My legs started giving me troube about 27 years ago just occational at first but worsening as time went on. My back really went to crap about 4 years ago.

Going on 19 years now. 10 years of it (more or less) was intense and horrible, then gradually, I had pain-free moments that even turned into days (well, pain-free meaning low low ache), but since last June it got intense again and even worse than at the beginning (which was caused by an accident) but now it's diminishing again, Thank God.
Congrats to you Sunnybunn! yep... one day at a time. I love the nights when I sleep with the promise of another day to wake to, to perhaps feel better. I never lose hope to feeling better.
That's my wish for all here... to feel better.
Hugs,
Ama

Well my back starting to go after I had my older daughter...so 16 years now. I had a major surgery when I was 20 to remove a 10lb tumor on my ovary and a 2lb on the other ovary. Lost one ovary and part of the other. That was a big incision...47 staples. Yuck. ( my stomach incision matches my back incision!!) That started the gyn problems. Amazing I have 2 beautiful girls. I have had a total of 8 gyn surgeries..finally had a hysterectomy last year. Such a relief.
Been on pain meds for my back for about 5 years.

Feels like a lifetime!
Autumn

As we age, the body breaks down and loses the ability to heal. This is natural. It is also painful.
If narcotics are necessary to maintain quality of life, they should be standard part of health care rather then out of the ordinary. Otherwise people are less prone to protecting long life.

No one should have to live in intolerable pain for any amount of time.
Cancer patients were denied narcotics for fear of addiction for a long time. Now we have drugs that will kill the cancer and leave the patient in pain the rest of their life. I for one have already made a deal with our maker that a DX of cancer is my ticket home. She sends that particular disease to me as a sign that it is time to go.
WHY?
I am tired beyond belief of throwing up, struggling to keep food down, eating food that tastes strange, never being able to have any comfort foods.
I watch mom die. She had pain in her fingers and could not feel well enough to do any of the crafty things ladies do while watching TV. They slowly took parts out replacing them with plastic until there was little left that was hers. Then she still had to argue to have the chemo stopped.
FINALLY - the MOST IMPORTANT reason:
I am tired of the struggle that life constantly is.

So am I really that courageous??? I don't know how to answer that.
But then I ONLY have intractable pain so far.

I hear ya' on all levels, Sunnyb.
Hugs.....jc..

Hey paulie we have the same amount of time! as of novemeber its been 8 years right here.

So when do we start counting hours, minutes, seconds???
Does it matter who has been in pain longer?
I think NO!

There are days when I think, "I got this down now. I will never have another bad day again."
HA!
The next day the pain is thru the roof. I am laid out and reminded that I have little control over what happens.
Just gotta make it thru that day and hope the next is better somehow.
Oh, yeah and watch "The Princess Bride" and wonder what the heck made Buttercup faint so easily and fall off her horse when she met the giant and company. Stupid princess weaklings. At least she toughened up when she and Wesley went thru the forest and met the rodents of impossible size.


But there I go digressing again. SOrry.

It all started for me in June 2007 about noon LOL i was in a car accident.

Goodness, its hard to say. I'd had some pain in my feet for years but thought it was just too many years of spike heels. Then, about 7ish yrs ago, I nearly died from pneumonia. That seemed to be the beginning of my roller coaster, shortly after that, I started having pain in my joints, particularly my hip, then an abscessed pyanidal cyst on my tailbone, then kidney stones, all the while, joint and muscle pain got worse. My body just went haywire. Would innitialy test positive for RA but further tests would rule it out, dx'd w/ fibro, then Rheumatoid Hepatitis, neuropathy in my feet (dx'd a Cryoglobulemia, a blood disease caused by Hep C). I went from some bad days to rare good days. I also had Hepatitis C for many yrs. I beat the Hep C thanks to a Clinical Trial 9 mo. ago, but clearing the virus didn't help the pain. The docs had hoped the virus was the cause of my whacky immune system but, so far, no improvement. It has helped my energy level a bit and I glad I did it.

October 13, 2008.............4:47 PM

More than 15 years. But I was hardly limited until about 10 years ago, when it worsened.