Hi @19lin. Welcome to Connect! I understand your concerns and this is a great forum in which to discuss them. I'm tagging @mlemieux, @suebreen54 and @leh09 who may be interested in discussing this as well. I'm also moving your post over to a thread called "Chronic pain - Let's talk" as I think it's a good fit for this discussion.

Thank you, I though I was in the Chronic pain group?

You may have been, but this particular thread has been really active recently, so I moved you over here in hopes you could join the conversation 🙂 Some threads are more active than others, so I wanted you to get the most interaction.

How do I get on the thread chronic pain lets talk?

Thank you I appreciate it, but how do you get to this site when I sign on I can not find it?

Hello. I hadn't heard that some groups were wanting to ban pain medications. I do know that after 11 years of trying to find the cause of my pain, it continues and has gotten worse. There has been no Doctor or treatment that has helped me longterm. And I have been to numerous doctors, practitioners etc. and have had and tried every treatment out there available performed, with the exception of a major surgical procedure. I have had one minor back surgery. My fear is that I will be confined to a wheelchair. I take a pain pill for sleep only, unless my pain gets so bad that nothing else relieves it. I do believe that unless you have experienced pain and know how the chronic condition works, you do not understand it. It is a situation that isn't understood by many. Our culture is so OC about physical superiority. It is a mindset and pervasive in our culture. Therefore, pain sometimes isn't "legitimate". It is important to be active, and people are very lucky if they "just have their health" and can remain active. I had been active-a swimmer, runner, etc. but can no longer swim, do yoga, etc.-even walk. I continue to hope and pray that there is some doctor out there who can help me regain my life. Until then (and numerous appointments and medical bills), I have to rely on a minor opioid medication. I certainly hope that pain medicine isn't banned. Unless those people trying to deny it to patients legitimately in pain truly understand what chronic pain is, they should not be making any significant medical decisions. It needs to be left in the hands of the patient and their doctor. Hopefully their doctor isn't only practicing for greed and has the patient's best interests at heart. Those "high profile cases" involving the very wealthy who have overdosed should not be the guideline to set the standard.

Pain meds don’t help you, try no hard it is to get off those things Her is a bit of my background.

To start off with I don’t really have much to live for anymore. I’m 60 years old, I am not young, I have had a full life, the person who i loved more than anybody or anything, took her one life, two weeks after I got the infection.

I had an infection on my C5 through my C7 from a disk replacement surgery that I had done on that part of my neck, September 7th, On October 3rd, 2023, I had to be rushed to the emergency hospital from the pain i developed from the surgery, after three emergency hospitals, and tons of test, and when I started to lose the mobility of my body from my neck down, they ended doing an emergency surgery, they took out the artificial disk from the first surgery, and they fused my neck. I woke up completely paralyzed from the neck down, I had a tiny little movement in my right hand, the doctor came in and said I would never walk again. The next day I ended up getting some mobility back in my right side and as time went it continued to improve, a week later they put me into a rehab, to work on getting to place I could take care of myself.

I have numbness and burning from my neck down, my penis and my balls burn, my bladder and bowel‘s work very poorly, my sexual functions barely work and when it does get hard it burns and has numbness and is not enjoyable in any way whatsoever, It’s been ten months and I still have all the the same symptoms, what has continued to get better is my mobility, but now it has plateaued!

Like I stated in the very beginning my girlfriend killed her self two weeks after I got the infection. Which was devastating because I loved her so much!

My left leg is stuck where it’s at. I have mobility in the rest of my body, but I walk very poorly because of the nerve pain and because of the paralyzation, the pain is unbearable most of the time day in a day out.

I am on a lot of pain pills, oxycodone on Lyrica and muscle relaxers, and Benzo’s for my depression. I cry all the time and don’t have anything to fight for. I sound pathetic but that is wear i am at, i feel like eating a gun barrel all the time!

But I finally got off the pain meds and my brain is functioning completely different! I have more than I have had through all through this nightmare I am living, and I have exhausted everything and everyone to find a solution and there is not much anyone can do for me!