‘Beyond the Surface’: Mayo’s Chloe Grier speaks out on chronic pain

Chronic Pain Ireland launched its 2025 Pain Awareness Month campaign themed ‘Beyond the Surface’, focusing on the hidden struggles of chronic pain and the stigma that surrounds it.

Chronic pain — defined as pain lasting longer than three months — often arises from injury, illness, or unknown causes. It can affect anyone, at any age, and has wide-reaching impacts on mental health, mobility, work, relationships, and quality of life. Up to 1 in 3 people in Ireland live with chronic pain - an often invisible and misunderstood condition. 

Twenty-five-year-old Chloe Grier from Claremorris says that her Chronic Illness diagnosis has caused her to suffer with a huge amount of pain.

“ I was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia. This is a nerve condition that affects my face, causing quite severe shooting pain throughout my face and down the back of my neck. It’s very random and uncontrolled. It’s a really extreme amount of pain.”

The pain is triggered by several different factors, which Chloe outlined: "One of the biggest triggers is stress. I notice that if I am stressed at work, it flares up quite badly. It can also be triggered strongly by even a breeze. It essentially feels like someone is pressing a hot iron on the side of my face."

While the pain Chloe suffered was taking a toll on her life, it took what she described as ‘a lot of persistence with doctors to get diagnosed when I was about 23, eventually.’ 

Chloe is now twenty-five years old and says the last two years have helped her finally put a label to what she has suffered with.

“When I was first going to the GP reporting these symptoms, it was actually suspected relatively early on. However, I had to consistently keep going back into A&E with the same symptoms and the same attacks.”

Chloe says the symptoms began affecting her everyday life.

“I was taking a lot of time out of work and school. I couldn’t meet up with my friends. I just could not do a lot with my life. I shut down for a while.”

After a hard period, Chloe finally found some light at the end of the tunnel. 

“I am now under the care of a neurology team, who I meet with and regularly review my medication. Neurologists look at the root cause of the issue, and they know how to treat the issue and not the symptoms.”

The twenty-five-year-old says working with a specialist helped her manage symptoms to get back to her everyday life.

“Most GPs or A&E doctors treat the immediate issue. However, with a neurologist, they find the root cause and help you manage symptoms to get back to a much more normal life.  

“Thankfully, with things like Chronic Pain Ireland, there is much more of a push to further research. Looking into further treatment and further services for people with chronic pain. In general, there’s a stigma around it.”

“Just because I am not walking around with a sign on my head that says I have chronic pain, it doesn’t mean I am not suffering from it.”

Throughout September, Chronic Pain Ireland will host free workshops and events to mark Pain Awareness Month. The public is invited to join the global campaign using the hashtag #PainAwarenessMonth and to learn how small acts of empathy can make a big difference.

Christina Donnelly, Executive Director of Chronic Pain Ireland, says that chronic pain bears a heavy load both physically and mentally to those diagnosed. 

“Chronic pain is a heavy burden, as often, pain is invisible. Stigma adds more weight to that burden, wearing you down, impacting your mental health and wellbeing. This campaign aims to bring that pain to the surface — to challenge and end pain stigma, to help promote understanding, and to call for a system that believes and supports people from the start.”

To find out how you can support the campaign or to learn more about chronic pain, visit www.chronicpain.ie.

READ NEXT:Mayo arts festival returns for another year of events