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Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

Chronic Pain | Last Active: 18 hours ago | Replies (7067)
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@luciaf

Hello,
I cannot express how happy I was to find these support groups and to realize there is a good place to share. Thank you for being there for everyone.

I lived overseas in Eastern Europe for 21 years where I taught at an American university. Since COVID helped encourage me to come back to the US, I have come to realize how much I need peer and professional support. I am afflicted w severe osteoarthritis and have a lot of metal in my knees and in my spine. I have not been lucky getting the pain under control despite using a well-respected local pain clinic and having regular and varied treatments, blocks and steroids.
I just began my retirement but I still teach on line now and it is what “saves” me. As I age (now 72), I realize how vulnerable age makes us feel and how we get dismissed with “old person” statements. If another doctor says to me “You know you are at that age” and pats my hand, I will jump across the desk at him (and yes, mainly male docs say this).

Anyway, I look forward to getting to know some of you soon.
Lucia

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Replies to "Hello, I cannot express how happy I was to find these support groups and to realize..."
Rachel, Volunteer Mentor | @rwinney | Apr 10, 2023

@luciaf Hello and welcome to Connect, Lucia -
It's nice to have you join the conversation. Welcome to the US, as well!

Your acknowledgement of needing peer and professional support is a big step that some may never seek or acknowledge. Good for you for self advocating! I myself, being faced with job loss and life changes from chronic pain in my 40's, came to the realization that I needed peer and professional support in order to learn stress-management and other tools in order to navigate my way through physical, emotional and behavioral changes.

I may not be able to relate to your conveyed statement of if another doctor says - “You know you are at that age”, but sure as heck like anticipated head response. Haha!

If you don't mind sharing... what type of professional support have you sought out? In what ways has it helped and how?

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