Hi, I have suffered with chronic pain since 1992. I injured my back at work and was unable to stand up straight, by noon I was seeing my doctor. He refered me to an orthopedic specicialist, within 6 months I had physical therapy, all kinds of test, then they did back surgery. The surgery took 8 hours, and I woke up on pain pump & unable to turn myself for a week, left hospital with no rehab. being done and in a wheelchair. Within 30 days I was back in ER in excruating pain, bone fragments had gotten loose and were down in my sciatica area. They did another 9 hour surgery right away. I woke up in ICU with spinal miningitis. Left hospital again in wheelchair, determined not to stay in wheelchair because my youngest son was only 2 at the time. I did make it out of that chair, and was able to hold my son again, but was never able to work again, ( really miss working), and found out that the metal put in my back during surgery was not FDA approved for backs only for hip & knee surgery. So they removed the plates & screws, and my back began falling apart literally...so now my strengh in my back is awful, disk are all falling apart, herniated & ruptured. I am on total disability now, I had a very good pain doctor for 13 years, he went on to become a Medical Director for Hospic. So I haven't been able to find a good pain doctor since, that has been over a year. I suffer daily with pain so bad that I am not even hungry anymore, can't sleep, No Quality of Life at all!!!!! Can no longer live alone, have caregiver, alot of depression...I have a 2 1/2 year old grandson that I seldom see because of my pain. I don't want him to see me in all of this pain, it just makes me cranky & so not myself. In fact I have not really been myself since my first back surgery. How do they expect us to keep fighting to survive when doctors won't help us to fight the pain, it really gets old and very hard to keep on going...can anyone relate??!! God Bless All..Gina54

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