Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

I don't think there's any problem with taking Miralax as prescribed. It is certainly nothing like antifreeze, a deadly poison if ingested.

YOur comment led me to believe you are comparing Miralax to antifreeze. I don't think that's a good comparison.

Hi, thank you for adding me to this group and inviting us to introduce ourselves. I have severe end-stage osteoarthritis in my hips, arthritis in my lower back and now arthritis between my pelvic bones. Also, I’ve dealt with lipelymphedema (which means both Lipedema and lymphedema). In addition, I’ve been obese all my life. I’ve lost 203 lbs now, with Bariatric surgery and drugs along with all the behavioral aspects of the Bariatric diet. And/ or the idea of as much variety as possible. After a Bariatric revision, I often vomit with many foods so I’m just doing what I can at this point. Now, I appear obese but eat so little that my husband and home health providers are concerned that even with multivitamins, I’m becoming malnourished. So, I have to “make weight “ to be eligible for hip replacement but I’m losing muscle mass as I become more distressed around my stupid bmi. So, fat tissue for Lipedema traps protein and water into impermeable cells, from what I know so far. That makes it very heavy where obesity fat is light. I have incredibly painful arthritis constantly, and a lot of skin pain, and now health care access stress so lots of things wake me up at night. I’m lucky to be able to have a chance if I can get to a properly acceptable BMI, so I don’t know how people with other kinds of chronic pain who have no dreams of ameliorating the conditions… I think if pain got so unmanageable, mental health issues would blanket me. However, we all need hope and space and time. I can’t walk anymore and I’ve had a lot of times of crying with pain. Not even crying from any frustration- just pure physical reactionary tears. Like on crutches in the wind trying to transfer into the car, for example. Anyway, I think a Mayo support group to talk through issues of pain as we try to navigate the most difficult things is a very good idea. 🙂

Hi I’m hoping to get some answers or find out if anybody else has had these issues. My boy friend has chronic severe pain issues in his abdomen. He’s had endoscopy and colonoscopy and nothing has ever come up as a culprit. We are hoping to get the pill cam done , that’s one thing he’s never had done and it would look at the small intestine, he’s suffered for ten years now, he’s medically released on disability with the army because of this. This pain makes him unable to have a job, the pain comes often with eating. It’ll hurt so bad he throws up, and that can happen for days at A time all day once it’s activated. We’ve tried avoiding certain foods but have realized it’s not food related and he did a stomach emptying study so we know it’s not his stomach ( actually want the gi to explain better to us) but we have no answers. He’s lost 30 lbs recently cause he’s scared to eat anything and half the time throws it back up. This has caused severe mental distress in him since it’s been ongoing several years, he’s now been diagnosed schizophrenia just this year. I truly believe it’s cause of the constant trauma he’s in with his abdomen pain, and a recent custody battle where his toddler no longer lives in the same state. We keep going in circles with doctors and being a veteran that system is very broken ( for instance he’s been waiting for a colonoscopy since last summer , it kept getting rescheduled until March) and his Va primary left so he’s been trying to get help for pain but now he’s waiting for a new doctor and they schedule several months out. So he finally broke out the Va system for a new gi doctor and we’re doing the steps but he needs help now. He is pale, shrinking, and I’ve noticed his teeth look yellow, I think from throwing up so much bile:( it’s terrible to witness and I feel like I’m watching somebody die. His only relief for pain is a heating pack so he’s used this one that you microwave. The stomach pain is so severe he has burned his skin with the heating pad and now that’s a problem, he has burns on his stomach and back where he puts the pad but he says he doesn’t even notice it over the abdomen pain. We’ve recently got him a new electric one but he says it doesn’t get hot enough. I’ve taken him to the hospital 6 times or so to get him fluids and I’ve seen him be on delauted, morphine and oxy app at once, still with a pain scale 7. What can this be? And no he’s not on opioids, he’s afraid to even take Advil cause it hurts his stomach. He says whatever this feeling is, it feels better to throw up and try to push this feeling out. He says he feels a pop in his lower abdomen. A couple times he’s been given oxy to go home with but we want a fix, not more drugs. Sometimes he gets treated like he’s drug seeking and in reality the last thing he wants to do is go to the hospital. So basically he needs an advocate with him every time. He flared January and it’s been really nonstop lately where he basically lives in a hot bath all day or under the heating pad. I’ve seen him go from perfectly normal havinga good day at the lake to throwing up as soon as he eats something. And he’ll sweat through his whole outfit in this pain response. What can this be??? 🙁 please any help.

Greetings. I am an 87-year-old man who has been living since 1990 with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, a rare, indolent lymphoma that is incurable. My chronic pains have a wide variety of causes: osteoarthritis (since the 1970s), neuropathies (axonal peripheral neuropathy beginning in 1991 because of vincristine chemotherapy, and joined since by diagnoses of at least 4 other types of neuropathy) fibromyalgia (since 2015), and various trauma picked up along the way. I have been prescribed pregabelin (Lyrica) and duloxetine (Cymbalta), and I also take a few supplements that claim to help. I also use lidocaine, CBD, and other topicals. The best I can say for any or all of them, that they are better than nothing. Several times, I have titrated off pregabelin, only to go back on because the neuropathic pain was notably more frequent and more intense--slightly. I have a variety of other comorbidities that do not directly cause pain, but increase my exposure to it--through falls, for example. I have taken 5 hard falls over the past 2+ years but (knock on wood) no fractures or TMI. Yet.

God Bless You! Has he been checked for Chron's? Praying for answers for him. I am so sorry he is battling this. Hugs & Praying right now....

Hello, I am Brenda and I have been living with chronic pain for a few years now. As time goes by, I forget when it started, but the worst was when I needed to have my shoulder replaced. It seems that once I was diagnosed with Polymyositis, the deterioration of my muscles, my left side just gave in. I had my left hip replaced and numerous pressure sores. I also had an insect bite the top of my left foot causing me to need infusions for many days because oral antibiotics didn't work. My entire body is in pain and I take 3 different pain meds. It's expensive and nothing stops the pain. The meds just make it so I can deal with the pain.

Yes 🙁 no chrohns I really wish it was that. I just want to talk to him one day where he’s not having problems. Seems like it’s been forever since he’s been feeling normal ( he was good all during December and some of November with no problems that I saw) if not gi I’m not sure what other specialty he needs to go to

This is a shot in the dark, but, perhaps an Infectious Disease doctor? Did he have COVID? If so, do this come on after COVID or worsen after COVID? COVID causes some strange symptoms. Praying much for the both of you. Blessings.....

This started for him close to ten years ago. He’ll flare up. When we first started dating it wasn’t present for the first 4 months. And I remember it would be very random, we’d have a great day at the lake and then we go to eat and he’s throwing up. He has had Covid but I’m not sure if that has exasperated anything…e we are really hoping to get this pillcam done for him but there’s always so much red tape. But it’s the one scope he hasn’t had done and it’s his lower abdomen that hurts so I really hope they agree they need to try something new 🙁

@nicolemramirez
Has your boyfriend had bloodwork and ultrasound or CT done by his gastroenterologist? Has he had a HIDA scan of his liver and gallbladder to check how it is functioning? I had endoscopy which showed esophagitis and gastritis so they put me in omeprazole. This was due to taking too many NSAID pain relievers for too long. The HIDA scan showed my gallbladder wasn’t functioning (biliary dyskinesia). This can cause pain across abdomen under rib cage from stomach on left to liver on right. This pain can be triggered after eating. Has your boyfriend had his gallbladder checked (gallstones or dysfunction) or did he have it already removed?