Severe chronic back pain

Stop telling people to get a stimulator! I've heard so many more people complain about how much worse it made their back and that they would get electric shocks out of nowhere because of the way they moved. I've also heard a lot of people say that once they got it and planted it was hard for them to find a doctor that would take it out

Well I'm in tomorrow so my fingers and toes are crossed and all we can do is take painkillers and get on with our life's good luck to you

Hi there! Let’s look at “defeated attitudes” and work with that first. My attitude was adjusted when I walked into a pain management doctor 15 years ago (after an additional 15 years of suffering) and I sat next to a man who had a complete marvel exoskeleton outfit on! Every bone in his body was compromised. He was only middle-aged. I was so thankful that I was me and not him. Let’s talk about the 30 years I suffered with a bazillion, different arthritis. My Doctors never looked at gout, which was a simple fix and should’ve been considered in my suffering when they ruled out the RA and told me the OA was responsible for my pain and my autoimmune type reaction. It wasn’t— it was the gout. They didn’t find this I did. it was because I was here with this group. I am an overachiever and I promise you every day I would look for things and I guess God didn’t want me to find the gout for 30 years. Maybe so I could be an inspiration to others here.
Let’s also talk about the opioids. 30 years ago, the military ibuprofens me into the hospital with an allergic reaction because they kept upping the dosages on my little body to the point where I had an allergic reaction. I had the worst withdrawals from over-the-counter ibuprofen. I always tell people never take it unless you’re in like a crisis where you’ve thrown your back out and your muscles going to spasm and you need it for three days. But that’s it! start tapering off after the three days. so after I was released from the hospital and the attending doctors told me never to take ibuprofen type medicines again. The military agreed to put me on the opioids. I have pain in my lumbar tailbone area That is exacerbated by barometric pressure change. They can’t do anything about it or they won’t. I did my research and consultations. removing tailbone is not recommended. So I accepted what life threw at me. I always believe there’s the good with the bad: so the bad news is that I am on low-dose opioids - during a timeframe where it is made political, and I have been humiliated on several occasions. Every year I have to pee in a bottle and take blood test. It is a small humiliation to pay for being able to live my life on my terms!

What I have learned is that the opioid will mask the pain such that I can exercise gently on a stationary bike walking and stretching over the course of the day. This is critical because I’ve had more than several spine and joint replacements and the muscles after surgery around those areas atrophy and they must be made strong again. And how can I be expected to make them strong if I can’t tolerate any movement?? So the good news is that the opioid manages the pain so I can do the necessary exercise.

I am 68 and bouncing around between surgeries and recovery is definitely a balancing act when one has degenerative bone diseases and my muscular problems. I recommend MFR my facial tissue release. there is a section here you can learn about it. Like one of my doctors told me in 2007 when the Darvan was removed off the market and I was in sheer terror “don’t worry there are 1200 pain medicines that we can try.“ I keep a small pharmacy of everything from Vicodin to morphine under my bathroom sink to remind me I am NOT an addict! After less than 10 tries, we landed on the Percocet. Every once in a while, I test myself and I am not addicted. I just need to mask the pain so I can do the other things I want to accomplish in life.

After about 15 years on the Percocet, I finally had a reaction/irritation in my bladder and I think it was because the every day use of the Tylenol. So I switched to the OXY (same dose) and that fixed the irritation! I wasn’t as panicked this time around.. I can’t tolerate most medications, I am very medication sensitive, I’ve tried all the nerve medications. I don’t know what I would do without the low-dose opioid that I do take, which helps me feel good enough to do my exercises. I am with a great Doctor Who is supportive and we navigate the political issues together.

Another recommendation is that you have something else important in your life. That is important enough to make your physical ailments take a backseat. On bad days I do not want to take more medication and so I have things lined up that I can do that make me super happy. I believe we have to do soul-searching to find out what brings us joy. I have seen it in other people that are worse than we, and it helps them navigate the good with the bad or the bad with the good. None of us get out of this alive in the-end, but it’s how we navigate the journey to fulfillment in our life. We are living longer than our ancestors and we want to be independent, but we have to navigate our own individual path in order to do that Good luck.

I am so very sorry! I feel your pain! I had 2 back surgeries ( back to back) ….my little joke….mid back down to my *ss! Never been the same since! In constant horrible pain.God bless everyone who has had back surgery! 🙏💕

Well I'm in tomorrow so my fingers and toes are crossed and all we can do is take painkillers and get on with our life's good luck to you

Explore pain rehabilitation and self-management.

Mayo has a 3-week pain rehabilitation center that can be very helpful. It changed my life.

Spinal fusion and decompression