When Pain Isn’t Just Physical

I have been away for a couple of days from world pulse due to various reasons. But admist of all, while I'm sitting at my less crowded opd now at night shift, I think about couple of recent news shaking our nation to the core.

Two young lives, full of dreams and courage, ended in silence. Their stories will now be reduced to brief headlines – “Two Indian women end their lives due to marital abuse while living abroad .” But behind this line are years of gaslighting, isolation, invisible bruises, and a society that teaches women endurance instead of freedom.

As a GP, I often meet women who come with headaches, stomach aches, palpitations, or unexplained fatigue. Some of us run tests, prescribe vitamins or medications, but sometimes I know that the real pain isn’t in the body – it’s in the home. It’s the quiet suffering of emotional, verbal, and physical abuse that has no lab test to confirm, but shows up in the eyes and trembling hands. They were women who may have sat across from a doctor/friend/family hoping someone would ask the right question: “Are you safe? Anything I can do to help you out?”

Abuse of any form is not normal. Emotional neglect is not love.

If your body is aching, if you feel constant anxiety or numbness – please don’t just pop a pill and move on. Come talk to your doctor, your friend, or any safe person. If you feel like no one helps you adequately , there are national/international hospital as well as women's helplines, counseling, and support groups ready to hold your hand.

Your life is too precious to be lived in fear. Your story deserves a voice, not silence.