Saw new pain management doc today very scary

[dragonfairy]

Went in to see new pain management doctor today for the first time today and have to say it was the scariest thing in the world for all of us! Not only emotionally but physically as we are in constant pain. We deal with chronic pain each and every day and all we have ever begged for was for a doctor to listen to us and help fix the problem. We do not like medications and in the past that is all they have wanted to do in order to help other than these darn injection. Well today not only did this new doctor decide to up and change all our medications cold turkey which scares the hell out of us he decided to do spinal injection out of the blue without giving us any notice. Now we have had them in the past but at least we had time to get ourselves worked up for them ahead of time. So panic set in in a matter of moment and we thought we were gonna just jump out of our skin. We had the hosts son with us as we were told ahead of time that we were not allowed to go alone but even with that it was not a good visit. These injections are just the beginning to test to see if they are hitting the right nerves still in order to go in again in two weeks to burn out the nerves to stop the chronic nerve damage that we have due to degenerative disk disease in our upper and lower back. Today they just dealt with the upper back as it is the worst. After that is complete and dealt with in the next few months we will have to also have the lower back done. The whole procedures as are extremely terrifying and upsetting to everyone inside and out. The pain after lasts anywhere from a week to upwards of a month depending on which disk level they are working on which just adds to our level of stress. Switching today has been nuts as no one can seem to stay grounded long term so please no one take it personal if your posts do not get answer right away as we are not allowed to be up and out of bed even for the next 24 hrs. Add on top of all this stress in our life has been so great the last few months we were also diagnosed with shingles again just yesterday for the second time in just 4 months which in itself is painful as can be. Sometimes we wonder will life ever stop trying to kick us in the face. Some of us can deal with this better than other. Katie seems to come out with her kick *ss and take names later attitude much better. But she can only do so much and honestly doctors are something she is good or pain so for now she is inside till the pain dies down. So for Sarah and the other teens she will be back around soon but can't tell you exactly when. Anyone else around here have to deal with anything like this on a daily basis? This is just a small amount of physical pain and problems that we deal with on a daily basis and are looking to find someone we can relate to and talk to about it. Thanks for letting me rant.

Yet another one of us,
Andi (Short for Andrea 13 female)

[Reilly]

Sorry you are feeling poorly Andi. It stinks to live with chronic pain. Hope the injections provide some relief. Take good care of yourselves.

[Blue]

Yo Andi.
Sorry to hear yous are goin through this. We too have had back problems in the past, but it seems nothing compared to what yous are experiencing. Our back problems had us in and out of a wheelchair and on crutches for 3 years as problems with our back caused temporary paralysis in our legs. We've been told it could return at any point so we're tryin to make the most of bein able to walk again at present. We also have experienced severe back pain, but again, I can't imagine how awful yours must be. I think back pain is one of the worst pains you can have as you just can't get comfortable for even a second. The only thing we found that helped (a bit) was lying on the hard floor. Even Diclofenac tablets didn't seem to help us.
I hope your pain eases off a bit soon. Take care. Thinkin of yous.
Blue.

[The People]

Sorry folks. We lived with lower back pain for a long time but get relief from yoga. Do know that is not for everyone. Have a friend that only gets relief from swimming. Even if she just floats on bad days.

Something interesting however, with Celiac disease exploding onto the scene over the past few years people are popping up with symptoms that clear up when they go gluten free. One of the things a woman mentioned was the fact that she has fibro and when she went gluten free the pain went away. She tried going off the diet 9maybe to check her findings) and the pain came back. Gluten free does not have to be a solution for everything but based on the pain I have had I would try it if it was recommended.

As well, I was on cipralex for a few years. I was OK for a while but in December I started getting weird pains. As in bad weird. I assumed that it was the result of going into my winter retreat. So I tried some yoga stretches and would end up doubled over on the bed. Yet another drug chucked.

I don't know if anyone else had these experiences or if this information will help you. I hope it does or something else does.

[dragonfairy]

Thanks for all the positive feedback. This host body has degenerative disk disease, nerve damage, and mild lordosis. So with that it is just a matter of time before major surgery will be a needed measure. We live in a constant state of chronic pain and it scares a lot of the younger ones inside. Us older ones have learned to deal with the pain a bit more as well has our host but it is still overwhelming from time to time to deal with. We see all these different doctors who all have different ideas on how to deal with the pain but nothing ever seems to get accomplished and the pain is still always there. We have a major fear of doctors to begin with so that in of itself doesn't help when we try to seek out help from professionals for these issues. And these are all just the back issues we suffer.

The host body also has other serious medical conditions and we deal with them as well on a daily basis. As for yoga or any other form of trying to manipulate our spine it is not possible without causing more pain although we wish it were possible even though it might be a scary thought. We however are on a healthy diet as we are vegetarian and really watch what we take into our bodies on a daily basis. Although no completely glueton free we are free from many of the other harsh chemicals and hormones that are in many foods today on the market. And since we became vegetarian we have felt much healthier in that part of our lives.

Once again thanks for listening to all of us. We just try to take each day one moment at a time and hope to make it on to the next moment as pain free as possible. We hope one day they will figure out a way to make all this stop or at least bring it to a bearable state for us daily.

Joseph and the crew

[Cammy]

I too live in chronic pain and live on a daily supply of morphine. Had surgery on the back years ago and they did as much as they could. I don't have much to offer in terms of advice, but I DO empathize. Sometimes I feel like more could be done for me in terms of special physio and I have found that certain stretching exercises as well as tolerated exercise does help a great deal for me. Sometimes, however, I feel like it is more convenient for them to just toss a bunch of pain prescriptions at me rather than help me find better alternatives. It is indeed SO VERY frustrating.

[The People]

As we get older this body is giving in as well. We now have to wear pressure socks. If we try to go without them, especially if we are walking a lot, we end up walking out cramps half the night. There is other stuff going on too. But I think I am lucky after reading this. I used to have back issues but mine was emotionally related in a lot of ways and we can control it without meds. If we do what we are supposed to do.

I think the emotional scarring plays a role for people who have lived our lives. We couldn't let it out anywhere so the muscles tightened as we kept it in. That's my opinion re why so many of us have physical issues.

[Cammy]

An old country doctor's cure for cramps: Believe it or not this works almost instantly and like a charm. It is Tonic Water with quinine. Yep, drink it, just a half, and gone are those nasty night cramps when they hit. Make sure that you get Canada Dry or Schweppes or read the label to see that there is quinine in it. Warning: keep it cold in the fridge because it tastes terrible, very bitter like the dredges of grapefruit juice, but darn it if it doesn't work like a charm. As soon as the cramps strike I get some from the fridge, drink what I can (yuck), and I am cured!

[The People]

The Canada Dry with Lemon Lime in it isn't so bad. I drink a can every day. One could try adding a bit of that with the Tonic.

[Cammy]

Unfortunately People you'll have to drink more than just a bit of the Tonic Water to get it to work. It is truly yucky to swallow, but SO effective. I've had several others try it and they all have reported back to me in amazement at how well it works. Everyone, however, complains bitterly about the bitter taste. I just pretend it is grapefruit juice and just down it as fast and cold as possible. At about 1/2 a can down, the cramps are gone. Some require more, others less. I'm just glad that it really works.

[dreamers]

If you are worried about withdraw from the swithing meds look up loperamide for withdrawl. off of high dose percoset 20mg to 30mg max a day helped us big time. especially if we took normal on the bottle dxm with it. we had to tapper off but it was a lot easier then cold turkey. If you are going to try this i would and did try the bottle dose first then wait as long as you can the add one pill and then repeate until w/d is gone.once we found the dose that worked we took that dose once a day for 5 days then tapered one pill down each day.