Chronic Pain

Hey there,
My names Amanda and I am 19. I recently started going through severe chronic pain. I have three herniated disks in my back that doctors believe may be early arthritis. I also have severe pain in my body that has never been given a diagnosis. Basically I am on here hoping to find someone just to talk to and relate to. If theres anyone out there that just wants to talk that would be great. I really have no one to talk to about this kind of thing and it gets very lonely and hard somtimes.

Anyways thanks for listening,
Amanda

hi there...my name is james and i know exactly how you feel literally! i also suffer from chronic pain which is a direct result of a failed attempt of fusion for L4/L5 & L5/S1. i understand when you say you have no one to discuss this with as it is difficult for anyone to completely understand just how much pain you feel if they have never had any back problems before. they just don't get it! i have been living with this pain now for about a year. unfortunately, since the spine is so delicate they cannot seem to master the surgery as of yet so there is always that possibilty that there could be multiple attempts for "fixing" it. i am scheduled to have my second operation mid July as i have to wait for the nicotine to exit my system. i don't know if you smoke, but doctors admit smoking causes chronic pain to be more severe. i have so much more to talk about, but i am at work (in pain) so i need to go for now....thanks for listenin'.....

Hey there James,
It does seem that you know a lot about what I am going through. In fact we have pretty much the same disks that are messed up. And your right, people are always sympathetic but sometimes thats not enough! And you were kinda dead on, I do smoke and have heard from multiple books, but never my doctors for some reason that it can make your pain much worse. I have thought about quitting many times of course, but obviously have not..... Well since you seem to have experience with this kind of thing, have you ever had cortizone shots? This is something my doctors have recommended but I am a little iffy on it. If you any further insights let me know, I enjoy talking with you. Anyways hope your doing good at work and hopefully I will hear from you soon!

Thanks,
Amanda

hi amanda...oh yeah, i know about the cortisone shots...been there, done that. nothing to fear about those. ay first experience with the shots proved to be wonderful relief for about 6 months. you'll be numb when they do it so you can't feel it...actually i tried to watch on the monitor as he was performing the procedure, but that's just me.

i hope you can quit smoking. i know how difficult it is since i have smoked for the past 28 years and just recently quit (2 weeks now). and i didn't even quit for medical reasons....i just couldn't afford it now that they raised $$ again...and if you're in CA, i can only imagine what 1 pack costs! i used to live in Long Beach, but only for a few months.

this past time that they tried the shots they failed to provide any relief whatsoever. after that they thought it was necessary implant a neurostimulator to help with the shooting pain goin' down my leg....it helped for a few days and then i was back to the usual excruciating (at times) pain. so, the doc will remove it when i have my next operation. i sure hope you're not one of the back pain victims at such an early age....but i know my problems started way back in '95 and i just shrugged it off thinkin' i was only hurtin' from the type of work i was doin' which was flooring....

did the doc say that the cort shots are a set of 3?.....lemme know....chat with ya soon....

Well the cortisone shots were recommended to me by the last physiatrist I saw (I have seen so many) and he said that he saw early stages of rheumatoid arthritis. He said the only thing he could recommend to me was the cortisone shots and physical therapy, I said no to physical therapy because I have tried it many times and it has only made me worse. I was weary of the shots not because of pain or neddles or anything like that, (I mean I figure I am in pain 24 hours a day anyways, whats a little more pain?) I was weary because I know so many people mostly in my family that have tried that before and had no results. Plus my insurance wont cover anything to do with my back pain because they are mother f*&^%$#. So now I am thinking maybe I should just do it because I am in so much pain that gets worse everday that I might be up for anything at this point. And yes he did say that they were a set of three, I think like a month apart each or something like that.... So maybe I should just do it. I dont know if I mentioined this to you before, but not only do I have three hernaited disks and early rheumatoid but I also have (maybe) fibromyalgia and or myofascial pain syndrome, or something of the sort. So haveing this back pain sends me into more pain in the rest of my body. It pretty much sucks, so like I said maybe cortisone shots are the right things to do..... Ims so sorry you have to get so many surgeries. I can only imagine, it sounds very scary.... you are very brave! By the way, what is exactly is your condition again?

And about the smoking, you are very right. I know I should quit, but like you know and I said before its really hard! And yes the tax is SO high right now. They are like 5.75 a pack or something outrageous...

Anyways I just typed a lot so I will stop!
Talk to you soon.

Amanda

my condition is:
they said i had bulging discs. i have researched bulging discs and only found that different docs use different terminology stating the same condition. so, your herniated discs may be the exact same condition i had which was the bulges.

so, while i was thinking that my surgeon was going to do a "simple" Laminectomy (shave the bulge off) he found that my vertabrae "wiggled" too much and the Laminectomy procedure wouldn't work and i would be back in for surgery later. welllllll, it turns out that i still hafta have more work done. i can only assume that since he was going to perform one type of surgery, he wasn't prepared enough to do a different type and therefore used low-quality (****) in me with an end result of bull(****) work!

just because your family members didn't achieve any pain-free results w/ cortisone doesn't mean you won't either. but that does **** that your insurance doesn't cover it. did you talk to the insurance (Jerks) to find this out? also, maybe you could apply for some sort of government assisstance (depending on your income of course) like medicaid or anything....do some research. google the words "california medicaid"....hasta be somethin out there for ya to get the much needed pain relief...

i know about the fibromyalgia feeling....my muscles hurt from simple touching, but thankfully, not all the time. as for your your other conditions i have not a clue. but, i believe arthritis just goes hand in hand with any type of bone troubles....

my next surgery will totally (stink) 'cuz they will now hafta go in from the front first and remove my previous cages and install larger ones. THEN, they'll flip me over and depending on what the doc sees will determine if he can simply install 6 screws w/o cuttin' me. but, if he deems it necessary to install screws w/ rods, then i hafta be opened at my previous cut...

welp, enough for now....i know the pain (stinks), but we'll get through it okay? maybe just email me directly (please send email addresses through the private messaging service here) if ya want....later

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Karen Lee Richards,