r/ChronicPain

I've realized I've spent as much time reading about different pain management options as I have dealing with my pain

Every time I think I've found something worth learning about I end up finding people with opposite experiences. It can be frustrating because you're just trying to understand what's out there but the amount of conflicting information is overwhelming

Do you mostly rely on your doctor, published research or hearing from other people living with chronic pain?

My wife (29) has several chronic conditions that leave her in constant pain plus was in an accident a few years ago that messed her back up. She’s prescribed 2 doses of low dose pain medication but takes the first dose right when she wakes up in the morning and usually the second dose around the evening time. She has been supplementing those 2 doses by taking a small dose of 7oh between her doses and by using thca. These 2 things have helped her a good amount to be in less pain, but as of July 1, both of these products have been banned in TN and we don’t know what to do. We can’t even order them online because they banned online orders to the state as well. Any recommendations? Her doctor won’t up her pain meds because she’s “so young”. I guess they don’t think people can have severe chronic pain unless you’re 100

Hello everyone, This pretty much unrelenting and debilitating pain I have been enduring for 2 years now is making me despise myself.

And grieve for the things I was able to do as a dancer, while now can barely walk half a block with my cane-

It got to the point a few days ago that I googled."How do you know it is time for a wheelchair?"

Of course the first site that popped up said indeed it is time, however it was just a company selling the things.

My heart goes out to those of you whose pain wakes you up in the middle of the night, luckily, that only happens to me once in awhile-itis just that even on my heavy bedtime med cocktail the pain keeps me up whining to myself for 4 hours.

I wake up really stiff, and now even stretching is excruciating, and my lack of flexibility and the crunching in my neck and shoulders is awful.

My GP told me the only walking I can do is in the pool.

I have admittedly not ,made it to the pool yet,but think after this i will call the y and ask them about their discount memberships for those on low incomes.

But even a phone call is daunting.

At first my pain was *just*in my lower spine and mostly severe bilateral sciatica, but now i wake up neck to toe (unless I also happen to have a migraine as well) in deep throbbing pain.

I read yesterday that with my increased risk of further fractures to my spine, even slight a bend forward can cause another one.

Certainly yesterday just taking my garbage bag out of the can, bending to do so, was agonizing.

I hate whom I have become, bitter, whiney, joyless, hopeless, helpless, irritable, resentful etc...all these things amplifying my depression which has always been there...

The percocet gives me maybe 10-20% relief and the half life is absolutely not 4-6 hours...really, it isjust another sugar pill.

I do see my GP for a follow up on Friday.

4 useless sessions of PT beginning next week.

Ugh...forgive my whining and pessimism.

I feel so desperate and alone.

Who know when, if ever the second pain clinic my GP referred me to will ever call.

At the moment, even after my the percocet my pain is an 8 and my left foot is asleep.

Forgive me, I suppose have not posed any sort of question, I just needed to vent a bit.

Sending you all respite for the agony you all in, and thank you for reading if you have.

*Long Vent, Don’t Know Where To Put My Emotions*

Background:

I 26M have been dealing with pretty horrific back pain for about a year and a half due to 2 herniated discs in my lower back. Lots of nerve pain, dull aches, stabbing pain, electric and radiating pain. It’s not fun. During flare ups I can barely walk to the restroom (which already presents its own challenges). I’ve done 7 months of PT but stopped due to financial difficulties and the fact that it wasn’t helping. MRI, 3 injections, endless specialist and doctor visits, etc. Looking at surgery options now but I’m pretty scared/overwhelmed about that. I’m on a laundry list of medication which barely helps and causes me to feel tired and loopy all day. I’m unable to work in my current situation and spend majority of my day just trying to manage my pain. I do my best to keep up with house work despite the pain and try to be creative with how to keep up with things and not cause my back to flare up. I read a lot. I sleep a lot. I’m sad a lot.

I’ve made it a point to not let the pain control me or my enjoyment of life. I do my best to show up to events and for the people I care about. I also have a rule to not flat out lie to people even if it’s easier to avoid certain conversations.

I went to my aunts over the weekend for 4th of July and when asked how work was going I was honest and explained I’d be out of work for a while due to my back issues. They were sympathetic for the most part, but then I got hit with the old “so you just pretty much relax…… all day……? Like since you don’t work what exactly do you do? Seems kind of nice! Kind of like a long vacation! *laughter* no no I’m just kidding I know it probably sucks, but what exactly do you do all day?”…….. I try to explain that I try to manage my pain constantly. Heat, ice, PT exercises, lidocaine patches, trying to keep up with house work, etc. They kind of just stare at me, blankly, and then ask if losing some weight would help (I’m heavy, not obese but trying to lose weight but it’s just difficult when I’m constantly in pain and unmotivated and unable to move much). Needless to say it was an awkward and embarrassing conversation that made me feel like a piece of crap.

People who haven’t experienced chronic pain just don’t understand……. It feels like no one around me gets it. I constantly hurt. I’m tired. Exhausted actually. I’m doing my best. The fact that I’m even able to grit my teeth and show up for things takes more out of me than they realize. The mental challenges alone of going from being an athlete and loving yard games and sports etc to having to sit and watch everyone play while pain is erupting down my legs just feels so heavy. I feel lost. I feel sad.

Sometimes I wonder if it’s even worth it anymore. I constantly feel like a burden to everyone around me, especially my fiancé who would never admit it. I don’t see how I can go another 50-70 years like this. I’m exhausted and it’s barely been a year and a half. I’m so frustrated, which is why I tend to sleep constantly throughout the day and lie awake at night sick to my stomach and toss and turn. I just want to escape reality. Nobody seems to understand. I see the way people look at me, and can’t help but wonder if they think I’m just a bum who doesn’t want to do anything. I wonder if they’re judging me with those eyes. I wonder if they think I’m being a whimp. They don’t get it and honestly I hope they never have to experience it and understand it.

I feel like a waste of space and resources with little to offer the world anymore. I don’t necessarily want to wake up tomorrow, which makes me feel guilty that I’m taking life for granted. I know deep down that my family would be sad if I went away. So I try to hold on in what seems like an endless storm that’s battering me from every angle. I feel so gosh darn useless.

Rant over.

Those with chronic pain, what symptoms do you have and how long did it take for you to get a diagnosis?

For me, I currently a medical mystery and nobody knows whats wrong with me sadly.

My currently symptoms are..
- Leg pains
- Arm pains
- Whole body pains
- Fatigue
- Paleness
- Bloating (looking prego)
- Brain fog

Anyone had this procedure and did it work? It's been recommended to me by pain management but the concept scares the fuck out of me .

The loneliness is sometimes almost unbearable to me. I can go days without anyone even texting me. It makes me feel sad like noone cares at all.

My sacrum must be misaligned or something these past few days because I can hardly stand or walk 100 feet without getting shaky, sweaty, and nauseous. Sitting upright is about the same. My entire left leg is in agony and my right hip and thigh isn't much better. But still, I have to clean the house, do groceries, go to work, be productive....

This happens from time to time, but its never lasted this long. I hate going to urgent care because they're just going to take xrays that will come back normal and then probably treat me like a criminal who's only looking for meds. And forget the ER. I'm stuck paying off my last (entirely uneventful) visit until October 2027 and can't afford to add another one to my payment plan. But I don't know how much longer I can handle this. I'm on a cane to get to work and I do have a walker from that last ER visit that I could use if I need to...

I guess this is mostly just a vent post, but if anyone has any advice on how to tell the difference between a bad flare and an actual medical emergency, I would greatly appreciate it. The last thing I want is to be "that patient" or "the boy who cried wolf".

Does anyone taking oxycodone have trouble with retaining water in their face. I have terrible trouble with it. It makes my face feel tight and adds to general spaciness. I looked it up and it said that the oxy creates a hormone that causes you to retain water specifically in your face. Has anyone else experienced this?

Hi everyone,

I'm a 26-year-old male and I've been dealing with constant neck pain every day for the past 16 months after a workplace injury.

The pain is mainly at the very top of my neck, right under the base of my skull, and extends down through the back of my neck. I also have constant tightness in my upper trapezius muscles, shoulders, and sometimes between my shoulder blades. The muscles feel like they're permanently tense and never fully relax.

The pain is worse with:

• Sitting for long periods
• Driving
• Looking up
• Holding my head in one position for too long

I recently had a cervical MRI. From what I've been told, it showed only mild degenerative changes and no significant spinal cord or nerve root compression. Because of that, I've been told the MRI doesn't fully explain why I'm in constant pain.

What I'm struggling to understand is how I can have pain that's severe enough to affect my everyday life when the MRI findings appear relatively mild.

Has anyone else had an MRI that looked fairly normal or only showed mild changes, but still had significant daily neck pain?

Some questions I have are:

• Can mild MRI findings still be responsible for severe symptoms?
• Has anyone had constant muscle tightness that turned out to be coming from the cervical facet joints?
• Did your MRI miss something that was later identified through other tests or diagnostic injections?
• If your MRI didn't explain your pain, what eventually led to a diagnosis?

I've since had additional investigations, but I'm mainly interested in hearing from people whose MRI didn't seem to match the amount of pain they were experiencing.

I'd really appreciate hearing about anyone's experience, especially if your pain started at the base of your skull and spread into your neck and shoulders like mine.

Hey y'all,

My Walgreens pharmacy changed their controlled medication refill rules about a year ago, where I now have to call in every time to ask them to start filling my medication after I have my pain appointments. Usually I'm not on the correct schedule so they tell me to call again in a few days and then they will fill it.

I call them earlier today asking if they can start to fill my Butrans patch and Hydro. They say yeah you can pick up the hydro tomorrow but it looks like the butrans patch is on backorder, every single strength is actually on backorder and we don't know when we can get it in. We check the back order medications every day so we can let you know when we think we'll get more in stock. If your insurance approves it, you can probably get the generic version which is not on backorder.

I'm sitting on the phone like....girl..... I put my last patch on last Wednesday and need a new one this Wednesday. There's no way you can 1) contact my doctor and have him write a whole new script for a generic, get a pre-auth, and order it by Wednesday. 2) The pharmacy is in a pretty small town (like 30,000 people or less), I'm probably one of a handful of people who's on Butrans. I know they probably don't want to go through the hassel of calling everyone on this medication (which they know gets changed every 7 days), to give them a heads up that it's all on backorder but cmon now this shit is insane.

I'm so nervous about possibly going through withdrawl and getting sick because no one updates patients on anything until we have to call. I'm just getting to the point where I'm fucking exhausted advocating for myself. I know I have to, I'm just tired of it. If you know a pretty important medication is on backorder, and there's probably like 10 people or less on it from your pharmacy, can yall not just give me a call to let me know omg :(

I hate this shit so much. No one thinks about how this impacts us- it's not just annoying-it's potentially dangerous for our health!!!

I’m in shock. My pain management Doctor I have been seeing for 8 years got his DEA license revoked and all his patients are left hanging with no referred doctor and none of their medication which most were on opiods. I called the hospital they were absolutely no help. I need advice what to do. That Doctor kept me working for a long time. I am grateful to him. Now I’m in severe pain and don’t know where to go. I’m in the Chicago area.

Now that alcohol is one of my few reliefs for my pain, I feel like I can't blame them.

Hi guys. I made a post on Saturday about missing endone.

I've searched and searched and nothing! I don't know where they could be. I have a stomach ulcer so I can't take nsaids.

I went from 3- 4 endone a day to 1 on Saturday. I was somehow OK. I had a friend talking to me which helped me through the hardest parts, plus I prayed a lot.

Yesterday things took a turn for the worse. Three hours after my endone it was like I hadn't had one at all.

I had hoped that if I could just take 1 endone a day until my drs appointment on Friday that it would be hard but last night I realised there is no way I can manage with just 1 a day.

I will have to go to the chemist and the police to report my medicine missing. I don't know what'll happen. I'm scared about being judged by my drs surgery. I'm scared to go to the police.

I've been crying, and having nightmares. Hopefully things will be OK somehow!

I'm going to ring a friend to take me as I cannot do this by myself. Thank you to everyone in my previous post.❤️

I overheard something disturbing. My PM doc's front desk is telling potential patients that they are not seeing any new pm patients nor patients on stimulants for ADHD. So, I asked him. He said restrictions have gotten so bad and they are not willing to risk their licenses.

That is scary to me. How many others are doing this? A compliant patient whose PM retires still gets a no. Am I the only one terrified at how slippery this slope has gotten??? This puts us ALL in potential future trouble if just the right circumstances happen? BTW, I am in MO.

I don’t know exactly how to word it, but a part of me wishes my chronic pains were worse. I have hEDs and a lot of the annoying pain that come along with it, but it’s not HORRIBLE to wear I might need knee braces or other gear to survive. it’s bad enough to be in a constant state of discomfort and get bad spikes of pain depending on the day, but I feel like it’s not bad enough to be taken seriously. It’s just okay enough to be excused, forgotten, pushed aside, and a sick part of me really wishes it was bad enough to be more visible so people would take me seriously. I was wondering if there’s anyone else who’s feeling like this too?

edit: I should also mention, a big part of it is not being able to believe myself that I’m actually going through something. Because it’s not horrific every day, and even on my worst days it isn’t as bad as some other peoples pain, I feel like I can’t say I have hEDs. I obviously logically don’t want worse pain because I’m not stupid, but I just know that being in worse pain means that maybe I’ll actually deserve the title of ‘hEDs’ for once.

I was recently prescribed buprenorphine 5 mcg patch and am admittedly nervous of trying it. None of my friends have tried it, and the list of side effects make me anxious.
In the past I’ve been prescribed oxy, morphine, tramadol— the morphine took the most edge off, maybe 10%, but that would only last a few hours. I’ve been dealing with chronic pain for nearly 3 years now and was only recently referred to pain management after two failed back surgeries and two failed injections. All and any advice would be appreciated— I’m 25 and just want to return to some sort of better quality of life.

Hi guys. 🩷

I found out WHY I couldn't find my endone. I've been so sick and run down moving house. I looked at the box today. My tablets ran out yesterday!

I have some palexia that I had some bad side effects from that I can take until Friday when I have my doctors appointment.

Could you imagine the embarrassment I would have had going to the police and chemist about missing pills?!

It's a huge weight off of my mind.

I'm going to get a Webster pack to store my tablets etc . My chemist will deliver the medicine once a week. With all the stress and health issues I think having someone organise my medicine will help me to avoid this type of mistake again.

Thank you for your support. I'm so grateful! I was beside myself with worry etc. 🩷🫂