Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

Thinking of you. Good luck with exploring a new support group. It sounds promising. Will you keep us posted on your progress?

Hi Rachel. Thank's for the quote. I have already printed and framed it and put it in my living room next to the serenity prayer. Darryl

Hello! I've been diagnosed with Small Fiber (Poly-) Neuropathy. I have pain due to sensory symptoms (mostly aches and shock-like pains) as well as autonomic effects (gut pain, esp. at night) from Slow Transit Constipation). I'm in a local pain support group, which is helpful. I also take Cymbalta for the sensory nerve pain and use medical cannibis to help me get to sleep. The hardest part is finding good medical care. It took me three years, numerous specialists, and a provisional self-diagnosis using info from the web to get to the SFN testing. I tried to schedule a follow-up appointment with my gastroenterologist in May 2022, and was told that her first opening is in Sept. 2023. And nobody (except the sympathetic PCP it took me years to find) wants to prescribe opioids, even when badly needed.

Hi, I'm Marie!
For the past 2 1/2 years, I've been the primary caregiver for my mom who's 86 with chronic conditions- diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, arthritis, and most recently MCI -Alzheimer's. With significant changes to her diet, we've brought her A1C from 10.2 to 6.1, removed one of her diabetes meds and her blood pressure is better managed. Life has been challenging but we're doing ok. I'm so happy to have found this resource and group. I have some questions about hemp-based CBD topical creams for her pain management but I'll search the topics first to see if there are any previous discussions.
Thanks.

I’m sorry for your symptoms. I have migraine and spine issues.
Migraines are managed with Nurtec and Rizatriptan. Spine issues are spondylitis ,bulging disc and now osteoporosis.
I moved back to northeast and I have not found any true pain management like I had in south Florida! I live on Tylenol 500 mg vitamins water and MMJ.

Hello Marie @mdselky81, Welcome to Connect. That is fantastic news that you were able to your mom make some significant changes to better manage her health. If you haven't already found the CBD discussions for pain, here are a couple.

– CBD oil for pain https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cbd/
– Night pain: CBD, THC and sleep https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/night-pain-1/

@wsh66 @grandmajan @jmb73 and @artscaping also may have some tips to share.

You might also find the discussions in the Caregiver Support Group helpful. Here is a link to the Caregivers discussion list: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/caregivers/

Can never have too many friends. Especially one that relate & truly understand how each other feels physically and emotionally. It helps. One thing I did with my PCP who said she was trying to understand what I was trying to express, was to ask her to go to Inspire.com & LISTEN to our voices on every illness she would look up. (I hadn't found all you wonderful family at the time.) Next time I saw her she said it had changed her & now she 'sees' a person rather than a patient & really listens now. She is a beautiful young lady this old lady hopes to never lose. We can help our willing drs become better drs if they'll take the time to listen to our voices at sites like here. I think inviting them to read our voices might help some of their minds open to & not just treat us out of a book

Dr Thomas Gillespie @ St Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix performs Robotic Laparoscopic Surgery. Much less invasive and done as outpatient. My procedure was 9/2/21. Walked out cured.

Good morning my name is LynnAnnRose, Mary, Huntington. Oh, I have severe neck arthritis. Sometimes it gets so painful when it’s combined with migraines I think I should go to the emergency room but I can’t because my wife has a lung disorder and if she got Covid, it would kill her so I can’t really go find medical help right now sometimes the pain gets to be so bad that I fantasize about going to Canada and using their medical aid in dying program

I have chronic pain in both feet which is unbearable! Too many surgeries and cortizone shots which have left me with fat pad loss. I've tried everything to no avail. My Dr. says Tramadol will make me too dizzy with my other meds. Any ideas @ all? Thanks. Maria.