Feeling helpless

Chastity,, why is it you take no pain medication? And what trauma has happened to your neck to cause that much Degenerative disk disease?

H Chastity @sassylynn welcome to Connect, thank you for joining us. What leaves you feeling like there is no hope? Do you feel misdiagnosed? Do you feel there is more to it than doctors have presented? Do you feel like you have no pain management plan? Please fill me in on specifics so I or other members can offer help.

I'm also 52 with chronic pain. When I first came to Connect 3 years ago I was searching for answers. I went through real bad times of hopelessness and actually posted about my fear of not being able to be a good grandmother one day due to my conditions. Fear and uncertainty got the best of me. I understand where you are coming from.

I am here now to tell you that there is hope. I found it and I think you will too. Please know that positivity, as hard as it can be to find, has to be front and center in order to conquer.

I look forward to hearing back from you and for your answers to my earlier questions. Do you mind sharing more specifics so we can try to help?

I can simpathize with everyone who is left feeling helpless. Sometimes the medical community doesn't follow up when they don't find quick answers. In my case i have several issues. It started with what was thought to be IBS after a trip to Southeast Asia. After a year of seeing doctors they came up with nothing. Then for the last 18 months I have had off and on pain in the right side of my shest near the breast bone that sometimes causes shoulder blade pain. I keep in faily good shape but at 67 it could be anything. It started as a pinching sensation..Then more like a sharp pain that is mildly worse with deep breathing. I am a serious weightlifter and I do smoke but have quit several times for months. The doc sent me to have a stress test and it showed very mild coronary artery disease. I don't know if the pain is related but I think not. I noticed that it sometimes gets worse when I smoke.. The symptoms started 18 months ago a few weeks after I started lifting weight again after a layoff. I also get shortness of breath , randomly and not necessarily due to activity. Like I have said I have been to the doctors several times with nothing new about possible causes. Also had been diagnosed with gerd 20 years ago but that hasn't seemed to be a problem lately.. So, yes..I feel helpless too.

Have you been checked for an ulcer??

It started in 2018 after a trip to the third world... They did all the obvious tests for pathogens all negative...
Then they thought re emergence of IBS... inconclusive ..so after 2 1/2 years they sent me to a gastrointerologist.
He did atimed hydrogen breath test.. which was negative... and that was that.. they didn't figure it out so they streeted me.
I thought maybe lung problems as I did work in the petrochemical industry for 30 years.. but in 2015 they did pet scans that were negative..
Physically I don't look the part for all these problems.. I am 67 but look to be in my late 40's... and I think that is part of the problem.. I look to be in better shape than most of the doctors I see.. and they are generally in their early 40's... It's frustrating.
No have never been checked for ulcers ...

I worked several years around petrochemicals and I was required to be routinely tested for acetone or similar chemicals in my blood. Luckily for me, the tests results were negative.

I believe that there is a type of respiratory problem that causes the type of chest pain or problem you are describing. I suffer quite debilitating chest and upper back pain when I inhale paint fumes, smoke of any kind, air in a place where pets reside, even an asthma
Pump unless used cautiously and I inhale slowly. The things that I am sensitive to will cause an irritation of the airway which is painful and consequently results in muscle spasm of the airways which is more painful. Strictly speaking this is not asthma.
Doctors call it “twitchy airways”
It has to do with the muscles in the chest that control breathing. It’s difficult to deal with.Along with the chest pain It makes taking every breath an effort. Really the only solution is to figure out what you are sensitive to and stay away from things that cause this problem for you. I also have IBS but have never been to Asia.
I hope you can identify a cause for your chest pain. There are some conditions that searching for a medical diagnosis and solution are fruitless. They are a condition that are just a fact of life for some people. Better to make changes in our life that avoid the problem rather than looking for a cure unless the condition is impossible to live with.

Have a celiac blood test. IBS is not contagious or caused by a parasite. It is a dysfunctional problem. There is no test for it. Going on a trip to Asia would have nothing to do with it.

Unfortunately once you get to a certain point medicine abandons you. Or at least they did me. In 1991 I blew two discs in my lower back. The docs just thought it was soft tissue. I told them many times it was worse. My GP eventually sent me to a Psychiatrist. She believed it was all in my head and put me on tricyclic antidepressants. The pain continued and got worse.. I went back to my GP and told her I was not leaving her office until I had a referral for an MRI. She finally gave in. Then a few days latter I received a call from her telling me I needed specialized treatement as i had very serious back problems.. That was 10 years after the initial injury.. I'll make this short. My back from my sacrum to my neck was so bad that a top surgeon in California told me I am not a surgical candidate. They sent me to pain clinics for spinal injections, psycal theraphy and every other treatment known to me. In the end I was a medication patient only. The a few high profile patients abused opiates and it became front page news. The response from congress was restrict such meds, that for some are the only thing left for any quality of life, The pain clinic I went to kicked over 200 patients to the curb. A 30 day supply, no titration off them, no medical supervision , nothing. 3 patients I know of killed themselves, more went to the streets for illegal drugs, several died from fentanyl laced heroin, still others became alcoholics... While their doctors told them to meditate the pain away. There is no metaphysical solution to a structural problem..period. It can assist but it cannot alleviate it. Medicine and politics merged and because of this , people who have no other answers must do what they must.. Pain is one the strongest motivators ..and when traditional medicine abandons people they are left to fend for themselves. Family and friends get weary of the complaining. They get weary of those that try to self medicate because they have no other answers and no further help.. My sipnal problems remain untreated ever since the government decided to restrict the one thing that gave some quality of life.. So, sorry to tell you by that is the cold hard truth...

The slam-down on painkillers for essentially all, because some rogue elements sell them, and another misuses them, is stunning governmental malfeasance in my opinion. I don't (currently) need any painkillers, but had I not had the security blanket of their availability after a back injury resulting in four herniated discs, life would have been very dark indeed. But they made physical therapy possible long enough to recover mobility and the opportunity to continue to improve via acupuncture and other efforts.