Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

@majake I can relate about back pain and I have o.a. all through my body also fracture the best for me is chair exercises In the beginning yes it hurt but I kept at it and now I look forward to exercising as I know afterwards I will feel better I believe in helping myself with holistic medicine I also use heat and ice when needed Hope some of this helps. I do get depressed at times but get out and do something. For me I take St John,s Wort as I dont take a blood thinner .

Hi Catherine! This is Allison! My heart reaches out to you! Being in pain is so hard. I am in chronic pain due to breast cancer and all of the surgeries related to the disease. I found some relief through saccupuncture. Sorry I can’t get the s out. I just wanted to share this with you. Give it a try.

Thoughtfully,
Allison

Recognizing depression can be hard. Haven't you ever heard a person say, "Look at the world, look at the way we let others live" or any of many other complaints and say, "How could I not be sad", "I'm not depressed, it's (add your maslady), that's making me sad. Been there, done that. Sometimes we also enjoy the drama of the depression in our lives and we wallow in it. Denial, come in many forms.

Situational depression is the easiest to deal with. That's the one that falls under, "It's not what happens to us, but how we look at what happens to us. In any case there are 3 therapies. Pills, anti depressives. talk therapy, counseling, individual or group and the one we talk less about. Bibliotherapy, that's right, reading about the causes and the effects of depression. Books like, "The Four Agreements", by Miguel Ruiz or Feeling Good by David Burns, Here are two links to get those books. I'm sure they are available at the library as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/0380810336
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319
Hears the tally on these three. All three treatments work to alleviate depression. Any two of the three work twice as well as any one of the three. All three together work three times as well as any one of the three. David Burns explains this in greater detail in "Feeling Good".

A forth treatment I engaged in is tapping. If you or anyone else you know is depressed ypu should know about "tapping". There are many forms of tapping. Only one has been tested and patented. I believe it is called "Thought Field Therapy" but I'm not sure. I've got a call i to get the answer and hopefully the algorithms, (the instructions for how you tap, 2where and how many times. The first time you encounter it you think someone has lost their mind but trust me, this stuff works. I remember so little of the details because I only did it for a few days and it absolutely extincted the worst symptoms of my depression, intrusive repetitive thoughts and insomnia.

If and when I get the info I'll post it here, Good luck and Love and Blessings

@gingerw Hi Ginger, hope you and hubby are ok after your experience. I need your help. I need to talk. I fell yesterday- on both knees. It is now excruciating to walk or stand up or sit down. I have cried all day with the pain. The EMS wanted me to go to ER but I foolishly declined. I should have gone. Now I have to make it tilll Monday and my pain dr appt. I don’t know if I can. I don’t have enough pain meds-we had to postpone the visit. I am existing on Tylenol. Please, if any of you believe, pray for a release of my pain. Thanks for reading this!.......Karen

@karen00 Can you put ice on your knees to alleviate the pain? Do you have access to call an advice nurse at the hospital, for advice to get you thru to Monday? Is there an urgent care facility you can go to? You already have so much going on, it's hard to hear yet more coming your way!
Ginger

Karen, Do you still have the option of going to the ER?

@terri672 Hi Terri, yes I do. Anytime.

@grandmar Hello, I haven’t talked to you lately and just wanted to see how you are doing? I did a “Grandma R” yesterday and fell! That makes twice for me in a month. I really hurt myself and should have gone to the ER. But I worry about $ all the time. My knees have had me in tears all day. I hope you are ok. Thinking oh you!..........Karen

@karen00
Good Morning,
Thanks for checking on me!
So sorry, you fell! You've fallen twice this month? Do you know why???
Karen, I know you worry about $, but you have to worry about yourself, too. When you fall, they reason for the falls and the consequences from a fall can be serious and MUST be checked out by a professional. I'm certainly no doctors, but maybe you should be using a cane or some kind of assistive walking device. I worry about you. Do you have medical insurance???
I'm OK. I am still suffering from pain, but I do not believe it has anything to do with my surgeries or my back, per se. I'm in PT and my therapist, who has known me for a while, says that because of the way I have been walking (for so long), I've weakened the muscles on one side of my body which makes my inappropriate walking a negative cycle. My legs are weak still weak and each morning I wake up in pain all over my body. Think it's the arthritis. It takes me about 1 hour after I awake to get myself moving. I'll be seeing a neurologist (as per my neurosurgeon's suggestion) at the end of January. Perhaps she'll be able to give me some idea of what she thinks is going on with my legs.
Anyway, let's try to have a happy holiday season!
Hope you had a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Feel good and please get yourself checked out and get yourself a cane!

Warm thoughts,
Ronnie

@grandmar Hey Ronnie, thanks for the sweet reply. I’m going to my pain doctor on Monday- he has extensive ER experience so if I can make it that long, it will be good. I can never sleep for more than 3hours at the time, but now it’s an hour. The lack of sleep and pain gave me a breakdown this morning-lots of crying. My right leg is so swollen with lymphedema that I can’t even get it into bed. I have to sleep with 1foot on the floor. It’s just one of those days! I do have a walker and was using it when I tripped. it went flying and so did I. Your therapist says you've weakened your muscles- does that mean your legs, too?
Let’s keep hope alive! For a good outcome! Oh....yes I have soc security disability insurance but that sure doesn’t pay everything!

Karen