Need help with every day pain

@bosco17 Pain can be a real pain…it’s exhausting, depressing, and debilitating.

I’m in pain every moment of everyday. Exhaustion of mind, body, and spirit cloud most of my days. However, I have learned to distract my thoughts with “hobbies”. I have started doing things that make me happy. I’m building my family tree online. The tree has taught me so much about myself, and the historic lives of my family. I started doing jigsaw puzzles. I borrow them from the library. Painting is my stress reliever. I just “throw” paint on canvas or paper, and see where it goes. Watching YouTube videos helps me learn new ideas for painting, comedy, anything I can learn from keeps me happy.

I don’t take anything for pain with the exception of Tylenol every once in a while. I guess I can do that because I’ve had pain for so long, I can’t remember what it feels like not to have pain!
Polyneuropathy, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, occipital neuralgia, a movement disorder, bone spurs on both feet, tremors…

Bottom line for me is distraction. Oh, yes I forgot (!) to say that I have Mild Cognitive Impairment so my brain is starting to mess me up too…

@bosco17
What have you been diagnosed with that is causing nerve pain? Have you seen a neurologist and orthopedic spine specialist to diagnose you using bloodwork, EMG/nerve conduction studies and imaging?

I have been dealing with chronic pain for decades since I was really young. I have stayed away from opiates. I am glad you are too. I use ice, I get nerve blocks, I work with positioning I get Botox. It is a different type of pain. I took a class young called mindfulness based pain reduction. There is a book by Jon Kabbot Zin called full catastrophe living. It is a lot of work but it pays off. I used to just lie under a blanket and cry softly. When I feel bad I rest and turn inward. It is hard but now I would say pain is a given in my life and I am more used to it.

Its spinal stenosis . My discs are pushing on the nerves and thats what is causing the nerve pain. Went to spine center and they wouldnt operate and told me to strengthen the muscles around my spine Which disappointed me! Every disc in my back is compressing on nerves. Its hopeless!
What is neurology(takes 3 months to get an appt.) going to tell me that I dont already know. Im not a fan of meds as the side effects are worse than the disease, so I deal with the pain every day by walking 3 miles every day to fight as I wont give up. As far as the Osteoarthritis there is no cure , Im thinking the bone pain might be cancer so Im gonna see an oncologist.
Thanks for your input,
Bosco

@bosco17
What were you told was the reason they wouldn’t do spine surgery? Was it due to the potential for bone cancer or other health issues?

Which levels of your spine do you have degenerative disc disease and herniated discs? Did you have an EMG/nerve conduction study to narrow down which spinal nerves are compressed.

Were you offered steroid spine injections to reduce inflammation and help with reducing pain? Were you offered nerve ablation? If not, why not?

They just told me I was not a canidate for spinal surgery and when I asked why they told me to do physical therapy strengthening at Brooks which was a waste of time as they just give you a list of exercises and to do them at home . Health issues also were a problem Liver TP and bypass surgery. Every disc is compressed with bulging and herniations. Never went to pain management as steroids dont last long ,maybe 2 mos. and then if you keep getting the shots they actually do more damage than good . Dont want to get any of these because they would have to do an ablation on every nerve in my spine! and @67 I just dont want to deal with it. Also have CKD -2 which limits what I can take orally. An EMG is just gonna tell me I have nerve damage which I already know . I just have to live with it and that's life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for your concern

Did you research spinal cord stimulators?

AT 79 this correspondent suffers similarly. (Description us pointless, accept the severity.) Opioids affect people individually. Oxycodone has assisted me for eight years, and I remain a Ph.D. scholar, but my wife had half the amount for a broken back and it did result in temporary cognitive impairment. If you have not already done so, perhaps ask your physician for an appropriate prescription and keep a log of your experience. In addition, I have had three Ketamine infusions. The K. experience was very unpleasant and unproductive. Since I am unable to receive implants or injections in my worst affected area there is nothing left to try except:

I'm also 66 yo and have had pain for years. It isn't at bad levels every day, which is good, but it's a combo of fibromyalgia, migraines, arthritis, costochondritis, and just the 'regular' aches and pains of life at our age. I also have CKD (life-long high creatinine levels) but it isn't bad (yet!) I get by with two naproxen sodium twice a day, and for those days when the arthritis/fibro is screaming, I add two extra strength Tylenol. My most recent blood tests came back with mildly elevated GFR, but creatinine levels were normal (which was a huge relief). My doctor has advised that the naproxen/Tylenol combo is as good as opiates, without the addiction issues.

I hope some (or any) of this helps, and that you find some relief.

You and I are the same age and are dealing with similar issues. I have mild spinal stenosis at the base of my spine, but it's not severe enough to warrant surgery(I'm not sure I want to deal with back surgery). I've had spinal fusion surgery twice in my neck, at the C5-C6 and C7-T1 levels, along with 5 knee surgeries and elbow surgery, and I'm still in pain. Osteoarthritis makes my life miserable, and I'm also lucky enough to have idiopathic poly neuropathy in my feet as well.
I've been taking 3600mg of gabapentin and 1200mg of alpha lipoic acid every day for the pain, and it helps, but the pain/burning is always there.
It's been 10 years of living with chronic pain and the depression that it creates, and I'm currently taking 9 prescription drugs to try to make life less miserable, but most days it doesn't work very well. I'm not sure how much longer I'm willing to continue existing when every day is the same.
All I can say is to take it one day at a time.