Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

@peach414144 Hi Peach hope your day is going well . I have taken Tramadol 50 mg since my 1st fracture in 05 now I have a 2nd fracture and Tylenol doesn't do anything for me . I stick to my Tramadol Had a nice pot luck here for Labor Day . Now making chicken salad . Resting is next . Take care

Hello. I am a 71 year old woman who has dealt with fibromyalgia for most of my adult life. Fortunately, I have a physician who acknowledges and validates the pain. He has worked with me through the last 10 years to find the right level of medications without having me take more than I should. He has guided me toward appropriate exercise, yoga, massage, cognitive changes, and relaxation. In October, he wants me to take a class about dealing with chronic pain ( which the Mayo system is teaching).

Fibro is not my only challenge. I have had a headache since September of 2014. Botox has helped a little, but it never totally goes away. I have Sjogren’s and Raynaud’s syndromes and take Plaquenil for a high CL level. Last fall I began to lose my sense of taste. Now my tongue stings around the edges. I have GERD. My balance has gradually deteriorated. Neuropathy in my feet has certainly not helped that problem.

In spite of it all, I feel pretty lucky because I’m maintaining some quality of life. Lots of days are not so good, but then some good ones come along, and they really give me hope.

Hello, my name is Renee B (Faithwalker007). I live in Wyoming and was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 2 (Causalgia) last year. I developed CRPS due to my right knee replacement in May of 2017 when somehow, the surgeons permanently damaged my lumbosacral plexus. It took nine doctors, and a long time before someone finally figured why I hurt so bad in my back and right leg and foot, AND couldn't lift my foot (drop foot in my right foot) besides simply telling me, "it's in your head," or "give it some time, it will go away."
Even now, after insertion of a DRG Spinal Stimulator that takes care of only 10-15% of the pain, if that, and having to take a crapload daily dose of narcotics, my life is only a shell of what it used to be. I can't drive, stand, sit (for any length of time), cook, clean, hunt, fish, camp . . . well, you get the point. In fact, I will be migrating to a mobility scooter soon and adjusting the training of my Service Dog-to-be to include wheelchair duties.
This would not be as bad to cope with as it seems if my husband was not already officially disabled with Traumatic Chronic Pain Syndrome. He's had a total of 38 surgeries with most of his adult procedures on soft tissue and joint repair. He needs at least three or four more and is suffering intense pain while he struggles to provide care for me, his wife who was once the breadwinner of our home.

We are Christians and continue to fight on with the strength of the Lord within us and around us. I won't sugarcoat our lives though. It's hard. Very hard. Each day, week, sometimes, each minute is difficult, but we will keep fighting. Why? Because we will not give up and let the pain win the war. Many others in the state, country... world suffer worse than we possibly can do each day. Many will die before we will lay our heads on our pillows tonight. The least we can do is honor them by not surrendering before our time is due.

Do I have questions? Yes. Will I answer some if I can? Absolutely. It's nice to meet you and all walking, crawling, rolling, lying along this path. It's good to know I'm (we're) not alone. 🙂

My neck has no sponges inbtw vertebrae, L2 and 3 sitting on a nerve makes my hands numb, L6 and 7 siacta also had 12 surgeries to get implants in after bilateral mastectomy

Hello my name is Micheala, I am from Cedar Rapids Iowa and I was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. I was put on a transplant list after I was admitted to intensive care and in the hospital for six weeks and almost died due to a septic infection. I was coded, given my last rights and my children were told I had under two hours to live. The doctors said that I was at peace and comfortable and that they should just let me go however, my children didn’t give up on me and had the doctors do a last ditch effort of a dialysis treatment and here I am today. I’d like to let you know that I had a meld score of 25 to under 11 which means I no longer am in need of a transplant.
I woke up one day and decided that the liver is the only organ in the body that can regenerate and why can’t mine so I got into Mindfulness and started researching ways to cure my body and get healthy from the inside instead of just relying on pills to treat the symptoms. I changed to healthy ways of living and my numbers are now at a normal level and actually my cholesterol and numbers are so much better than even when I was in high school and I’m 50 years old. I believe that I had a digestive problem with leaky gut symptoms. when you get chronically ill and that America is living with these horrible horrible disease and not knowing it which is creating other problems in their bodies and they don’t understand because of the reason and I really believe that the supplements, probiotics and good essential vitamins and minerals and supplements are what will help you get on the right track.
I bought a filtered picture from Amazon that filters out in purities and replaces it with essential minerals. The water tasted so fresh that I don’t even drink pop anymore and I was drinking about a 12 pack a day. Another thing that happened to me is that once these Vitamin started kicking in and I started feeling healthier I all of a sudden put down cigarettes and I didn’t try to quit at all I know I was supposed to but it was too hard and I just didn’t do it and always had an excuse. All of a sudden my body felt so healthy that I just have not wanted to smoke. I believe that this is to do with being healthy and feeling great every day like I haven’t in years since my youth youth.
See. I believe everybody has it within themselves to cure themselves in someway shape or form at least extend their life. I’m not saying that I’m cured by any means anything could happen any day and I am aware of that. Cirrhosis is a horrible disease however I am going to do my best to continue living and help other people to do the same.
In fact I’ve decided to become a holistic health and wellness coach and I’m starting classes for that. I have a BA and so I’ve taken all the pre-Rex’s I need to and I’m very very very excited about helping other people find and strengthen the core being of their bodies and their soul with mindfulness. I wish I knew about mindfulness when I was a young girl. I really don’t believe I’d be going through when I’m going to now if I had it in my life. There’s a lot more to the story of how I ended up in the path of cirrhosis and is absolutely horrible. I don’t want to go into that it’s very personal and it something that I had to fight. There is obviously a good reason for me to be here and be alive and I know that it’s to help other people and to give them hope because I had no hope and I had to do this all by myself and find a strength in myself because the doctors weren’t helping me; nobody was helping me it had to come from within!
Thank you for listening I know this is long, good luck to all, Micheala

Hello @faithwalker007, welcome to Connect. I wanted to share a discussion with you that you may find worth your time to look through and introduce yourself in as well, "CRPS," https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/crps-2/. This discussion is focused on members living with and coping with CRPS.

@michaelalee Welcome to Mayo Connect. We're very glad to read your story. I bet when you read what you wrote, you are proud of your accomplishments. If you are comfortable sharing, will you tell us how you found Mindfulness? Did you journal any part of your journey? You offer a powerful testimony for self-healing. Thank you for your story.
Ginger

@faithwalker007 Welcome, Renee. You and your husband have been dealt more than your share of infirmity! It's sometimes hard to understand why God doesn't intervene with a miraculous healing, but I agree with you that putting our faith in God who loves us and cares deeply about us and will never abandon us goes a long way toward making life worth living. I remember that when I was at the lowest point in my life, knowing that God never abandons His children was enough to sustain me over the years of recovery that followed. It isn't important to me to FEEL His presence, because I know that His Spirit is within me, giving comfort, guidance, counsel and hope. Sometimes those things come through other people. That's one reason being connected with other people is a wise idea.

I pray God's blessings on you and your husband.

Jim

@mitchealalee, welcome to Connect! I have to say that you give me hope. My husband has Cirrhosis and a plethora of other things that we are trying to pray away, use mindfulneed to send back to the pit, and eat healthy as possible. I believe there is a natural way of healing our bodies, with every single condition on the planet. We must search to find the answers, and do our very best to maintain optimum health. My Soninlove is going to school to be a nutritionist I guess you could call it.

I guess you could say we were into natural healing years ago. Some things require prescription medications and I am grateful for those things. Thank God we have them.

Hope we get a chance to talk later. Love and blessings

Mamacita Jane ,

Right on...eating clean and natural is the right way to go. I have turned around my life with the Lord's blessing and grace after so many lives that could have ended along the way...that I can only say this is the way to go. It takes time and patience but internally, the changes are remarkable. I was lead to read about the Medical Medium - Life Changing Foods written by Anthony Williams and his simple methods that can change your lives. I have been slowly adapting my life around his ideas of what I can do to rid my body of all of the toxins I have accumulated over my lifetime that have caused so many of my illnesses and diseases. Surprisingly, I have fewer distresses and aches than I have previously but I will never rid of them all. However, I am much happier than I was three years ago. I can be functional and live life to the full which speaks volumes. Check it out today. He has many books to help you out.