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Is your diagnosis for life?
After having to deal with my current medical conditions for over a decade now, it's made me ask myself a question, am I ever going to get any better?
With osteoarthritis in several joints, and undiagnosed neuropathy in my feet and now my hands, will any of it ever improve? Or have I received a life's sentence of chronic pain?
I don't see my situation ever improving, I'll be living like this for as long as I'm willing to put up with the pain. It's been 10 years now, and some days are harder than others. We've been struggling financially ever since I had to retire in 2015, but my awesome wife is still working 40+ hours a week to support us. How we'll get by when she retires(she's 61) is something that worries both of us.
The thought of any new medical bills that we'd be faced with if I have any additional osteoarthritis surgeries would put us even further into debt, which is something that I swore to myself that I'd never do. I'm not going to bankrupt ourselves, or our kids with a bunch of medical bills.
Unless they somehow develop a treatment for neuropathy that actually helps with the pain, or a treatment for osteoarthritis other than surgery and pain management, I'm going to be like this until the day I die.
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I'm in your boat, only i have psoriatic arthritis and fibromyalgia. In pain every day and add to that the nausea that I have. Just was released from our local hospital on Sunday the 16th. Intractable vomiting for the days immediately following an upper endoscopy.
My husband is 71, an accountant, trying to retire but worried my medical debt will break us.
Val F
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2 Reactionsi read that robert f kennedy, jr. feels that joint replacement for elderly is too much. i would like to know what instead he is working on to treat osteoarthritis
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2 Reactionsi left a few inquiries on rfk jr sites
i went to billing at the local hospital. they gave me paperwork for a program to help with medical bills. i was wanting to make payment plan. maybe you could get lucky too. and i own my house
Is this good for any arthritis
I don’t think so. But if you haven’t had a uric acid test, you won’t know if you have gout arthritis so you might as well try it and see if you gain any benefit.
Will I too am facing the same reality of pain for the rest of my life.
Been dealing with chronic pain for 10 years now and have exhausted every treatment possible to included Mayo Clinic, to be told after a month of analysis that I should go back to my pain management doctor and work on a cocktail of medications. That was a gut punch coming from Mayo.
I have had 8 back surgeries, a pain pump implant that failed and was removed, 2 neck fusion surgeries, 4 hip replacement surgeries and yes, I know I only have two hips but both surgeries had to be redone all in a 18 month period, on top of that I was 10 days post hip replacement and blew out my left knee and told I need a knee replacement. I scheduled surgery for my knee twice an d canceled. I just couldn’t bring myself to go through that after18 months of hell I went through with my knee. I guess the amount of lower back pain and still pain from the hips pales to my knee pain.
I have been on pain meds so long and still suffer every day as my body has built up resistance to almost every pain meds known. Surgery is so difficult for me since the amount of pain meds they give me post surgery has little to no effect anymore.
I know I am not giving you much hope but I truly hope you find relief.
I am 60 years old and still work full time as does my wife and the thought of stopping and going on disability while my wife still works is something I can’t come to terms with even after being told for almost 8 years that I should be on disability.
Hi. I share the same experiences. I have severe osteoarthritis requiring surgery and arthritis from my autoimmune disease. Besides the arthritis I have the neuropathy all over. It’s been nearly 20 years of suffering. I’m on arthritic medication and just started another one. I haven’t worked for nearly 5 years. I actually went into depression because I loved my job and I lost my self worth and identity. My family didn’t understand what I go through with the autoimmune disease and I had to stop talking to them. I just try to take care of myself with the help of my healthcare providers and my daughter. I get support from them and I go online for support groups. I volunteer at the YWCA and I also volunteer for research studies. That’s what I’m able to do for now. It’s difficult because my doctor advised me not to drive and I just didn’t renew my drivers license.
Most of the time I’m at home in bed because of the pain and I get fatigued easily. It’s not much of the life I had but I still enjoy my grandchildren.
I don’t take pain medications. I refuse to lose my kidneys. I have 3 siblings with kidney failure. I just rest and I use hot or cold applications or suffer through it.
I applied for disability but I haven’t received any response yet. It’s been a couple of years already and I’m still waiting.
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3 ReactionsI have osteoarthritis all over my joints. I also have marfan syndrome which makes my tendons very lax. So the stability and my joints is not good. I am facing knee surgery and hip replacement. I too get fatigued very quickly.
I try to do the minimum.I can during my days That i'm Having pain. I do take.
Tylenol and medical marijuana for the pain.
On days that the pain is minimal.I try to do as much as I can without overdoing.
I'm glad you still have fun with your grandchildren.
As far as.
The disability goes.I would call and see if they still even have your file active. You may have to re. Apply.
Make sure.
That you have a note from one or more of your doctors saying that you are 100% disabled.
They are gonna want medical records proving all your illnesses.
Listen to your body, rest when you can. good luck
God bless
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2 ReactionsHi, christine5. Yes. I still have a problem overdoing things. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that. I always have been a multi- tasker and was known to be hardworking. It’s documented in my chart that I am not capable of working due to my illness. I’m actually being given a caregiver but I refused to have a nurse. I have a pillbox and my daughter helps fill it every week. I check my own blood pressures which my doctor provided.
I’m not sure what marfan syndrome is. I’m well aware of fatigue, pain, and joint replacements. I’m afraid to undergo another surgery but I need new knees. The pain is unbearable and I am limited to just staying in bed most of the time.
I want to wish you the very best of health and hope you recover well from your surgeries. I thank you for responding and sharing. Take care.