Any other chronic pain sufferers around? Any tips or suggestions for coping? I've moved into one year dealing with it and the doctors are so slow to help.

I was bit by a Black Widow a few months ago, there are times the pain is so bad I can't use my right arm, rather tough since I am right handed.

I suffer from Chronic Headaches.

I have something, the army misdiagnosed it, wrong with my ankle so it goes "out" every once in a while making it so I can't walk without a limp if at all.

It depends where the pain is or how bad the pain is at the moment, but my recommendations range from pills to food to oxygen to sensory deprivation to a hot bath.

in 2007 I broke both shoulders- the left one so badly they had to replace it - it hurts constantly - cold and wet as well as exercising it hurt the worst - I have learned to live with it as I really don't want to become addicted to pain pills - though sometimes, when its really bad, I use Ibuprofen. It seems to be the only thing that helps.

As I have a bad back, carpel tunnel in both wrists, as well as a few other odds and ends; I can tell you that this is more or less what you end up doing.   You either learn to live or you get addicted to pain meds.  Not a great set of choices.

You embrace it.  Learn to love it, trigger it yourself a few times to toughen yourself up... and when that doesn't work you just try to get by hopefully without ever triggering it again.  The worst part is when pain triggers your "fight or flight" response and you can feel your heart thudding away frantically and you can't help but feel that this might not extend your life.

But most of the time you learn to ignore most of it.  Every so often you'll get a fresh jolt that'll remind you, "Yup, there's that pain, that's what I'm trying to ignore.  Ok, now let's work on not randomly screaming out in a public place, where's the nearest bathroom or other reasonably private room I can step into for a moment and not look out of place as I ferociously grimace?"  But most of the time you'll be able to ignore it.  It comes with practice, unfortunately.

Learning to live with it is a challenge in and of itself, as I said earlier I have chronic headaches, means I have a 24/7 headache that occasionally becomes so bad it is debilitating.  Pain killers by right you cannot become addicted to if you actually have pain, because the body gets use to them if you take them often enough, so each time you will need more and more to pass that threshold and get yourself more of what you need, thereby making the body 'demand' more often by creating more pain.  In effect trying to do a lot of painkillers can in fact equal more pain in most people, an irritating psychosomatic effect.

What I have done most of the time is a mix of oxygen (if you do not want to pay the large sum go outside, night air works too), dealing with it, and pain meds (a varying dose in order to avoid all the problems listed above), and together I often end up with less pain than otherwise.

As for things like my ankle, pain meds, "vitamin M" as the army calls ibuprofen, and getting off it and wearing a brace that restricts motion almost as well as a full cast, army got some things right.

and Ice/heat is always good, there are lots of packs out there now that you can both freeze and heat alternating, works great.

I have chronic pain, hips constant, shoulders often, knees pretty regularly, and when things are bad, seems like all over.  I've been taking narcotics for this for a number of years, and don't seem to have a problem with addiction; just 'living with it' isn't really an option, without help it quickly gets beyond bearing, while a couple of pills a day (minimum) keeps it down to a manageable level most of the time.  Note that I don't seem to be prone to physical addiction, my issues are mental/emotional, so others may well have a problem with a similar med routine.

Thanks to everyone responding. I wish you the best of health. Does anyone experience chronic fatigue and/or brain fog as well?

I am currently on one medication. They discontinued another which I think caused a lot of fatigue and brain fog issues, but it was the headache medicine so those are increasing again. They are now suspecting fibromyalgia and referring me to a neurologist. Have been hoping to avoid the narcotics, but will go with whatever works.

honestly for head pain ask your doctor about Oxygen therapy as well as Steroidal treatments, most are not as harmful as you might think and they are pretty good.  I also strongly recomend using sensory deprivation, most doctors do not recomend it right away because it is free after all, there is a place in Ann Arbor Michigan (near there at least) called MHNI (Michigan Head Pain and Neurological Institute) one of the foremost places on their specializations in the world, they do some really nice things there.

As for the fatigue and fog, I do not have a chronic fog, I do have some fog occasionally, usually conquered by sleep or sensory deprivation.  My chronic fatigue was conquered mostly by my army training, finding the right times to wake and sleep and eat, treat my body slightly different then otherwise.

Friendly tip: If you haven't already see a chiropractor. Include them checking the foot, shin bones and knee. Turned out my periodic foot pains where from displaced shin bones improperly loading force into the foot.

except I may not know the problem but I know the cause.  In BCT we did a ten mile ruck in the dark after two hours of sleep, I fell in a ditch tangled in C-wire.

oh yeah know about chronic pain!
I was born with a condition called 'plica'.  of course didn't know it until I was 25.  What I did know was growing up my knees constantly hurt.  I'd walk and a knee would shoot out to the side and I'd fall.  any sport involving running or jumping or dodging activity ...I sucked at it!  so of course last picked for dodgeball, baskeetball, soccer, etc. (boo hoo guess what didn't care).  Parents would take me to the doctor and I'd get 'Oh its growing pains' (really how come its not in my ankles, hips shoulders, wrists, or anywhere else?), or 'shin splints' (what the heck is that? oh translation: 'there is a pain I don't know what it is or what the cause is'.  so why not just say so?)
for those that don't know what it is...when your forming in the womb all your bones have a membrane around them that as you develope it becomes a nutrient for the bones.  Sometimes (especially in males) it does not always 'dissolve', especially in the joint areas.  Well, I irritated mine when I was about 5-7 years old,  having to walk and such and being a kid it never healed.
Finally at 25 and a new set of non-military doctors I found one who figured out what the problem was and fixed it...sorta.  He showed me pictures of my knew and it looked like that fiberglass house insulation stuff that some one pulled apart.  He then found another problem.....arthritis!  Dang just get better and now its gotten worse.  Next time I get reborn I get knees that work!

I have had chronic backpain for years now. I have takes all kinds of painkillers and they help. the problem is that a lot of DR's out there wont perscribe any good stuff anymore. Anyone know how to gwt good meds without buying them off the street?

In reply to branden (msg # 13):

I expect the problem is that the 'good stuff' tends to be addictive, and there are other side effects, even with short term use.  Also that the doctors aren't the ones experiencing the pain; mine seems to have no idea what my life is like.  He'll say idiot things like 'you should walk more' when I don't dare try to walk a block alone now in case I fall, or more than a block even with someone unless there's somewhere to sit for (not if) when I need it, probably with little notice.  And when I had an unrelated problem that caused pain, he said 'take a painkiller'.  Hey, man, this pain was bad enough that it was still a problem after I took the heavy duty painkillers I take every day!

In reply to Brianna (msg # 14)

I've had chronic back issues and sciatica for a long time as well as early onset arthritis. I've had every med in the book and they wear off. I've turned to alternatives like yoga and a healthier diet as well as some herbal remedies and suppliments. It's made things more tolerable and I've gained flexibility.

Might be something to look into.

In reply to Paixao (msg # 15):

I've been using the same med for a number of years now, and it still works.  I have tried other options but they don't seem to help as much, some even made things worse.

When I couldn't walk without assistance, I started carrying a stylish walking staff.  It's better than a crutch or a cane because you can lean on it with both hands and really put your weight on it.  Plus, it's a staff, you can basically be like me (or like I was), a beardless Gandalf!

Walking will help keep weight off, which will make all your joints and muscles work less, which will benefit you in the long run, as I can attest from personal experience -- I've gained and lost a fair amount of weight.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 03:37, Tue 22 Apr 2014.

Sorry about that.  I said that if you were too self conscious to use a staff (some people prefer canes, etc., since those tend to be more "normal"), that you might want either one of those canes that can unfold into a little chair, or one of those roller things with two handles, a seat, and hand brakes.  I highly recommend them if you can't walk for a block without possibly stopping to sit down for a bit -- if you can't be sure that there will be a seat there for you, then bring something along with you that'll give you a seat.  It looks like I can't link to those products directly, you'll have to go search for them on your own.  Good luck! :)

The chiropractor said I should not use a cane (or staff) or anything that tends to put weight 1) toward one side or 2) on my shoulders.  Some day I will need a walker; even now I'd have trouble getting around larger stores without a cart.  As for more walking, yes, exercise would be good for me in some ways, but I'm only one bad fall away from much worse trouble.  And even if the fall isn't that bad, once I'm down, getting back up is very difficult, if I went down because the pain is too bad, it's not going to get better while I'm sitting on the ground.  Shopping malls can be manageable, except on bad days, because I can track the places to sit and tend to have time get to one before I would fall, especially since I wouldn't be there alone.  But I don't get to a shopping mall very often; I wouldn't try to walk around there alone either, nor would I try to drive myself that far alone.

If you have something serious, like fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis, you may need to seek some prescribed medicine, like Humira or something. My mother-in-law suffers from R.A. and must use Humira to function without unbearable pain.

For something broader, I can recommend a mild weight-training regimen aimed at your affected areas, combined with proper dieting to increase intake of necessary vitamins and minerals. Also, adequate rest in the area of 5-6 hours helps. In my own experience with chronic pain, poor dieting(even if for a few days) with too little or too much sleep creates higher levels of pain.

Also, in my own case, I've added quality whey isolate supplements to breakfast and my home exercises(in the form of Isopure Low-Carb Chocolate, for its pure content) as well as a premium Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplement(Schiff's Move Free Joint Health Triple Strength).
I studied up on these to get the most pure forms of each without paying for fillers, the normal way for these companies to lower costs.

Try supplementing with healthy eating for two weeks and let us know how you are feeling. And don't forget some basic exercise and stretching!

Hey Kid,
 i have Fibromyalgia.
Pain is my existence.

I have a mantra I stole from Jim Butcher~ Pain is to be endured. It ends or it does not.

be careful with the meds they give you, mine almost killed me, landing me in the hospital with a death sentence.

You can do it.
Live with the pain or cure, it as the case maybe.

mostly you will have to find what works for you.
It is a long journey, but worth it.


we are in a game together... so you know where to find me.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:44, Sun 27 Apr 2014.