Chronic Pain Support Group
Physicians and professionalsdefine pain as chronic if it lasts longer than three to six months and is persistent. It's distinct from acute pain that is a direct result of injury or trauma. This support group is dedicated to those suffering from chronic pain. Discuss treatments that have worked for you, find advice for your specific experience, and find support. You're not...
Getting ready to see my pain management doctor on Tuesday and it occurs to me that my life was much better before I started with them. I was much better a year ago than I am today...
Dec 2013
I was in college at time and a half with 18 credit units. I was in class for three hours a night, three nights a week. We had field work for 4 to 8 hours every Sat that whole Fall quarter.
I had my Senior Project that involved about 20 to 30 hours of sitting down construction a week of alternate materials fencing. At least four times that quarter I had spent two to four hours outside installing said fencing and testing it out.
I was also spending a lot of time studying.. At least another 20 hours a week were involved in maintaining my 3.5 GPA and writing all those damn 50 page research papers.
My freedom was my horses. I was spending up to 10 hours a week riding. The wet of December confined most of that to the indoor arena, but on clear days we would at least head out to the local dirt roads.
Oh, and I was the person in the house who did most of the cooking and cleaning.
For pain I was on a muscle relaxant that I can't remember for the life of me, 30mg of hydrocodone (vicoden) which I usually took but not always, and all my OTC tricks.
I was always tired, but I have been since my cancer treatment. I hurt a lot, and often walked with a walker. I could do the field work, or most of it, but at about 1/4 of the speed of my class mates. I was working on getting fusion surgery as I had been told it would get me back to functional enough that I would be able to work.
Oh the difference a year of idiot doctors makes.
Dec 2014
Most days are easy to plot my whole day. Getting up out of bed happens because I hurt too bad to lay still anymore. Getting dressed can take anywhere from 20 minutes to bad days like today when it took hours with a nap half way through. I have to use the bathroom off the living room right now.
I start the day by putting the big dogs out in the kennel that is at the bottom of the 4 steps off my deck. They take about 5 minutes to do their morning duties and we three head back inside. I stop on the way past and water the ferrets and make sure they have food. Then I sit down in the computer chair that allows me to rest forward on my elbows, taking the stress of sitting upright off my spine.
And I do not move from that spot unless I have to. Usually about noon my daughter wanders out and I can get her to make me some tea, which I will sip for the rest of the day. I eat what she might bring me. Most days I do not dare stand up until it is time to get ready for bed. I have to sip my tea as standing up for a bathroom run is agony.
Getting up and doing anything at all puts me in enough pain that I can't cope. I have not been able to even sit and do something without my elbows lifting my spine strait in better than a month without having to reach for more pain meds than I am supposed to be taking.
Sitting in the passenger seat (heated) for an hour of traffic, followed by 4 hours on a couch and another hour of traffic home was too much. A day later I still have not gotten my pain under control.
I have gotten to ride my horse once in the last 5 or 6 weeks. It put me completely unable to get out of my chair for four days. I am supposed to go out to the horses' tomorrow and shift horses into different pastures. The goal is to break up the large herd of horses into several pairs. I am pretty sure I am sending my daughter and staying home.
I have been in too much pain to get into a shower or bath for several days now. The bruises are fading from the last time I took a bath.
I can remember a few times in the last month and a half that I have ventured out of my house. I spent a day at the VA hospital, walking the whole friggen thing twice. Man I rocked that day! I spent a day where I rode my horse for a couple hours, and we stopped at Costco on the way home. I went in and flashed my card so my kid could order new glasses and then sat in the car (and spent the next few days in this chair). We went to a friend my of kid's for Turkey day. Last week my daughter drove me out to put the new winter blanket on my horse. My daughter drove hubby and I to the doctor when he was running a fever. And yesterday I went with my daughter to her tattoo apt in the city. That is it. Everything else I have tried to do has failed and I have just spent the day in this chair.
I hate to even guess what next Dec will hold...
Dec 2013
I was in college at time and a half with 18 credit units. I was in class for three hours a night, three nights a week. We had field work for 4 to 8 hours every Sat that whole Fall quarter.
I had my Senior Project that involved about 20 to 30 hours of sitting down construction a week of alternate materials fencing. At least four times that quarter I had spent two to four hours outside installing said fencing and testing it out.
I was also spending a lot of time studying.. At least another 20 hours a week were involved in maintaining my 3.5 GPA and writing all those damn 50 page research papers.
My freedom was my horses. I was spending up to 10 hours a week riding. The wet of December confined most of that to the indoor arena, but on clear days we would at least head out to the local dirt roads.
Oh, and I was the person in the house who did most of the cooking and cleaning.
For pain I was on a muscle relaxant that I can't remember for the life of me, 30mg of hydrocodone (vicoden) which I usually took but not always, and all my OTC tricks.
I was always tired, but I have been since my cancer treatment. I hurt a lot, and often walked with a walker. I could do the field work, or most of it, but at about 1/4 of the speed of my class mates. I was working on getting fusion surgery as I had been told it would get me back to functional enough that I would be able to work.
Oh the difference a year of idiot doctors makes.
Dec 2014
Most days are easy to plot my whole day. Getting up out of bed happens because I hurt too bad to lay still anymore. Getting dressed can take anywhere from 20 minutes to bad days like today when it took hours with a nap half way through. I have to use the bathroom off the living room right now.
I start the day by putting the big dogs out in the kennel that is at the bottom of the 4 steps off my deck. They take about 5 minutes to do their morning duties and we three head back inside. I stop on the way past and water the ferrets and make sure they have food. Then I sit down in the computer chair that allows me to rest forward on my elbows, taking the stress of sitting upright off my spine.
And I do not move from that spot unless I have to. Usually about noon my daughter wanders out and I can get her to make me some tea, which I will sip for the rest of the day. I eat what she might bring me. Most days I do not dare stand up until it is time to get ready for bed. I have to sip my tea as standing up for a bathroom run is agony.
Getting up and doing anything at all puts me in enough pain that I can't cope. I have not been able to even sit and do something without my elbows lifting my spine strait in better than a month without having to reach for more pain meds than I am supposed to be taking.
Sitting in the passenger seat (heated) for an hour of traffic, followed by 4 hours on a couch and another hour of traffic home was too much. A day later I still have not gotten my pain under control.
I have gotten to ride my horse once in the last 5 or 6 weeks. It put me completely unable to get out of my chair for four days. I am supposed to go out to the horses' tomorrow and shift horses into different pastures. The goal is to break up the large herd of horses into several pairs. I am pretty sure I am sending my daughter and staying home.
I have been in too much pain to get into a shower or bath for several days now. The bruises are fading from the last time I took a bath.
I can remember a few times in the last month and a half that I have ventured out of my house. I spent a day at the VA hospital, walking the whole friggen thing twice. Man I rocked that day! I spent a day where I rode my horse for a couple hours, and we stopped at Costco on the way home. I went in and flashed my card so my kid could order new glasses and then sat in the car (and spent the next few days in this chair). We went to a friend my of kid's for Turkey day. Last week my daughter drove me out to put the new winter blanket on my horse. My daughter drove hubby and I to the doctor when he was running a fever. And yesterday I went with my daughter to her tattoo apt in the city. That is it. Everything else I have tried to do has failed and I have just spent the day in this chair.
I hate to even guess what next Dec will hold...
hugs to all - not sure where to go with this now.
Honestly, though, I don't really know if meds can help all of us become functional. I took a double dose of my pain meds Friday night and still could barely walk. I don't think any amount of pain meds will ever make my leg work properly. Last night I was having cramps, and the sole of my right foot feels like I've stepped on nails. It feels like a burning ripping sensation. I had to lay down for four hours on the couch to feel better. The leg was really swollen. I know you want to be as functional as you used to be, but sometimes we have to look at the reality of the situation. Any how, I hope you get some better med combinations that will allow you to function longer. I hope you are feeling better today. Hugs!