chronic pain - are you in hell yet?

[Ulia]

This is my first post, i reallly wanted to see at least one post of someone who is not elderly, still in 20s or 30s or younger who has and will have chronic pain. This is my story:
I don't know if this was a final punishment for thinking I can do anything and nothing can kill me but it sure feels like it. Two years ago I started having back pain to the point I could not think talk walk every tiny movement was constant horror. It took doctors a year to give me a diagnosis, 7 surgeons to tell me that there is nothing they can do and that they don't prescribe meds either, pain clinic still deciding to do a surgical procedure, which set my progress 90 days back. They gave me an ultimatum- accept all treatment or none, which meant no meds, and no meds equaled I would rather be dead because pain never stops. Anyway I'm blaberring. I have met people with chronic pain, I actually treated them, almost done with my PHD in Clinical Psych but they were elderly and my clients. I want to find at least one person, just one, who knows how this is. I have hella responsibilities: besides finishing my degree, im getting married, I teach and tutor, and I don't really have friends anymore. Rebellious years of drug abuse and risky behavior are showing up now with my health being half-gone and no money to buy this one thing! Nobody can understand this if they are not a part of it, do you know that chronic pain is misunderstood more than drug addiction and mental illness? Seems not fair. Though as a clinician I understand but I just want at least one person to finish my sentence. If you are that person, and you actually read this, please reply.

[Eleanor Rigby]

I spent 3 years with an undiagnosed fibromyalgia between 15 and 18, I recall the feeling very well. hold on !
If you feel the need to talk about it or anything else, I'm always available.
Cécile

[Andrew1403]

That's what i was going to mention, sounds like bad fibromyalgia... mention that to the doctors. see what they say then..

Also pain is whatever the patient says it is, existing where ever the patient says it does. Everyone experiences pain differently.

Hope they decide to listen to you and keep us posted..

[BenIsScared]

Hey! I'm 18 and chronically ill. Everyone's situation is a little bit different. But I know a lot about what you're talking about! I'm sorry it's so tough! I hate that it seems to take me away from so much of 'normal life'. I'm here if you need to talk!!

[starfish]

I can empathize. I have an herniated L4/L5 disk. I haven't had an MRI, so I don't think it is ruptured, thankfully. I've been going to physical therapy and doing lordex lumbar decompression therapy for the past 7 weeks.

Thankfully I am getting better, but there was a time where it was just miserable. My back would, it hurt to move and my leg felt like it was on fire. There were days that I just wanted to die. I think the worst part of the depression. This since of dispare that I would never be able to go anywhere and that it might eventually get so bad that would not be able to keep working. Then some friends did not understand what I was going through. They got upset that I was not going out anymore, or did not have the energy to even talk on the phone.

[seeksanctuary]

I have Fibromyalgia.

I went from being able to walk two miles a day to walking a block or two if I'm lucky. My life utterly flipped over within a few years. I was... let's see, maybe 15 or 16 at the time it started in full. I'd been sick since I was 10, though. It sucks, and still sucks, because so many people just don't get it or think it's made-up. And the sad thing is, that's not the only health issue I have; I also have PTSD, asthma, Celiac Disease and a couple other issues. People think I'm making it all up just because I'm SICK and they're not, but fuck 'em.

Sorry to hear you're going through this. Surgery won't help, pain meds are crap... my only hope at this point is medical marijuana, but I don't have an open-minded doctor to go to. I heard it can really help.

Hang in there. I'm always here to talk, if other people need support in dealing with sickness. I know how it feels, especially when people don't believe it or are unwilling to work with it (as with many doctors).

[NoPlanB]

I'm 19 and about a month ago I started having some chronic back pain. It was so bad I couldn't move, walk, think, or talk. I did end up visiting the doctor and he gave me some pain medication which worked but ended up giving me crazy mood swings.

I had to choose the lesser of two evils, but I don't know how I would have been able to handle it if the pain meds didn't work.