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Goal End Date is Sep 1, 10 280 more days.
JenniferRose 
2:44am, September 8, 2009
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About Me
JenniferRose
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About Me
I am in a long-term relationship with a sweet man. We have no children, although I would love to in the future. Right now my children are my cats and dogs- one of my passions. I am a recovering addict and my passion is helping other addicts- in any way. I'm also hopelessly in love with learning, but I can't finish college due to suffering from chronic, debilitating back pain.
I am in a long-term relationship with a sweet man. We have no children, although I would love to in the future. Right now my children are my cats and dogs- one of my passions. I am a recovering addict and my passion is helping other addicts- in any way. I'm also hopelessly in love with learning, but I can't finish college due to suffering from chronic, debilitating back pain.
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You can get to that 4 and many more after that. Believe me if you knew my history Many who knew me many years ago Still can not believe I am clean and have been for so many years. It really gets easier after the first few years.You change your life and your friends (that part can get a bit hard at times) and you work through it. i know with pain issues it can be harder but Stay Strong and know I am here if you need a shoulder.
Good Luck
Hi JenniferRose. My name is Donna and I was reading your post on the Social Security Disability group. I just want to say good luck and I really hope you're able to get disability!! I'm struggling to get it myself!! Big hugs, Donna
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Goals
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Support Groups
Close Chronic Pain
I thought recovering from heroin addiction would be the hardest challenge I would ever have to face in my life. That was until I got on methadone and got clean only to end up with excruciating back pain a few months into my recovery. Six years later, I am still staying clean, but my back pain is worse than ever. I am 26 years old, and I have lost my life to chronic pain. I am unable to walk more than half a block at this point. I spend most of my time stuck in bed. I have no life anymore.
Treatments
- Flexeril Working / Worked
- Flexeril is really the only drug I've taken that actually does its job. It helps a lot with the muscle spasms I have in my back, but that doesn't cure my pain. And it makes me SO drowsy that I can't take it during the day.
- Heat Not Working
- Just adds to my discomfort.
- Hydrocodone Not Working
- Being on methadone pretty much blocks any other opiates from being effective.
- Methadone Somewhat Helpful
- I take methadone as treatment for heroin addiction. My chronic pain issues began after I got into methadone treatment. Once that happened, my clinic doctors did try to use it to manage my pain, but all they accomplished was putting me on a very high dose. Taking the same dose of methadone for six years, once a day, is just not terribly effective at treating my pain. However, it has been 100% effective at helping me stay off of heroin. It just makes managing my pain SO much more difficult.
- Naproxen Not Working
- Aleve has never been very effective for me. Plus, it causes horrible water retention and bloating whenever I take it.
- Neurontin Not Working
- Another drug to add to my drowsiness... it was useless for my pain, although it did work when I took it for depression issues in my teens. Go figure.
- Oxycodone Somewhat Helpful
- I got a TINY bit of pain relief from the OxyContin and OxyIR regimen that I was on for a while, but, again, it's hard for any opiates to break through my methadone dosage to actually give me pain relief. What I did get was a year of my life that I can't remember because I spent almost all of it asleep due to the combination of so many narcotics, sleeping pills, muscle relaxants, anti-anxiety meds, etc. that I was being prescribed at that point.
- Physical Therapy Not Working
- The sessions were far too painful for me to continue with them for very long. The therapist agreed that we were getting nowhere with the limits my pain was imposing.
- Facet Joint Injection Not Working
- I have had about seven sets of injections in 2009 alone with NO relief whatsoever. I finally had to start refusing to have anymore because each time my pain was getting progressively WORSE. However, with a previous doctor, I got over six months of MAJOR relief from two sets of shots- that was in 2005. They haven't worked again since.
- Ibuprofen Somewhat Helpful
- I LIVE on 800mg Advils.... three times a day. Obviously they're not a cure, but my back just has this extra soreness without them. They tear up my stomach and are probably not good for me considering I have hepatitis... but my doctor seems to think it's ok for now.
Close Heroin Addiction & Recovery
My clean date is 6.24.06. I am here to get support and to hopefully give it to others as well. Unfortunately, due to my chronic back pain, I have been unable to make it to many meetings lately because I can't navigate church buildings, steps, etc., nor can I sit long enough to make it through a meeting. Because of this, I REALLY need support from somewhere. I hope I'll find it here.
Treatments
- Narcotics Anonymous (NA) Working / Worked
- NA has been wonderful for me... it helped me make MAJOR changes in my life and the way I relate to the world. Unfortunately, due to my chronic back pain, I have been unable to make it to many meetings lately, and I REALLY miss it. My sponsor also dumped me in a very nasty way, so I have been struggling a lot with trusting other program members recently.
- Residential Treatment Center Not Working
- I had very little luck with rehabs. They would seem to be effective- until I walked out the door. Rehabs just cushion addicts from the real world for a while- what addicts REALLY need to learn is how to stay clean in REAL WORLD living. I felt completely unprepared for that when I left rehab. Plus, they failed to address my brain chemistry issues that made it nearly impossible for me to stay clean.
- Methadone Working / Worked
- Methadone saved my life. My brain chemistry was going crazy after abusing heroin and other opiates so I could not stick with any other treatments because of how terrible I felt. Methadone normalized my brain enough for me to start really focusing on my recovery. Ive been off of heroin since day two of methadone treatment almost seven years ago. Its a vital tool of recovery for me. We all need to find our own individual combination of recovery tools that work for us.
- Psychotherapy Working / Worked
- I have been very lucky to have two incredible counselors at my methadone clinic over the last few years. They have helped me tremendously. Sometimes just having an objective person to talk to about life issues is all I need to find the solution to my problems. When Im struggling they give me support on issues that are too personal to share in meetings.
Open Back Pain
I have been suffering from chronic back pain for seven years now (since I was 19), and I have completely lost my life to it. I really need other people to talk to who can relate.
Treatments
- Acupuncture Considering
- After seeing so many doctors, this is the last recommendation any of them have. My pain doctor offers it, but insurance won't pay. I'm willing to try anything, but I need to figure out how to pay for it first.
- Bedrest Somewhat Helpful
- I have no choice but to spent most of my time in bed. It keeps my pain bearable, so I guess it's helpful in that sense, but it's certainly not a solution to anything. And it is SO frustrating.
- Carisoprodol Working / Worked
- I took it years ago and it was very effective, but since then I haven't been able to get any doctor to prescribe. I don't really understand why, but they only want to prescribe Flexeril.
- Cortisone (Injection) Not Working
- I have had seven sets of facet joint injections this year alone, and I have gotten NO relief whatsoever from them. In fact, they seem to make my pain worse. Yet my doctors wants to keep going with them. Ugh.
- Fentanyl Not Working
- Duragesic patches did nothing whatsoever for me. I felt like I wasn't taking anything.
- Flexeril Working / Worked
- Flexeril is one of the few medications that has helped me at all, but unlike all of the much stronger meds I take/have taken, it makes me SO drowsy. It's weird. So I can only take it at night. Figures.
- Ibuprofen Somewhat Helpful
- I LIVE on 800mg ibuprofens. But it is certainly not a solution, and it just makes life a little more bearable. I know it can't be good for me to take so much of it for so long.
- Physical Therapy Not Working
- I've tried PT a few times but I am so limited in my movement that the therapists didn't see it as being beneficial. It just caused me extra pain and made me DREAD the days I had to go there.
- Methadone Somewhat Helpful
- I take methadone because I was addicted to heroin... it has helped tremendously with my addiction issues Ive stayed off of heroin since I first got on methadone seven years ago. Around the same time my back pain started. Well taking the same dose of methadone for seven years once a day does NOT work for managing pain. Not only that but it BLOCKS all other narcotics from being effective. I feel so stuck and frustrated.
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