Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

@sdgoddard I'm so sorry about your horrible headache this morning. Thankfully, you have migraine meds. Have they helped? What a gift your wife is and how nice that she massages your neck and back. Does ice temporarily relieve any of your neuralgia or migraine pain?

If you are feeling like you need assistance, call or text 988, the 988 Suicide & Crisis:

- https://988lifeline.org/

Have you sought the support of a psychologist during this challenging time? Learning coping strategies and stress management tools can help you work towards feeling more in control of your pain versus the other way around. Positive self-talk helps me a lot, and getting through the next 5 minutes.

When you're overwhelmed, it feels real difficult to handle, but I think you are stronger than you realize. You are persevering to find answers and an understanding of your diagnosis so that you can move forward to a plan of action. Be proud of that and keep your focus on hope. There IS HOPE. Give yourself grace. You've got this!

Hi! I was asked what I'm doing to distract me from my crps pain. A little after sunrise, I take my best friend, my little dog for about 45 min. walk. I really enjoy the calm refreashing air and looking at nature. Very relaxing. During the day, I have learned to put on a soft rock CD's, as pain and anxiety builds, like James Taylor, Micheal McDonald or Dan Folgelburg ect. I know by listing these artist I'm really dating myself. I also will try to find something light, like a comedy movie on TV. Then, about an hour before sunset, my best friend and I go for another long walk, talking to neighbor's along the way, until almost dark. These are thing's that I have learned, from this site in the last month, that I need to do to get out of the worst place for me, my head. Thank's , Darryl

@drg24242 Good stuff here, Darryl. I'm happy to hear that you've learned helpful tools from Connect and are applying them. Awesome! Thank you for sharing that.

Pets are healing and helpful, I'm glad you have one, and that you get out and have a routine. Talking to the neighbors is nice for socialization. Do you ever visit with any of them?

@calimesapeg . I worked with a wonderful functional medicine/integrative medical doctor who was trained in the S.H.I.N.E protocol promoted by Dr. Teitelbaum. I thought I was dieing from lyme disease and consulted her. She specialized in tick borne diseases, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. After an extensive work up, she diagnosed chronic fatigue. She started me on the SHINE protocol, which included taking his supplements and following the other lifestyle recommendations. It really worked for me and restored me to good health. The sad thing was my health insurance didn't pay for my visits to her or the supplements. Anyway, I totally recommend him, his supplements, and his protocol. You can find practitioners who are trained in his methods on his website. endfatigue.com, I don't think it is a good idea to embark on a program or take a bunch of supplements without proper medical supervision so hope you can find someone near you. Good luck! Nancy

Hi. Sorry it took me so long to say thank-you for thinking of me.On thursday I saw my pain dr. By then I was almost suffering total withdrawl. In order to get off opiods I had gone from taking Buprenorphine 10 mcg/hour to norco 5-325 for about 9 days. He put me back on Buprenorphine but down from previos to 5 mcg/hour and it has taken me a few days to adjust.
Some positive news. Also I saw a neurologist, also on thursday, that is very up to date with the crps condition I have had for about 9 months. First of all he, even has posted in lobey, that he will spend as much time with patient as needed. I was there for over an hour. My crps has always been from elbow to tip of fingers but on 6/11/22 I felt numbnes and tingling go up from elbow all the way to left side of face including corner of eye. Two other dr's had told that they suppected pinched nerve in neck. my new neurologist imediately confirmed, what I supected,it was expantion of my crps. We have made a plan to try to get try to stop it there and maybe get things settled down. I am having a nerve conduction test with him on 8/4 to see how much nerve damage has already been done and go from there Sorry about rambling but I had a lot I needed to get out. Thank's for listning, Darryl

Hi
My name is Genie.
I have Neueopathy in my feet & legs. I am on 900 mg of Gabapentin & 60 mg of Cymbalta. I keep increasing it & it just doesn't help.
I am at the point where I am pretty much homebound bc it is hard to walk for long periods of time.
I also have abdominal adhesions that I have from past endometriosis surgeries.
The pain is unbearable & I don't know what to do.
Any suggestions?

Hi Genie @tigreyes2004, I'm sorry to hear you are in so much pain from your neuropathy. Have you looked into any of the alternative treatments or complementary therapies to see if they might help? You can find more information here: https://www.foundationforpn.org/living-well/.

Also, I'm wondering if you've seen the discussion on member neuropathy journey stories and read what various members have shared that helped them. Here is the discussion:
-- Member Neuropathy Journey Stories: What's Yours?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/member-neuoropathy-journey-stories-whats-yours/

Hoping that you find some relief.

Thank you Jim but I have looked into everything & nothing helps & from the people's stories I have read there is nothing out there.
I guess you just have to keep trying & take one day at a time.
I will look into it though. Anything is worth a try.
I went to PT & they said there was nothing they could do for Neuropathy.
I thought the water therapy would work but they told me it was just for overweight people so that didn't do me any good.
God bless genie

Hi and welcome to the funny farm.
First don't get down about the pain. Embrace it as it's now a part of you. While few will tell you to do that, the truth is once you do it makes it easier to deal with. My biggest suggestion is to learn how to meditate! While I am on meds to help with the pain, it does help. I tend to get more help by being able to lower the pain levels through my mind. If that makes since? Our mind is our most powerful tool when it comes to dealing with pain.

Do you have a good pain management Doctor? Are you able to talk to someone about the way you feel being homebound? Both of those are important because you need a good support system to help with the pain and to keep from getting depressed.

Just remember you are not alone on this journey, there are plenty of us here as well as around you that suffer with chronic pain.

Hello. IPam.