Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

Thank you, my name is Bob Herron, I have chronic pain problems in the neck and lower back, I will be seeking possible solutions to pain.

Hi. My name is Lori. I have chronic pain from fibromyalgia and tendonitis. I'm reading a book now on how to change your brain to stop the pain signals. It's really interesting. I also saw an article in The Mayo Clinic newsletter which spoke on the same topic. It's fascinating what the brain can control regarding pain.

Hi, my name is George. One year ago, I had spinal surgery to remove a fibroma on my L5/S1 vertebrae. The surgeon had to cut through the myelin sheath, and in his own words he 'had to scrafice a nerve' to remove the fibroma. That nerve went to my left leg and foot. When I woke, I couldn't feel my left leg from the knee down. I was in the hospital for 6 days and had lost 'a LOT of spinal fluid' (again, in their words), so I had headaches from hell and was vomiting from all the drugs they filled me with. I didn't eat for those six days and lost 18lbs. I was 60 year old at the time and I weighed 135lb before the surgery. I went through hell, and NOTHING took the pain away from those headachs. Nothing. After about a week, my foot went from being numb to being in pain. It slowly intensified over the next few weeks and nothing stopped it or even helped it. Again, nothing. It was just 'give it time', 'here take this', or even 'you may have learn to live it'. For the past year I went from taking pain pills: hydrocodone then oxycodone (both make me puke, so I stopped), Gabapentin (every dose possible), to Lyrica 75mg, 150mg, now 200mg (all 3X daily), Baclofen, Cymbalta 30mg, now 60mg 3X daily. I have also been taking ALA, GABA (Sublingual not oral pill), Turmeric with piperine. After taking all of these for the past year now, I can tell you that NOTHING has helped one bit. My left leg from the knee to my ankle is still numb (novocaine like numb), and my foot is in constant pain, I can't walk or take a step on it at all. It is hypersensitive to the touch, so putting a sock on it is excruciating. And I also get these randon jolts, not spasams, jolts. It is NOT neuropathy, similar yes. Nothing typicial works as well, no creams, no gels, not even red light therapy. My pain management Dr. said that they won't reach the nerves anyway. So, waste of money. Amazon loves me.. lol. And yes, I have even tried Acupuncture, which also did nothing. And as of last week, I had a Sympathetic Nerve Block which had no effect at all, not one little bit. Sorry, not trying to 'vent' on everybody, just telling my story. I can't work, can't sleep much, my wife (bless her), supports me and what little family we have left alive helps out here and there. If I could afford it, I would go to the Mayo Clinic to see a specialist to see if they could somehow help me. At the moment it is financially not possible. I am currently trying to get on disability. It's been a crazy year for me, but at 61 I don't give up, and I keep looking forward to a future without pain and where I can walk my dog.

Hello everyone, my name is Elaine and I have been living with fibromyalgia for over 30 years. Because of the long years of dealing with chronic pain I have been through the gamut of pain medications. I am currently in a skirmish with a new insurance company for Medicare Part D that doesn't want to pay for Belbuca. I was put on this prescription in 2019 so it's not something new to me but they want to know what meds I tried and what did not work for me. Honestly, it's a pure miracle that I still have most of those files because I usually shred our tax
files after 6 years. If anyone has been through this denial process with an insurance company and won, I would
really appreciate any kind of hints on how to bring them on board so I can keep taking a long term pain medication.

Hi Reba from Colorado. I am battling pain from disc degeneration from a work incident 20 years ago. I have had epidurals in lumbar and cervical region. I have managed on celebrix over the years but something has changed recently and the nerve pain in left leg is constant. Wanting to start me on lyrica. Not a fan of more meds. Rest easy.

This Joy47, hello everyone. I wanted to speak with you all today about constant pain. I have fibromyalgia and have had it since 1989. I had different doctors trying to help me over the years. Medications would upset my stomach are swelling so eventually I gave up. I also have a back problem and so I go to Pain Mgt. for that. The pain medication I take for my back does not work for fibromyalgia, So I’m here to tell you that I go to a rheumatologist now. I do have osteoarthritis and he has run quite a few test on my blood. I do have quite a few symptoms of something autoimmune. The doctor is not sure what it is yet, but he put me on hydroxy chloroquine. A lot of patients do take it for inflammation in their body . My CRP was mildly elevated. So my doctor felt it was time to have for the new medication. He has started me on a low dose and will monitor me so for now you all who have fibromyalgia hang in there. I don’t regret seeing a rheumatologist. They are very intelligent and they know more than you realize. I sure hope that y’all can get Help like I did. It’s going to take a while for me to see the results, but I’m hanging in there and willing to try. I understand the hydroxychloroquine is supposed to intervene and keep the inflammation from happening.

Hi, Another Elaine on board, Chronic Pain....I recently joined, just to cope with Chronic Pain. I had four surgeries in four years, lived with a colostomy bag and did a take down, then 11 weeks later, found more of the same, a leak, in the upper intestines, another surgery and that was a tough one, ended up with a ileostomy bag for almost another year, and then take down, but I lost my core strength and end up with terrible scoliosis, my back is bent into a inverted V, ended up also with nighttime incontinence. I also lost five inches in height. Two years after surgery, I went into see my Doctor, and he ordered a MRI, his first words after reading it was " Yours is the worst back I have ever seen". " Gee Thanks?" I have been on Oxycodone for a couple of years, started with a small dose and would love to keep it small, but that is not the nature of the beast, I have a good Doc, who listens to me, and helps me choose more options, I have tried it all, surgery is not a option for me at this time... I'm struggling, my family while supportive is sick of hearing about it, I understand that empathy has a shelf life, but I have to live with it, and find myself not always coping well. My husband takes the brunt of it, and while I apologize. I really need some people in my life who also deal with chronic pain. Reading about what you all are going through, makes me realize how much courage it takes to live this life. And I appreciate all of your stories, and what you are trying to do. Thank you. Elaine.

@elaineinmontana60 H Elaine,
I feel your pain. No seriously, I do. I have a very bad back and I’ve been on Duloxitine for 20 years. I have a complete cervical fusion, a complete lumbar fusion, an SI joint fusion. I supposedly have fibromyalgia but don’t recall having been tested for it. A back injury 10 years ago didn’t help.
Chronic pain really gets old.
I’ve read that Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center has a vagus nerve stimulator implant that helps with pain so you might want to check that out. I was looking into it but haven’t followed up. I’m just tired of going to docs.
Hope this group can be the support we need. Hope you find relief in whatever form.

Hello. I am Jerry I had hip replacement on 1/07/2025. Since then I cannot walk more than 100 feet During surgery the hip flexor was damaged. My doctor had NO IDEA. why. Nine months later sports medicine Dr. suggested an injection into the ILIOPSOAS pocket. Worked great but relieved 1/2 of the leg pain. Unfortunately I also have problems with L3,4,5. I was taking 3200mg of OTC pain killers and gabapentin per day for 120 days. I looked for something more permanent. FOUND. GUMMIES. Works good. It has been over a year I started at 50mg and now need 100mg. Works out to about $1.50 day. I take a Hybrid Smoke shops can help educate you on products Hope this is of some help. Namaste

@2brussels Thank you. On many levels. I had to go and look up what Duloxitine was, do you feel it has helped you? I am very nervous about taking more pills, I had enough of that for four plus years. How do you cope with your chronic pain if you don't mind me asking?
I do have a Ecoin, implanted to help with the nighttime incontinence. IT has done wonders for me, and recently had it turned up.
I also have a wonderful PT person, who works exclusively with scar tissue, that has helped,
I am also tired of going to the doc's, and have tried just about anything and everything....I recently went for a test to see if a ablation(sp?) would work, the test alone was so painful, six shots in the back, and the lidocaine didn't touch it, I screamed. And then had to endure five more, while they held me down....I still have some bad dreams about that one. And the test was inconclusive, yep, not going back there again.