1. < Chronic Pain

Is your diagnosis for life?

Posted by mrmacabre @mrmacabre, Feb 16 6:17pm

After having to deal with my current medical conditions for over a decade now, it's made me ask myself a question, am I ever going to get any better?
With osteoarthritis in several joints, and undiagnosed neuropathy in my feet and now my hands, will any of it ever improve? Or have I received a life's sentence of chronic pain?
I don't see my situation ever improving, I'll be living like this for as long as I'm willing to put up with the pain. It's been 10 years now, and some days are harder than others. We've been struggling financially ever since I had to retire in 2015, but my awesome wife is still working 40+ hours a week to support us. How we'll get by when she retires(she's 61) is something that worries both of us.
The thought of any new medical bills that we'd be faced with if I have any additional osteoarthritis surgeries would put us even further into debt, which is something that I swore to myself that I'd never do. I'm not going to bankrupt ourselves, or our kids with a bunch of medical bills.
Unless they somehow develop a treatment for neuropathy that actually helps with the pain, or a treatment for osteoarthritis other than surgery and pain management, I'm going to be like this until the day I die.

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josmio | @josmio | Mar 1 7:37am
In reply to @josmio "Hi. I share the same experiences. I have severe osteoarthritis requiring surgery and arthritis from my..." + (show)
@josmio

Hi. I share the same experiences. I have severe osteoarthritis requiring surgery and arthritis from my autoimmune disease. Besides the arthritis I have the neuropathy all over. It’s been nearly 20 years of suffering. I’m on arthritic medication and just started another one. I haven’t worked for nearly 5 years. I actually went into depression because I loved my job and I lost my self worth and identity. My family didn’t understand what I go through with the autoimmune disease and I had to stop talking to them. I just try to take care of myself with the help of my healthcare providers and my daughter. I get support from them and I go online for support groups. I volunteer at the YWCA and I also volunteer for research studies. That’s what I’m able to do for now. It’s difficult because my doctor advised me not to drive and I just didn’t renew my drivers license.
Most of the time I’m at home in bed because of the pain and I get fatigued easily. It’s not much of the life I had but I still enjoy my grandchildren.
I don’t take pain medications. I refuse to lose my kidneys. I have 3 siblings with kidney failure. I just rest and I use hot or cold applications or suffer through it.
I applied for disability but I haven’t received any response yet. It’s been a couple of years already and I’m still waiting.

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Thank you.

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