I’m one of the 28m in Britain who live with chronic pain – where is the plan to help us? | Lucy Pasha-Robinson

We are now being told painkillers can do more harm than good, but the NHS alternatives need more research and funding

It's rush hour and I'm gripped by a searing hot pain in my pelvis as I take my seat on the bus. It's the kind of pain that takes my breath away, that leaves me pale and shaky. This is not the first time this has happened to me, so I know how to keep my expression neutral, but if any fellow commuter was being observant they may notice a bead of sweat running down my temple, or that my breathing is coming out in shaky staccato exhales. I had overslept that morning and my fatal error had been running to catch the bus. The 30-second sprint was enough to trigger my pain for two weeks.

Unless you've experienced chronic pain, it's difficult to grasp just how it casts a shadow across everyday life. I've struggled with pelvic pain since my teens, and to some extent have learned to live alongside it. The cause was found, in my mid-20s, to be endometriosis, and the path to wellness has been a faltering, gruelling one.

Lucy Pasha-Robinson is a writer and commissioning editor