Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

Hi, my name is Warren. I have dry eye disease, whose cause has yet to be determined (after 6 years). I don't have pain in the sense of "hurt", but I do have it in the sense of irritation that is constant any time I have my eyes open. For that reason it seems I am more similar and sympathetic to people who have chronic pain than other types of disorders. People do not understand how it feels to constantly have sand in your eyes, or large foreign objects, and burning, and when one looks--there's nothing there! When I leave home or go outdoors, I find that wearing a snug-fitting pair of high-school chemistry lab goggles help keep my eyes from drying out so fast helps, but it is humiliating, and you should hear the comments some people make! I've said enough for now, but I am so glad to be part of this group. I hope I can help some of you. Thanks. Warren

Hello and welcome to all of our new members, @sunshineme, @janicedean, @granny988, @hosta, @hemraj, and @lauriedr! We're thrilled to have you all as part of the Chronic Pain group. And appreciate you sharing a little bit about yourself in this thread. I'd also like to introduce you all to existing members of the Chronic Pain group, @leh09, @19lin, @suebreen54, @ladyjane85, @briansr, @salena54, @sharonmay7, and @lolomarie.

Hello group! I'm almost 34 years old and suffer from Chronic pain. I have had 16 surgeries and have been a patient at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale for almost 3 years now but I live in Idaho and have to travel down to Arizona every three months for a month or so of treatment and testing and Doctor appointments and just even thinking of packing and flying down makes me hurt even more. But in all seriousness I do struggle with the long trip down to Scottsdale and then making it to all of my appointments and giving hundreds of vials of blood and doing all the test and my existence is just painful all the time 24/7! I have a pain Doctor in Boise but they make everyone at their clinic only take extremely low doses of pain medication a day and DONT GET ME WRONG I WOULD KILL TO NEVER HAVE TO EVEN LOOK AT A NARCOTIC PAINKILLER AGAIN BUT I DONT EVEN GET TO A 5-6 ON THE PAIN SCALE!

I'm Jim, turning 66 tomorrow, 8/10/16. I'm here because of idiopathic peripheral neuropathy pain and for mental health issues, specifically depression, anxiety and PTSD. I've been seeking help for the chronic pain for around 3 years. Clinical depression was diagnosed 13-14 years ago. I've seen therapists between 2006 and 2015, and see a psychiatrist to check in with meds every 3 months. Dealing with such long term depression has been difficult and discouraging. I've tried every medication available to treat neuropathy, now on Cymbalta, tapering off morphine sulfate. Duloxetine (Cymbalta) is the last med on the list.

I retired at 55 on the advice of doctors and a psychiatrist, and was approved for Social Security disability for mental health, including multiple suicide attempts. My wife and I have only my Social Security income, but we're fortunate to own our home, with no mortgage and no car payments, so with EBT and a couple of other assistance resources, we can survive.

I don't know how much of this introduction is made public, so I'll leave it at that.

Hi, My name is Rich Carlson. I have Peripheral Neuropathy with about a 10+ year history. I currently take Lyrica 300 mg qid, Cymbalta 30 mg daily, OTC Tylenol and Advil qid. My primary physician has referred me to a Medical Marijuana center. Has anyone here ever tried this? If so, did it help. My pain has incapacitated me to point where I would try most anything that works to relieve my pain.

I'm Jim, turning 66 tomorrow, 8/10/16. I'm here because of idiopathic peripheral neuropathy pain and for mental health issues, specifically depression, anxiety and PTSD. I've been seeking help for the chronic pain for around 3 years. Clinical depression was diagnosed 13-14 years ago. I've seen therapists between 2006 and 2015, and see a psychiatrist to check in with meds every 3 months. Dealing with such long term depression has been difficult and discouraging. I've tried every medication available to treat neuropathy, now on Cymbalta, tapering off morphine sulfate. Duloxetine (Cymbalta) is the last med on the list.

I retired at 55 on the advice of doctors and a psychiatrist, and was approved for Social Security disability for mental health, including multiple suicide attempts. My wife and I have only my Social Security income, but we're fortunate to own our home, with no mortgage and no car payments, so with EBT and a couple of other assistance resources, we can survive.

I don't know how much of this introduction is made public, so I'll leave it at that.

I've wondered what other people's opinions were about nerve stimulator. I<br>hesitate to have it because it complicates things if I need an MRI.<br>

Hi, my name is Warren. I have dry eye disease, whose cause has yet to be determined (after 6 years). I don't have pain in the sense of "hurt", but I do have it in the sense of irritation that is constant any time I have my eyes open. For that reason it seems I am more similar and sympathetic to people who have chronic pain than other types of disorders. People do not understand how it feels to constantly have sand in your eyes, or large foreign objects, and burning, and when one looks--there's nothing there! When I leave home or go outdoors, I find that wearing a snug-fitting pair of high-school chemistry lab goggles help keep my eyes from drying out so fast helps, but it is humiliating, and you should hear the comments some people make! I've said enough for now, but I am so glad to be part of this group. I hope I can help some of you. Thanks. Warren

I am 63 years old. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, CMS and chronic fatigue syndrome in 2007. At the time I had a viral panel done that showed that, while I had antibodies for nearly everything except Lyme Disease, I had an active Epstein Barr infection. While I have never been able to make the connection, I don't believe in coincidences.

I am lucky enough to be able to work from home. This gives me the schedule flexibility to function.

I have been through all of the medication protocols that the "experts" around here come up with, and none have worked for me. I had terrible reactions to Lyrica and Cymbalta, and the rest didn't work. Despite what doctors think, anti-depressants do not work as pain killers for me.

My most recent issue has created terrible problems for me. 16 months ago I had serious open rotator cuff surgery. This required amputation of the end of my collarbone to remove large bone spurs, as well as repair of a large, full-thickness rotator cuff tear. I went through 6 months of PT and continue to work out at a gym. However, I still have severe shoulder pain. I have seen pain management specialists, neurologists and rheumatologists. Those who didn't make me worse told me to get lost.

I really think I have reached the end of my rope, and don't seem to have anywhere else to turn.