Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

Yes, I am meeting with the chiropractor this week to come up with a plan. I hope it helps. I can't take much more.

Sanimich I think it will at least hope this is your answer I know for myself I,ve had to have repeat visits when I leave things go to long or its really bad.Let me know thanks

@saninmich

Hi Sandy and welcome to Mayo Connect! I noticed that your posts have not gotten a lot of responses, so I wanted to let you know I'm following you. I'm a Volunteer Mentor and not a medical professional so I can't give diagnoses or medical advice. I do offer my experience, knowledge, and support.

I'm also responding to your latest post about shoveling snow when you first injured your back. Number 1, my recommendation is that you stop mowing or doing anything that causes you pain in your back! Don't lift anything that weighs more than 5 or 10 pounds either. Don't bend over to pick things up, instead stoop down using your knees, thighs and legs. If you can't do that, let someone else pick things up for you. You are going to need to accept that there are limits to the physical things you can do now.

Back injuries are serious stuff, and you don't want to cause yourself further problems in the future. If you haven't had an MRI, CT scan and/or x-rays of your spine yet, I recommend you ask your doctor to do those - my preference is an MRI as it shows both tissues and bones. You may have a bigger problem and you need to know what's going on in your back and nerves.

Since chiropractic seems to help, I would say continue it, but check with your doctor first. If your doctor doesn't want to do the MRI, etc., then either ask for a referral to a neurologist who can evaluate your back issues, or go to one yourself if you don't need a referral. Just taking pain pills and muscle relaxants treats your symptoms only. When you go, tell them you want the most conservative treatment recommendations for your diagnosis.

I'm making these recommendations from my own experiences with my back. I suffered for many years (35 or so) with lumbar pain, and the last 6 years with neck and arm pain before it got so bad that I ended up in a wheelchair! I finally got an xray in the ER for my neck and arm pain and discovered I had a compression fracture of my C7. No wonder I was in pain! It had already healed, but knowing the cause helps me to take better care of myself and listen to my body.

I was then sent to an orthopedic surgeon to get an MRI and CT scan of my entire spine. I won't go into detail about the mess they found, but it was substantial. After discussing options, I chose to have a laminectomy to remove the piece of my L5-S1 that was impinging on my spinal cord. It was a 2 hour outpatient procedure that provided immediate pain relief for the left side sciatica and nerve pain running down my leg to my toes. Whew!

But, I still had chronic pain on my right sciatic area and down my leg to my toes. I couldn't walk or use steps without extreme pain. However, the surgery for my L4 involves fusing the disks and I really didn't want to do that. Surgeon told me to try everything else to relieve my pain first. So, I tried 2 rounds of PT, acupuncture, massage, and regular chiropractic for no pain relief.

I then read about ART, Active Release Technique, which is a specialized version of chiropractic. The goal is to release muscles and nerves that have gotten bound together due to a trauma. (This sounds like your shoveling incident.) The chiropractic doctor I chose who has many certifications in ART, told me I needed 2 sessions a week for 3 weeks at $600 total. I was nervous above committing to that much money if it didn't work, but I decided to try it. After these sessions I was nearly completely pain free! I continued to get a treatment a month, and now at 1.25 years later, I am still free of that extreme pain. I do have occasional pain, but Tylenol usually takes care of it. If not, I go to my chiropractor for a session of ART. I have withdrawn from all the pain medications I was on, and I feel good. I'm nearly 70 years old.

Please keep in touch and let me know how you're doing and if this post was helpful for you. Gentle hugs. Take care of yourself.

Hello @karen00 and @sheilagawne. I thought you both may be interested in the discussion titled, Fibromyalgia Pain since you both mentioned fibromyalgia. You can check out that discussion here, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/fibromyalgia-pain-28e002/, to meet a large amount of members talking about fibro pain and how they cope with it.

Hello back! @JustinMcClanahan ! Thanks for taking the time to share that information. I read anything I can find on fibromyalgia. Knowledge is power!

@karen00
Good morning!
I just wanted to let you know that if you go on the Mayo Clinic website, they have many newsletters you can sign up for.
They do have one for FIBROMYALGIA.
Here's to a pain free day....
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

I am so glad I found this website. A good friend has been diagnosed with arachnoiditis. We am desperately seeking for a doctor who specializes in arachnoiditis and/or communicate with anybody who suffers from this devastating illness. He is looking for ways what others are using for pain management. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. We feel so helpless. Thank you in advance for your help.

Hello @llc927, welcome to Connect. Here are a couple of conversations you may find helpful to look at and introduce yourself in:

- Arachnoiditis, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/arachnoiditis/
- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/i-am-desperate-to-find-a-dr-who-treats-arachnoiditis-i-live/
- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/any-adhesive-arachnoiditis-members-here/

Thank you so much for your help, Justin.

If you don't take enough to get high, you probably would not have much in the way of withdrawal even if you stopped cold turkey. I have experienced radical dose reductions overnight and had nothing more than restless leg for 3 or 4 hours. I should point out that I resisted the temptation to take more than I was supposed to. If your meds get you high, tell your doctor what's happening and have them reduce the dose or try something different.

You may have to sign a contract in which you agree to take your meds as prescribed and to not take any other meds that were not prescribed by the doctor asking you to sign the contract. This contract allows the doctor to require a urine sample or blood test at any time.They will test for legal as well as illegal drugs. If your getting narcotics you need to get them from only one source. To treat you properly, your doctor must know that they are the only one giving you these drugs. You also agree, that if you do get meds from another source, like a visit to the ER or something from the Dentist you need to notify your doctor within a day or two. If you are not taking them because you are selling them, or giving them away, or stockpiling them for any reason, the drug tests you agree to take, will reveal this. It will also reveal if you are smoking or vaping pot or abusing over the counter meds. In fact, if your doctor seems nervous about treating you with narcotics encourage them to test you on a regular basis. This is their cover which they need to keep their licenses. The government is making their lives miserable and fearful and we can help them by cooperating with things like "pee tests". These medical professionals, whom are often criticized in these message boards, are our saviors and a the only people who stand between us and misery. It takes a lot of courage to treat pain patients in the current environment.

Take your meds as directed and don't use street drugs and you won't have to worry about withdrawal. If you have a problem with getting your meds it will probably originate with your insurance company and not your doctor.