i am 45 female have had chronic groin pain for 10 or more years along with bladder prob called intercystal cystitis and the pain is crazy sleep deprived tried many jobs did not work out now on total dissability hoping to get title 19 but only way is to work part time and i am trying i feel like my pain doc and shrink are not doing me justice on vicodin the strongist one and i feel so depressed the shrinks meds making me ill and trying to work part time is killing me but i have too
[QUOTE=elvsh4;304113]i am 45 female have had chronic groin pain for 10 or more years along with bladder prob called intercystal cystitis and the pain is crazy sleep deprived tried many jobs did not work out now on total dissability hoping to get title 19 but only way is to work part time and i am trying i feel like my pain doc and shrink are not doing me justice on vicodin the strongist one and i feel so depressed the shrinks meds making me ill and trying to work part time is killing me but i have too
I have no insurance HELP[/QUOTE] Omgosh,
I feel sooooooooooooooooo bad for you. I can relate to your situation totally gf. I have chronic pain myself and it sure aint easy. I'm on disability and you dont make nearly what I made when I was working. Its horible when something like this happens to ya and I fel like people around me think I'm "faking" it or something.
Do you ever feel like that? you've probably gotten somewhat immune to the vicodone. Although doctors dont really wanna hear that or deal with it. I have been on morphine sulphate now for about 2 years and it's been the one and only thing that takes the edge off. I take hydrocodne in between for break through pain. It doesnt upset my stomach either which I found alot of the meds I tried previously did.
maybe that could be an option for you to try. Oh, what is a title 19 if you dont mind my asking? Somehow we need to convince the government that people with serious illnesses simply cannot make ends meet with the finantial help they are willing to give. I mean I worked my whole life until I got sick and like you say....I need to get a job and I can hardly imagine it, I'm so busy being home with the kids and all..I never hardly can stop to rest as it is.
please take care and I'll keep you in my prayers.
Eileen
[QUOTE=elvsh4;304113]i am 45 female have had chronic groin pain for 10 or more years along with bladder prob called intercystal cystitis and the pain is crazy sleep deprived tried many jobs did not work out now on total dissability hoping to get title 19 but only way is to work part time and i am trying i feel like my pain doc and shrink are not doing me justice on vicodin the strongist one and i feel so depressed the shrinks meds making me ill and trying to work part time is killing me but i have too
I have no insurance HELP[/QUOTE] Omgosh,
I feel sooooooooooooooooo bad for you. I can relate to your situation totally gf. I have chronic pain myself and it sure aint easy. I'm on disability and you dont make nearly what I made when I was working. Its horible when something like this happens to ya and I fel like people around me think I'm "faking" it or something.
Do you ever feel like that? you've probably gotten somewhat immune to the vicodone. Although doctors dont really wanna hear that or deal with it. I have been on morphine sulphate now for about 2 years and it's been the one and only thing that takes the edge off. I take hydrocodne in between for break through pain. It doesnt upset my stomach either which I found alot of the meds I tried previously did.
maybe that could be an option for you to try. Oh, what is a title 19 if you dont mind my asking? Somehow we need to convince the government that people with serious illnesses simply cannot make ends meet with the finantial help they are willing to give. I mean I worked my whole life until I got sick and like you say....I need to get a job and I can hardly imagine it, I'm so busy being home with the kids and all..I never hardly can stop to rest as it is.
please take care and I'll keep you in my prayers.
Eileen
Hi Just this min. joined this site. As interested in seeing and hearing some idea TX just maybe I have not found or tried, but doubt, as I have been now 4 yrs and gone from PT- accupuncture which did work, but insurance does not cover enough appt's. Anyway wonder if you have been diagnoised with Fibromyalgia?, or the other less common Poly=can't now remeber how to spell, my mom has it, came on suddenly, with groin pain, it was so bad ambulance called and she doesn't do that, hospitalized, and all kinds of tests. Rhuemo found the disease your symptoms sound like one of these
Hello Everyone,
I am a 34yr old female, who had emergency back surgery after suffering a herniated disc in my sleep. I woke up one morning 2 yrs ago with severe low-back muscle spasms. After two trips to the emergency room, where the doctors did nothing but give me pain meds, muscle relaxers & told me I'd be fine, I finally had an MRI. It showed a bulging disc. I had a series of painful epidural injections & nerve blocks in a month & 1/2 period. Just after the 3rd epidural, I was walking through the parking lot at work & fell to the ground. When I realized my leg was completely numb from the knee to my toes, I called my doctor while sitting in the middle of the parking lot. I was told to get to the emergency room ASAP. When I arrived I had a 5 hr wait & finally another MRI. It turned out that 3 disc fragments had broken off from my L5/S1 disc & they were compressing the nerve root to my right leg, which is why it was numb & I couldn't walk. The doctor in the ER called the Neurosurgeon on duty & I was in admitted & then had emergency surgery before I even knew what was happenening (so to speak). After an expected two month recovery that in the end lasted 12 months in the care of my parents, I returned to work part-time & remained on a portion of disabilty - thank god I had disability for the 12 months I was recovering. At any rate, I am back to working 32 hrs a week at a new job & am no longer on disability, however I am in constant pain, 24/7 & walk with a cane. My right foot is still numb in parts as well as the outer part of my calf muscle. I can no longer do the activities that I once did - taking dance lessons (ballet, jazz, swing & salsa) nor can I do the social things that I used to love. My entire life has been tunred upside down & the depression is getting the better of me. I am back in PT (physical therapy) and have been for 9 months or so. I had been in PT and acupunture my entire first year after surgery & when I began working again, etc., I took a break. I found that I did worse on a day to day basis without both than with so I started up PT again. I am looking for a new acupunture practitioner in the area as well.
My "recovery" was a difficult one and it is definitely incomplete. I will spare you all the sorted details. I will say that I currently sleep in a chair (not even an overstuffed or heavily cushioned chair). I have tried many things and sadly still walk with a cane because of this mess. I currently take copius amounts of pain medication, just started therapy, am back in PT, and have been through acupuncture for 9 months. I have had a nerve stimulator implant put in but it made matters worse so I had it removed two weeks after it was implanted. I also did a second series of nerve block injections, epidurals and the like post surgery hoping it would help but none of it did. I am at a loss for what to do. The doctors have stated another surgery - fusion surgery is on the horizon. The risks are too great and the pain could be worse after this second surgery so I am not yet ready to take that risk. I could not live with more pain than I am experiencing now. Certain days I feel as though I cannot deal with the current situation but I press on as I must. IF ANYONE KNOWS ANYTHING I CAN TRY -- Please let me know. I will try just about anything to get some relief from this pain. I want my life back.
While it's good you've all found this site--I'm so sorry you needed to be on it. My worst pain was when I got my spinal cord brushed by a needle--I had a spasm so severe it literally made the needle fly out of my back. It was horrible--everything was in spasm. You could see the spasms on my arms from across the room. I was having the 3rd and final epidurals on my neck because my right hand basically turned to wood after driving 5 miles. That's when they put me on Neurotin; I was at 8 pills a day. I've been off it a few months now and am on Lyrica.
The upper discs weren't there; all I had was debris and a bone spur pressing on my spinal cord. the neurosurgeon wanted to operate in 2 weeks; It was 3 weeks because I had to make arrangements for after surgery. I have a bone/titanium implant. It was freaky because they go in from the front. I know I've lost at least a few more since then because I've just gotten shorter again. I'm down to 5'1" from 5'3 1/2" now. Just to make it interesting, I broke my tailbone about 4 days before the neck surgery. I was allowed a pain shot every hour, but since the night nurse left my call button on my roommate's blood pressure monitor...then on the floor behind my bed, and finally tangled through my I.V. tubes. She wasn't wearing a name tag, either. I got 3 shots during the night by taking off my blood oxygen sensor so the alarm would go off. I went home the morning after surgery because I'd managed to get through the night with so few pain shots.
My main pain control is generic fentyl patches. I started at 25; my current amount is 175. This keeps a constant level in my bloodstream. I have vicodin for break-through pain that I can take every 4 hours; when it was every 6 it just didn't last long enough. I've switched off to other pain-killers, but the only one that really works for me is vicodin. I have found that vicodin works better if you take it with food, and kicks up a notch more if you take it with protein. It acts like a booster--my mother didn't believe me until she tried it, but she as certainly glad I was right!
I had a friend call us to tell us that he'd found pain relief and more mobility from drinking cherry juice. I figured it was worth a try--I love cherries anyway! I went from needing to use my cane in the house to get around to having my mobility improve enough I could do stairs without it. I prefer eating cherries, but dried cherries, canned cherries--either pie or sweet--all of these work. It turns out that the Native Americans used cherries to treat arthritis. Cranberries and blueberries are also good; anything high in anti-oxidents will help. Years ago a friend got me started on Evening Primrose Oil capsules--her Grandma told her to take them to help with cramps and PMS. Turns out this is a plant form of the Omega 3 oil found in fish.
I agree with Eileen about the fibromyalgia--it seems to be a very opportunistic disease, since it tends to follow bad injuries or autoimmune disorders. I'm not sure how I'd react if I was offered a spinal fusion for more of my back. Mother's has lasted for 51 years now...but as luck would have it, her surgeon's techniques are still being studied and used today. (The official description of her spine is "ratty looking"!) Several years ago she had to lift her legs in and out of the car, and was considering a second operation until they told her they couldn't promise she would be in any less pain or able to get around easier. But it WOULD be her last back surgery--so she decided not to do anything. It took 2 tries before she got her disability retirement approved. My sister got hers through the first time.
I have degenerative disc disorder , fibromyalgia, arthritis in basically all my joints--even my TOES have arthritis. Spinal stenosis,irritable bowel syndrome, severe gastric reflux, chronic pain, major allergies, controlled high blood pressure, depression, sleep apnea, asthma, and at age 53 I'm STILL having periods along with the hot flashes and hormonal shifts of perimenopause. Since my older sister, mother and Grandma all had hysterectomies in their early to mid 40's, I haven't a clue to when I will finally be through with this. One doctor gave me hormones, which really helped...then my regular doctor took them away. BOO!! It really helped--but I have an increased risk of blood clots. I think the risk should be up to me; but since I had cellulitis 3 times last year, I understand her caution. It's just that after 42 years, the phrase "Oh, dry up!" keeps coming to mind. Even with 2 years off for pregnancy and nursing, I'm just TIRED of it. Last year I was within a month of being "officially" in menopause, then had a 23 day period! Oh well--at least my beloved niece will have a maternal base line.
The one thing I can do for all of you is pray that your pain subsides and there are better days ahead for us all.
Hugs, Karen
"You are letting your opinion be colored by facts again." 'When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you." these are both from my father.
[QUOTE=jmariah74;361258]Hello Everyone,
I am a 34yr old female, who had emergency back surgery after suffering a herniated disc in my sleep. I woke up one morning 2 yrs ago with severe low-back muscle spasms. After two trips to the emergency room, where the doctors did nothing but give me pain meds, muscle relaxers & told me I'd be fine, I finally had an MRI. It showed a bulging disc. I had a series of painful epidural injections & nerve blocks in a month & 1/2 period. Just after the 3rd epidural, I was walking through the parking lot at work & fell to the ground. When I realized my leg was completely numb from the knee to my toes, I called my doctor while sitting in the middle of the parking lot. I was told to get to the emergency room ASAP. When I arrived I had a 5 hr wait & finally another MRI. It turned out that 3 disc fragments had broken off from my L5/S1 disc & they were compressing the nerve root to my right leg, which is why it was numb & I couldn't walk. The doctor in the ER called the Neurosurgeon on duty & I was in admitted & then had emergency surgery before I even knew what was happenening (so to speak). After an expected two month recovery that in the end lasted 12 months in the care of my parents, I returned to work part-time & remained on a portion of disabilty - thank god I had disability for the 12 months I was recovering. At any rate, I am back to working 32 hrs a week at a new job & am no longer on disability, however I am in constant pain, 24/7 & walk with a cane. My right foot is still numb in parts as well as the outer part of my calf muscle. I can no longer do the activities that I once did - taking dance lessons (ballet, jazz, swing & salsa) nor can I do the social things that I used to love. My entire life has been tunred upside down & the depression is getting the better of me. I am back in PT (physical therapy) and have been for 9 months or so. I had been in PT and acupunture my entire first year after surgery & when I began working again, etc., I took a break. I found that I did worse on a day to day basis without both than with so I started up PT again. I am looking for a new acupunture practitioner in the area as well.
My "recovery" was a difficult one and it is definitely incomplete. I will spare you all the sorted details. I will say that I currently sleep in a chair (not even an overstuffed or heavily cushioned chair). I have tried many things and sadly still walk with a cane because of this mess. I currently take copius amounts of pain medication, just started therapy, am back in PT, and have been through acupuncture for 9 months. I have had a nerve stimulator implant put in but it made matters worse so I had it removed two weeks after it was implanted. I also did a second series of nerve block injections, epidurals and the like post surgery hoping it would help but none of it did. I am at a loss for what to do. The doctors have stated another surgery - fusion surgery is on the horizon. The risks are too great and the pain could be worse after this second surgery so I am not yet ready to take that risk. I could not live with more pain than I am experiencing now. Certain days I feel as though I cannot deal with the current situation but I press on as I must. IF ANYONE KNOWS ANYTHING I CAN TRY -- Please let me know. I will try just about anything to get some relief from this pain. I want my life back.[/QUOTE]
Hi jmriah74,
Holy Cow! ( I didnt wanna say shit! Man what a bum deal...I can so relate to your chronic and inhumaine pain you are experiencing...I'll make this short simply because I'm in so much pain right now I cannot sit here any longer. I too have tried MANY different meds. Although right now I take morphine sulphate 30 mgs 3 x's a day and hydrocodone for break through pain. I used to be on fentynol patches 175 mgs or micrograms i forget which but I found some releif with them also. Just please dont ever slap a few extra on your back thinking it will help the pain more. It doesnt. Anyhoo...the first thing I told ya has helped me the best so far. I also just have been put on lyrica....I'm not sure yet if I'm feeling relief..the last few days have been nearly intorerable. guess I'm in a flare up. Please be careful of the fusion surgery. However all results are different. I'm glad you're here on bnet and I hope to see you keep posting for we are here to offer hope and help in any way. Even if just to listen it helps to kow we all are suffering so badly together. hang in there and please keep me posted! Kay!
[QUOTE=karbie;381822]While it's good you've all found this site--I'm so sorry you needed to be on it. My worst pain was when I got my spinal cord brushed by a needle--I had a spasm so severe it literally made the needle fly out of my back. It was horrible--everything was in spasm. You could see the spasms on my arms from across the room. I was having the 3rd and final epidurals on my neck because my right hand basically turned to wood after driving 5 miles. That's when they put me on Neurotin; I was at 8 pills a day. I've been off it a few months now and am on Lyrica.
The upper discs weren't there; all I had was debris and a bone spur pressing on my spinal cord. the neurosurgeon wanted to operate in 2 weeks; It was 3 weeks because I had to make arrangements for after surgery. I have a bone/titanium implant. It was freaky because they go in from the front. I know I've lost at least a few more since then because I've just gotten shorter again. I'm down to 5'1" from 5'3 1/2" now. Just to make it interesting, I broke my tailbone about 4 days before the neck surgery. I was allowed a pain shot every hour, but since the night nurse left my call button on my roommate's blood pressure monitor...then on the floor behind my bed, and finally tangled through my I.V. tubes. She wasn't wearing a name tag, either. I got 3 shots during the night by taking off my blood oxygen sensor so the alarm would go off. I went home the morning after surgery because I'd managed to get through the night with so few pain shots.
My main pain control is generic fentyl patches. I started at 25; my current amount is 175. This keeps a constant level in my bloodstream. I have vicodin for break-through pain that I can take every 4 hours; when it was every 6 it just didn't last long enough. I've switched off to other pain-killers, but the only one that really works for me is vicodin. I have found that vicodin works better if you take it with food, and kicks up a notch more if you take it with protein. It acts like a booster--my mother didn't believe me until she tried it, but she as certainly glad I was right!
I had a friend call us to tell us that he'd found pain relief and more mobility from drinking cherry juice. I figured it was worth a try--I love cherries anyway! I went from needing to use my cane in the house to get around to having my mobility improve enough I could do stairs without it. I prefer eating cherries, but dried cherries, canned cherries--either pie or sweet--all of these work. It turns out that the Native Americans used cherries to treat arthritis. Cranberries and blueberries are also good; anything high in anti-oxidents will help. Years ago a friend got me started on Evening Primrose Oil capsules--her Grandma told her to take them to help with cramps and PMS. Turns out this is a plant form of the Omega 3 oil found in fish.
I agree with Eileen about the fibromyalgia--it seems to be a very opportunistic disease, since it tends to follow bad injuries or autoimmune disorders. I'm not sure how I'd react if I was offered a spinal fusion for more of my back. Mother's has lasted for 51 years now...but as luck would have it, her surgeon's techniques are still being studied and used today. (The official description of her spine is "ratty looking"!) Several years ago she had to lift her legs in and out of the car, and was considering a second operation until they told her they couldn't promise she would be in any less pain or able to get around easier. But it WOULD be her last back surgery--so she decided not to do anything. It took 2 tries before she got her disability retirement approved. My sister got hers through the first time.
I have degenerative disc disorder , fibromyalgia, arthritis in basically all my joints--even my TOES have arthritis. Spinal stenosis,irritable bowel syndrome, severe gastric reflux, chronic pain, major allergies, controlled high blood pressure, depression, sleep apnea, asthma, and at age 53 I'm STILL having periods along with the hot flashes and hormonal shifts of perimenopause. Since my older sister, mother and Grandma all had hysterectomies in their early to mid 40's, I haven't a clue to when I will finally be through with this. One doctor gave me hormones, which really helped...then my regular doctor took them away. BOO!! It really helped--but I have an increased risk of blood clots. I think the risk should be up to me; but since I had cellulitis 3 times last year, I understand her caution. It's just that after 42 years, the phrase "Oh, dry up!" keeps coming to mind. Even with 2 years off for pregnancy and nursing, I'm just TIRED of it. Last year I was within a month of being "officially" in menopause, then had a 23 day period! Oh well--at least my beloved niece will have a maternal base line.
The one thing I can do for all of you is pray that your pain subsides and there are better days ahead for us all.
Hugs, Karen[/QUOTE]
Hi Karen!
Man...I just LOVE ALL of your posts! (those caps I ment to be there! LOL) Always kind compassionate advise and a major touch of one of the BEST dry humors I've come across in this lifetime and believe me..I've come across alot. Hate to keep bitching about time but I'm sitting here in agony trying to speed through these posts..and I have to be up in about 3 hours...meaning when I FINALLY can fal asleep...the freggin' alarm is going to blare in my ear at 6:30 am to get the kids up and off to school. What a wicked sitew it must be if I was to be filmed coming downstairs to make my tea and watch the news, and tAKE MY MED BEFORE i GET THE KIDS UP, i'M USUALLY MUTTERING THAT "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS." THAT'S ONE OF MY FAVORITES AND MAKES no SENSE...BECAUSE LETS FACE IT..."Whats NOT to believe!) Sorry about the caps up there...musta' hit the wrong key..Thanks for always offering everyone hope and love and humor....we have alot of similARITIES..WITH OUR ELDERLY MOMS AND GRANDMOMS WHO ARE RUNNING CIRCLES AROUND US OR WERE CARING FOR THEM AS WEELL OR BOTH! i THINK WE ALL DESERVE A MASSIVE APPLAUSE BUT WHO THE HELL NEEDS AND APPLAUSE (shit, sorry caps got stuck again.) We need help, not a standing ovation. All I ever hear is 'Whats wrong with you?' with a distorted really irritated expression from my family. Lucky no one has been struck with my srong right arm on the head to knock some sense into them before I go into cooking 4 seperate major near gourme freggin' meals for everyone to their most exquisite freggin' palates. Then I usua;;y collapse and eat cereal or something because I've lost intrest or simply am too whipped to ge the fork to my mouth. Meanwghile everyone is full and happy wondering "what can I do next for them! Damn, they need to get a grip. But I do enjoy doing that stuff really....Well..I guess I'll head off to bed which feels like I'm laying on a slab of concrete at this point. Oh well..were alive and I guess thats a good thing, cause the alternative sucks. take care Karen,...oh, could you email me privately...hope ya get this post!
Love,
Eileen.....the whipped and wondering and weary....
I also have chronic pain due to fibromyalgia. I thought I found the best rheumatologist to handle this and was on a waiting list for 7 months to get in to see him. He has had me so drugged from morphine, codeine, opiates, etc. since I started seeing him. The pain finally got better with the medication but I am worse because I can't get off the meds. He has me on 28 different medications and it is breaking us even though we only have to pay deductibles. The doctor now will only take patients on a cash only basis and we don't know what to do. I tried to go off the meds myself and got so sick I thought I would die. I am searching now for a place where I can be medically stabilized and gotten off of all the meds. Anybody know where to turn from here?
