Depression and Chronic Pain

Hi. So sorry you feel so down!! Do you see a psychologist? They would listen to you and they could prescribe meds for you. Just keep your primary Dr. Informed if you get new meds. I don't know if you could try Nucynta xr or not with your surgery. But it has helped with my pain. After about 2 weeks it stabilized my pain do I can usually deal with it. I still have break through pain with my fibromyalgia so I take hydrocodone for that. The Nucynta is an opiate but it does not have the side effects like the others. And I don't have the highs & lows like I do with hydrocodone.
I also started taking EHT Vitamins from Nerium International. I love them. They give me a little energy without shakes like caffeine. I can send you info or you can look at my web site. Since I'm a new member I can't list it here.
It's dorothyheim"DOT"nerium with "DOT"com at the end. Hope you know what I'm trying to say about my web site.
I have SAD and this February I was not snapping out of it. I started taking the EHT and on a week & a half I woke up one morning & totally different--totally snapped out of the SAD! It also helps me at work to be able to concentrate & comprehend better. I only take one a day, but my friends take 2 a day. It also helps me when I get to sleep, it helps me stay sleep all night through. It's been helping my friend's father-in-law with his Parkinson's so he walks with less shuffling and he can communicate with them now!
I wish you much happiness!!

Your symptoms are all interrelated. No one has told you that you've been eating the wrong foods. Arthritis pain, depression, and headache are all coming from your liver and no one wants to talk about it. A change of diet and you will be amazed how quickly all your problems will go away. Eating the wrong foods will put you right back where you are now. Can not have processed foods. Most of what we eat are processed. No can products and no preservatives. No breads or flour products, sugars, and carbohydrates. These are the source of depression and arthritis pain and headache. A lot of vegetables with protein (fish, chicken, or meat) 5 servings of vegetables to 1 serving of protein is recommended. Salads are good and if you can consume as much as raw vegetables that a super healer. You have only one kind of dressing olive oil and fresh lemon. No processed lemon or soft drinks or alcohol. You shoud recover in couple of weeks. Once you free your self from inflammations pain and depression from too much sugar in your system you can slowly introduce things you like to eat. If the pain starts stop eating that item. I was very lucky to had an excellent Doctor in Italy who knew how to heal me with nutrition by cleaning my liver. So far I can't convince any Doctor of what I learned in 1960. Last year I noticed bread and sugar increased my pain and vegetables decreased the pain. By converting to vegetables diet with protein I recovered from the following health problems: my acid stomach and reflux after 50 years completely stopped, my stomach ulcers healed, my high blood pressure became normal, my almost diabetes reversed to normal, my memory started to work, all my arthritis pain went to zero until I eat a wrong item such as today hot dog and meatballs and all is back, and I can work with my depression. Be aware that the liver is sensitive and intelligent. It knows what you are eating and will produce a lot of ailments. A clean liver means a healthy body. Please try it for few days you will see the immediate difference. I love bread and never knew all my health problems was bread related. Also potatoes, rice, spaghetti, corn, sugar, soy beans, and other carbohydrates = sugars. Avoid them until you heal. Sugar is the source of depression. When I used to go diving we were not allowed to consume sugars two days before the dive. Everyone had candy bars after the dive not knowing how much damage they were causing to their health.

You are a wonderful example of the free will we all have; when someone wishes to be well, they take the steps necessary. We are everything we eat. Eat dead foods with no nutritional value and vibrancy, and that's the result in one's life. It takes 5 minutes spent on this wonderful forum to find a dozen people far worse off. Gratitude is everything. Everyone has the free will to improve their health in some way, and to go out and help someone else far worse off. Life is a gift! It is what we make it in every moment. God Bless! : )

Hi, @sharlynn62. I've been treated for depression for around 13 years, though I know now that it was a problem to some degree since I was a child. I'm 66 now, and have been retired for 11 years, on Social Security Disability for mental health issues, including multiple suicide attempts. Around 5 years ago, I found out that I have peripheral neuropathy, usually connected with diabetes, but not in my case. The cause of the nerve damage can't really be determined, but by now, I have constant pain, along with numbness and pins and needles. It's a burning pain in my toes and the balls of my feet and the top part by my toes. The combination of depression and chronic pain is a really tough one. I'm glad you don't consider suicide to be an option. Rationally, I have the same feeling about as you. I wish I could say that the thoughts are never a problem, but I think about it nearly every day. Cognitive therapy has given me tools to deal with the thoughts, but they're still there. For pain, I take morphine sulfate contin, Cymbalta and Oxycodone for breakthrough pain. I put Lidocaine cream on my feet at bedtime, to numb them so I can get to sleep, and at other times when the pain is bad. I recently got some Marijuana from the local dispensary, and made cannabutter, and if I use enough, it does reduce the pain for a couple of hours. The pain specialist told me to get low THC and high CBD. I may apply for a green card, so I can get the stronger medical Marijuana. That process is expensive, so I've put off doing it. I also take Bupropion for depression, and Klonopin to keep me from kicking during the night and injuring my wife. The Klonopin also helps when I'm in a stressful situation that might start a panic attack. Sometimes I take Orphenadrine, a muscle relaxer, when my back is hurting (I fell 12 ft. when my ladder started sliding off to the side, and had 3 compression fractures in my lower back.) Several things have helped me, some of which might resonate with you. I have a psychiatric service dog, who's always with me; I've seen therapists for many years until 2 years ago, when the LCSW left our little town for a better paying job with a VA hospital; my wife is very supportive, though not always understanding; I'm a retired minister, and my faith in God is an important part of my life; we live in the country, on ten acres, where it's peaceful and quiet; I play the piano for the Sunday evening service at our church; and I'm a Hospice volunteer, and visit patients weekly for an hour or so. Time for bed now, so that's a good reason to quit rambling on. I hope you'll find things that will help you with your own pain and depression.

They Nucynta ER Angieh spoke of is good for pain, but very expensive, even with good insurance. You can get a coupon card from the manufacturer to help, but if after on it a while your dosage has to increase, so will the cost. This happened to me and it got to the point I could not afford it even with two insurances and the coupon card. Now what I take does not help in comparison. Sad.

I truly understand how u feel. I have pbc , major vitamin deficiencies, joint / back issues, major anxiety and moderate depression. Amoung other things. I can't tell u how many times i prayed that God take me in my sleep because i just didn't want to fight anymore. I remember telling my bf that if i was a pet i would be put down. All that being said i am grateful that God provided away to cope and make livable. I switched Dr's. Also made the trip to Mayo Clinic.
Mayo gave me answers that no one else could. I was so deficient in my vitamin d that i couldn't function. I spent 3 days in Minnesota but got more answers than the years of going to drs. The mental health still takes me being VERY diligent to stay functioning. I'm very limited on what meds i can take. I take cymbalta in the morning and night and Zoloft in the evening. The cymbalta also helps with pain. My bowels is another issue. It puts pressure on my back so i couldn't walk before the cymbalta. A psychologist ajusted my meds and made HUGE difference.i would deff recommend Mayo if u don't get the answers you need i promise that its deff worth the trip. I feel so much better and they saved my life.

sharlynn62 I am so sorry for your pains that you are experiencing. I would just like to let you know that as long as you need to write and what to have a conversation about anything please do not hesitate to get on conversation and just write whenever and whatever you want to write, I am so glad that you are fighting your depression and pain. It really has taken a toll on me when I feel depressed and in pain as well.

You're not alone, there is always someone in worse shape and I am one of them. Make a game plan and don't let life beat you down, start fighting back. I have to deal with some major surgeries before I even get to square one. There are options for pain, marijuana, cognitive behavioral therapy, sit in a hot tub with your favorite drink, support groups, church, find another doctor. Keep fighting back.

I have discovered over the years that depending wholly on my doctors gets me little or nowhere. When my health problems began a decade ago, I did some research, discovering that inflammation run amok is a major cause or contributor to all kinds of issues. While the doctors were doing what they did, which was precious little at times (I'm actually being generous here), I was treating myself with affordable herbs and vitamins focused initially on treating inflammation. It got me out of the wheelchair, and more mobile. It worked in helping virtually all symptoms and disease processes, including depression. Life is one of those things that you can't live again, but you can heal and begin to make up for lost time by feeling better and beginning to live that. Don't give up. Determine to depend on yourself in the health and healing department, rather than someone else, wherever possible. Remember, you are your own best advocate. You are also your own boss. Caring for yourself and following through are your best tools to better health.

Also, confirm that your migraine pain is not sinus issues. If you have sinus problems, these symptoms can be confused as migraines. You may find that something as simple as Ocean nose spray (it's essentially buffered saline) or better yet, its generic, will change your life where sinus and nose problems are concerned. If someone told me that a dollar bottle of nose spray could help me quickly through regular use, I might be tempted to disbelieve. However, the simple act of using saline nasal spray saved me from being led down the primrose path of sinus surgery by my doctors at the time. And yes, migraines had been a major issue for me, sometime after relocating to a new area of the country.

I was diagnosed with migraines for over a year and since I had a mental health history-it happens. My head pain was caused by TMJ. I do have a rotten attitude and I am working on it. All medical professionals are NOT villains, scoundrels, discompassionate and mean. Their are those that are willing to work with a patient who does not want to be loaded up with medications or offered surgeries. It takes work on our part as patients. For some our resources are limited but we keep trying. We are our own best advocates. I learned this the hard way. There are many different types of professionals.
Dismounting soapbox once again. I am still learning.