Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

What a nice post, thank you. I forget at times to follow the suggestions you provided and find myself feeling overwhelmed with the world around me.
I am 64 years old and have had pain issues since I was in my teens. My mother and 6 other siblings have the same condition but I'm the only one who physically used my body throughout my life which resulted in my having to have multiple surgeries to repair the damage. I ended up in a wheelchair for close to 15 years, (I could walk across the room but with extreme difficulty). Through sheer determination I worked my way to using a walker, forearm crutches and then to a cane. For almost a year now I walk a mile and a half 3 to 4 times a week without the use of canes, crutches , walker or wheelchair. I eat healthy every day and have lost 20 lbs in 3 months and extremely proud of myself. I ride a mountain bike and swim. To my point now; I am still in lots of physical pain and continue to see my pain management doctor every month to get my pain pump filled. I have 5 meds in the pump currently and I listen to the doctor when he tells me what changes he has to make. Attitude is everything, seriously! Will your attitude make the pain go away, no but it will make it appear much worse. My pain doctor has sent me to a surgeon recently and I was furious. I asked why he is doing that because I will not have anymore surgeries! He stated that what I have at this point is a progressive degenerative disease and have the potential of regressing quickly where i could lose bowel and bladder control, whew, that threw me for a couple weeks. He didn't say that I will lose control, only that I might and he wanted to be prepared, have a game plan and have a relationship with a good surgeon in place "should" that day ever occur. I remember doctors 20 years ago warning me of the same thing but they never had me establish a relationship with a surgeon, this doctor did and I respect that. If and when that day ever comes I know that they will do everything in their power to help me to have a good quality of life for the rest of my life. So I ask everyone to first trust your doctor, if you cant then get one you can. Someone wrote an excellent post on here yesterday about attitude, taking one day at a time, etc., read it and live it. I hope it is printed again so that you can read it for yourselves.. There is a blue sky up there, the grass is green and you will see all that and more once again even if you are still dealing with your pain issues.

So-called science is still very archaic in coming up w/ a cure for chronic pain and only providing expensive treatment and not cures for many ailments we suffer along the way of our lives.

hurt my back exiting car last Tues. Looking for exercises to strengthen my core

Hi my name is Angela. I live in Central Florida and the last two years have been absolute hell. I've been trying to find out what is wrong with me and I was told that somehow I have ended up with spinal cord damage and I thought I had MS but the neurologist are not seeing that. I have been very depressed trying to accept my lack of Mobility. I'm only 56 and I feel like I'm twice that age. I was taking 1800 mg a day of Gabapentin but I am apparently experiencing some very bad side effects from that medication so I'm working my way off of it and now I finally have some energy to work with. I've gotten myself down to 600 milligrams per day. I think the Gabapentin has caused a lot of demyelination to occur to my nervous system and it makes me miserable. I think it's an awful drug!

@akc. I had seizure like reactions to gabapentin when I took it before. I should not have agreed to take it again with my new dr but she said gabapentin couldn’t have caused those symptoms. So the 2nd day I had the same reactions. I lose control of my hands and legs without warning. Sometimes I can’t remember a word I remembered just months ago. I can’t spell instinctively any more. I have to re-read everything and even then I don’t catch errors. I hope this isn’t permanent. I hope you get better and it isn’t this CFS.

Gabapentin 400 mg 4 x daily made my glucose drop to dangerous levels and made my BP drop. Also not a side effect per my dr. I have also noticed memory loss but its not bad. Hope you find relief
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Hi my name is Angela. I live in Central Florida and the last two years have been absolute hell. I've been trying to find out what is wrong with me and I was told that somehow I have ended up with spinal cord damage and I thought I had MS but the neurologist are not seeing that. I have been very depressed trying to accept my lack of Mobility. I'm only 56 and I feel like I'm twice that age. I was taking 1800 mg a day of Gabapentin but I am apparently experiencing some very bad side effects from that medication so I'm working my way off of it and now I finally have some energy to work with. I've gotten myself down to 600 milligrams per day. I think the Gabapentin has caused a lot of demyelination to occur to my nervous system and it makes me miserable. I think it's an awful drug!

@awareofangels 1967 OMG I too am having memory loss, I will forget doctor's names but might remember a couple hours later. I hope you find relief as well! Thank you so much for sharing. Sometimes I think this is in my head.