Anyone have chronic pain?

[cheerfulpuppies]

Does anyone have chronic pain, if so how do you manage it? I have chronic back pain for the last 15-20 years (since I was a teenager). I do have an S shape to my spine but no diagnosis of scoliosis. I have told multiple doctors, see a chiropractor, tried physical therapy and exercise but nothing seems to help. Any thoughts for what to try next?

 

[imported_Momto2]

Chronic pain is no fun. I had chronically broken ribs for over ten years. (thankfully I have been "break-free" for the past 2 years). I tried painkillers, steroids, yoga, diet changes, exercise, alternative medicines (herbs), acupuncture, reiki, massage, etc. Managing chronic pain is really hard, very exhausting, and quite depressing. What worked was a change in diet which reduced inflammation, taking cough suppressing meds so I could heal, not putting myself in situations where I knew it would trigger my asthma, exercising and growing stronger every single day, and loosing some weight. I also have access to lots of meds, so when I feel like my ribs are getting stressed from the coughing, I take something narcotic to shut it down NOW. In the past, I hesitated, didnt want to use pain pills, but then I would snap 4-5 ribs and spend 2 months in agony while they tried to heal. Wasnt worth it. Those memories of always hurting are still rather fresh and scary, and I'm sorry you are in that place in your life. I am not a huge advocate of it, but you might want to try alternative medicine, Reiki, special massages. While they did not have a huge affect on my well-being, everyone is different and I do think some of it helped a little bit.

 

[Havoc]

Pain management is tricky. As Sara mentioned, a lot of people are hesitant to use narcotic pain medication. However realize that if you treat pain early, it takes much less pain medication than if you wait until it becomes unbearable. So, in treating early, you will likely require less narcotic medication. When I was having a lot of sinus headaches, I took a percocet the instant I started feeling pain and that would be it. If for some reason I couldn't take one right away, it took 2 or 3 to finally get on top of the pain.

 

[mamerth]

I have pretty much chronic pain due to joint issues and migraines. I have to stay on top of it as much as I can.... I take meds as soon as the pain gets to a certain level (I don't have a day without pain).

I do lots of heat treatment on my joints to "assist" the pain meds. I also do warm baths for the leg pain.

 

[JustDucky]

Unfortunately, I also deal with chronic pain. I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome which essentially causes my joints to slip in and out of their sockets easily due to a collagen deficiency.. This in turn causes pain, all of the time.. Some days are worse than others. To add to my joint discomfort, my lungs always hurt too. I have tried physical therapy, and that helped some.....Ibuprofen, heating pads, warm showers and finally narcotics. The pain can be pretty intense and because it was affecting my quality of life, narcotics became the treatment of choice. I am on a Fentanyl patch which delivers a continuous dosing of Fentanyl and dilaudid for break through pain. This really was last resort, but I am finally living at a level of 3 out of 10 on the pain scale, which is tolerable. Once it starts to creep up to about a 5, then I take dilaudid to bring it back down. I have made the mistake of waiting until my pain is much worse and of course, it takes a much more aggressive approach to get comfortable again. Definitely don't wait until your pain spirals out of control before doing something about it because it does take more meds, intervention to break it. It's unfortunate that you are at a point where you probably need something a bit stronger to help with your pain.. Some people with back issues take muscle relaxers, because your back is in a state of constant stress and tension, it might be an option for you. Once your muscles in your back are relaxed, the pain just may get better. Do you see an orthopedist? If you feel that they aren't listening to you, definitely move on until you find someone who will help you. If you haven't tried heating pads, they may help some as well.. I find that heating pads have helped my hips and lower back when the pain isn't severe and it's mainly soreness from being overly active. I see you have been to multiple doctors....it astounds me why so many doctors don't treat pain aggressively, pain impacts the body negatively in so many ways. I hope you find someone to help you. Maybe you should look into a pain clinic if you have already been to so many docs..Jenn 40 wCF