Hi @dlydailyhope
I'm sorry for your predicament too. I'm guessing you have applied or got ssi/ssdi? It can take a while but you have a growing boy who I bet can eat you out of house and home! Definitely hard to raise and keep up I'm guessing a "taxi service" to get him to-ing and fro-ing. All this average stuff when you have a teen but there is no average when in constant pain. I'm guessing tho your limits might be already beyond expectations at this point.

Although it would be good to have someone to talk to, young teens, in general, might be very different with your son since he grew up with more reasons to flex his empathy muscle than most.

I've had steroid injections in my hips, knee, wrist, all for bursitis but my pain is really in the fatty, fleshy part of my butt, posterior closer to the iliac crest. An Ortho surgeon I saw, didn't even examine me. Would even look at where I said the pain was insyead said it was "probably" an SI "strain" and wanted to inject me there. Insert a SCS without a definite dx.

I have read that numbing med can be injected into my gluteus muscle and if the pain stops, that's it! Id probably be up for that as diagnostic? Decades ago I did all the nerve blocks etc to avoid subsequent surgery but to no avail.

I'm glad you are getting some relief while waiting for a good time to do it, but like with Tony, there are some symptoms that can get worse and more permanent nerve damage by waiting. Rock and a hard place. Unless they can see a torn muscle that needs to be stitched or something to be able to walk, I'm avoiding any surgery and well tho I definitely had tons of back pain (I've been in and out of PT, mostly in, for 2 years. I see a chronic illness psychologist who is also trauma informed. I'm really thankful to also make myself afford good insurance, medicare supplement, when I turned 65.
I also have Hashimotos. I'm curious about 100 of gaba at hs which is not even close to anything therapeutic. It did make me pretty sleepy and I never got up to a therapeutic dose and I tried to switch from lamictal as I started getting hypomanic with the switch.
Its known that folks with traumas histories frequently have chronic pain from physical trauma plus our cortisone and adrenaline levels have never been normal. I have central sensitization so I know my body already feels all pain in esp my trunk as higher up in thd pain scale than others tho some hear that at even Mayo pain rehab I've read, as "not real, all in your head." Which is furthest from the truth. My pain receptors are kicked up a notch but like most or all of us here, we have a high pain tolerance.

An interesting mix of I feel it harder and I tolerate more which could cancel each other out.

You are in a tough spot to be responsible for a younger one as opposed to just my cat - who is feeling less loved but also seems to know when to sleep touching me...she has never done that before!

Well I've list my was so aboit that I woke today to an eye infection under my lid so I'm trying to get an eye dr appt for today. File under "always something."

What makes you think its SI niw. Is that where they are injecting. Have you been able to get -or do you feel you don't need - a 2nd opinion.

I just realized last nighf I first saw a dr two weeks after my fall but it was late March! 3 months, no diagnosis, no dr. Yep, as Tony said, absurd. I may go dump myself back into the original ortho's lap as it was a hip guy in his practice who refused to even see me. See what he says next. Either way, nobody injects me without fluoroscopy so they know where they are going. Someone who does many a day without it being a pain person, but like you, walking gets harder every day. Wishing that the injections continue to help. I have a friend with a paraformis issue who gets botox injections 4 times a year with success. Lidocaine injections can help narrow down the origin of the pain.

Where ars they injecting you? What do they say is the issue? Your back? Like me tho the pain might be different than normal back pain.
For profit medical treatment means less treatment and less staff and supplies (or local hospital had no PCP during the pandemic. Barely even masks unless they provided their own, as regardless, the stock holders needs and 2nd and 3rd homes and huge bonuses at the end if the year for the hospital CEOs for keeping costs down, profits up. Well see what happens here when they can't accept medicare/medicaid anymore. (Tho many published articles and lawsuits, lots of illegal cahoots with government local and state, probably Federal as HCA is a huge entity buying up hospitals and private practices. I just found out my vet was bought out by a corporation. Staff and hours hugely cut! People leaving. Never works in our, our pets, our families best interest. Sorry to go off the rales, I may edit later. 😁👍🏼