l'aide blesse || help hurts

They say that helping people makes you feel good. Well, what about those times when helping people actually hurts more than anything? I mean, to say that help always comes easy would be lying. It takes a lot out of a person to extend themselves into someone else's hostile environment... it involves making themself surprisingly vulnerable, sometimes just as much as so as the person seeking help might be.
I assume most of the pain comes from not being able to help at all. Being helpless, watching those you care for suffer and there is not a thing you can do about it. I suppose that makes sense though when one thinks on it. Anything wound that hurts that bad probably can't be solved with a band-aid solution. Why is this any different?
Kinda makes one wish they had gone to med school... metaphorically of course. I'd consider trading a journalism degree and political science degree for a degree in helping people.