Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

Great response. I have become really tired of filling out all the dopey charts adisgrams showing where my pain is and how intense it is. What is a 7? How do I put a number on my pain? It’s just bad!

I am Helen. I am 72 and have had severe pain for 35 years. I have had 5 back fusions, a nail in each femur after they snapped from taking Fosamax, 2 broken shoulders and terrible arthritis. I take opioids because I couldn’t survive without them.
I’m having flat back /scoliosis surgery in a couple months and hope it will help some of my pain. I use a walker, go to physical therapy two hours a week and exercise an hour a day at home.
My retirement isn’t much fun.

Please let us know how it goes! Speedy recovery - I'm interested in PRC if surgery becomes a non-option.

SIX YEARS! I can't imagine. Your strength and courage shine through your words. Yours has been a most difficult path and I have little to offer but compassion for your welfare and hope for your relief. Three months...please let us know. There will be many of us with you. Not one of us is alone.

There is a “science” to the numbers. Anything 7-10 causes great difficulty up to debilitating. 1 is no or almost no pain. But for those of us living every day with chronic pain, we tend to underplay the level because we “deal with it” every day. I can function with what most people would call 7-9. 10 means I can’t walk, usually because of back spasms. Other people would call what I consider 6-7 as a 9-10.

I also suffer from barometric pressure changes. The “changing” of the pressure from low to high or even the other way around, causes a headache for me. These headaches usually come on in the middle of the night, anywhere from 2-4AM.
I have a history of chronic headaches starting from 30 years ago. The neurologist that I was seeing at the time for treatment had me keep a headache journal. My recordings in my journal showed that i had one continuous headache, went to bed with it, got up with it. It may not have been excruciating pain but a dull ache all the time. I was started on Gabapentin 300mg and worked up to a final dose of 600 mg, which i still take to this day.
When i wake up with one of my “banger” headaches, i will check what the barometric pressure was doing at the onset of my symptoms, and it always proves to have been changing to lower or higher inHg.
Tylenol doesn’t really help these headaches. Nor will any kind of NSAID.. I have prescription Voltaren and that doesn’t help either.
I live in Florida, so I am surrounded by water on three sides. Other than moving somewhere else, I’m not sure what to do for these headaches That don’t seem to be relieved by any medication. Sometimes they are semi migraine or maybe they’re really migraine because I have nausea with them. Can anyone help me out here with what they do?

I, also, have suffered from similar migraines for 30+ years. Botox injections have been a life changer for me. My neurologist sees me every 12 weeks and I get almost immediate relief after the injections . I also take Gabapentin (600 mg). My " killer" migraines have subsided. I agree that the medications you mentioned did Nothing . Hoping you can add a Botox regime to gain relief!

Hello fellow “pain indurers”, I apologize for notIntroducing myself when I first joined this group. I did post something already regarding barometric pressure changes. Today every inch of my body feels like it hurts. We are supposed to get rain tomorrow. Two nights ago I woke up at 2 AM with a crashing headache. I was up for the day from then on. Last night I was awake at 4 AM And once again up for the day. The caffeine helped me a little each day. Ice on my neck and head helped yesterday.
We certainly can’t change the weather and I feel very sorry for people that also suffer because of barometric pressure changes.

👋 I’m Jenn. I have suffered from migraines for 33 years. As I’ve gotten older they’ve become chronic. I see a neurologist and have recently started Botox injections. They say it takes a while to feel a difference. I have around 15+ days a month that I suffer from a migraine. At also have headaches almost every day. Just wanted to see if there were any tips or tricks you know of that can make those days more tolerable.

Welcome Jenn @mommajenn97, I can't imagine how difficult it must be dealing with headaches almost every day. There are a couple of other discussions that you might find helpful:
-- Does anyone have daily persistent headache all day, every day?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/does-anyone-have-daily-persistent-headache-all-day-every-day/
-- Chronic migraine relief suggestions: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/chronic-migraine-relief-suggestions/