bit.

I use an epilator for removing hair on my legs and underarms and such. It's sort of like an electric razor - except it has a whole bunch of mini-tweezers on it that pretty much yank the hair out rather than just cutting off the top. The epilator has made keeping my legs smooth soooo much easier. I can spend 3-4 days using it in a row to get all the hair gone so my back doesn't suffer all at once. I can use it sitting down - in any room of the house as well. With the epilator I don't have to worry about trying to get one leg up to shave it and having the other leg give out, and the whole other mess of things that have and will happen again if I choose to shave and not epilate. My legs also stay smoother longer - meaning less time killing my back shaving.

So using the epilator isn't the problem. That was just a "this is what an epilator is".

The problem is that if the hair is long enough to use the epilator - and I'm having a really bad day pain wise, I will actually grab the epilator to use because it's so painful. It's painful enough that while I'm using it the pain distracts me from my back pain enough to actually almost be relieving. When your having hairs pulled out strand by strand it's not exactly a massage - and my mind tends to focus towards that pain rather than the back pain.

My husband thinks that this is a dangerous behavior. He says it reminds him of kids "cutting" themselves. I don't see it as anything dangerous - but he's worried it might lead me to more dangerous behaviors.

What do you guys think? Does anyone else do anything even remotely close?

Thanks,
Tammy

I agree completely with PAlady.
Sj

I think that it's also similiar to the action of a TENS unit, it's sends your body the message to go hurt somewhere else for awhile.

   Hi Tammy,

  My first thought when I read your letter was OMG they still make those things! I got one has a gift that I asked for years ago and I tried it and lasted about 10 minutes. It was obviously a torture devise~right? I understand your need to escape the pain, I have felt that pain  everyday for the last 13 years and I would do almost anything to not feel this way for one day one minute even but not by having another pain replace it. Right now I am having wicked bad belly issues and it has caused my back pain to diminish into the grey areas of day to day life yet my quality of life has not changed. Pain is pain.

I guess I am kinda taking your husbands side in a small way. If you were my wife I'd be worried and that is alright, normal. While in childbirth we don't escape the pain of giving birth by hurting our selves but quite the opposite by thinking of things that are peaceful, calm, serene. So while I don't understand your super human pain control over the Epilator I wish you could find a better way to acheive the same results.

Just to be clear I agree that your husband has reason to worry. I agree that you must do what you must do and as long as it does't get worse your husband should respect your feelings and be supportive. Phew....

Good luck Tammy                              Toritoo 

Tammy,

You are not in any danger of using to epilator in a destructive or addictive way. I agree that it is like using a TENS or childbirth techniques to distract from the pain. It is certainly not like cutting. That is psychological and your back pain is physical. If is gives you pain free moments in your back, so be it. You just got lucky that's all. If I could find relief from my chronic pain, I would too.

Love,

Lindaloo

Toritoo, during childbirth, I sure didn't think  about anything calm and serene, I gripped the siderail for all it was worth! LOL

I used an epilator for yrs and loved it, used it til nature took over and post-menopausal took over and left me w/very little leg hair to worry about. Bet the men in this thread love hearing about that kind of lady stuff! LOLOLOL

Thanks everyone for the reply's.

I do understand it can be a bad behavior if it escalates, I just wanted to see if anyone thought as it is if it's a bad thing. It's good to know I'm not the only one who hopes to escape the bad pain. One of the things I'm going to be talking to my doctor about on Friday is the fact that since starting this new long acting pain medication my pain levels in general have gone down - but when the pain gets really bad the percocet isn't touching it anymore.

anyways - thanks again everyone!