Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

@lioness, were you told there was nothing wrong with you, for years, as I was? Or that it was depression? I believe I had it even as a child. My legs would hurt so badly, and I would get exhausted easily. The doctor called it "growing pains."

@mamacita Good evening yes when I was diagnosed by rheumatologist ,he new what I had but yes other Dr,s said its all in your head and yes growing pains sounds familiar. I went to a fibromyalgia support group they had a lot of good information One I can remember is to do isometric exercises first thing when you get up and during day when muscles tightened I still do that especially at night before bed.

@barbarn Sorry for the late reply Emotional Freedom Technique You first do alot of tapping on your little finger saying certain things then tap on the 7 points of contact ,the meridians within you There's, a better explanation on Tapping.com and you tube/tapping I have used this for years and its surprising how much it has helped.

@mamacita you have NOTHING to apologize for and I’ll say it again if I have to! I am actually taking one of your suggestions right now! Actually 2! I am listening to music - I have recently rediscovered the Stones! How crazy is that! And I am on Amazon. Do you remember that song “The Midnight Rider”? Well I’m the “Midnight Shopper”. I’m always up late perusing Amazon. Now remember I never felt you went overboard on the suggestions. NEVER..we are compadres in this fight!

@wsh66 Thank you for explaining to barbarn Dr.Patricia Carrington is a psychologist and tapping expert .I get information from Nick Ortner who did the video on EFT .

When they say it is all in your head they're blaming you for their inability to identify the problem that you have. Plain and simple. As a pain patient I am very Vigilant as to my state of mind and whether or not depression is creeping back in or not. Depression and pain are not the same thing however being depressed when you have pain will change the way you experience that pain and will make it much worse and much harder to deal with.. if a if a doctor tells you they think you're depressed it's certainly worth inspecting that idea and and answering for yourself whether or not you might be depressed. Remember depression is not about what happens to us, depression is about the way we think about what has happened to us. Now I'm going to go and take my antidepressants. There should be no more shame involved with having depression than there is in having pain. It's all the same. Love and blessings.

@patrick17 Dont make yourself feel that way maybe you need to stay where you are to get pain relief Everyone is different in there tolerance.

The only reason I made the post about avoiding making suggestions was because of the guidelines that were set down by the people who sponsor these web chats. We participate, we use their format, we should at least try to follow their rules and request.

@wsh66
Good morning!
I personally believe that there are multiple forms of depression under 2 categories. One category is depression caused by genetics. This kind, is something in your genetic make-up that pre-disposes you to the disease. Category two is depression caused by situations.

As a sufferer of chronic pain, I feel that I have suffered from a form of situational depression. When I have non-stop pain, I get depressed from all the things that I have to exclude from my life. This impacts the quality of my life and therefore, can depress me for some time. My dad suffered from depression so I am sure I have a predisposition to it, as well.

You are right, regardless, if it is noted by someone, it should be checked out. It is my experience that some people who are depressed don't see. Why? Either they don't want to, they've been depressed so long that they don't recognize it in themselves or they are embarrassed and see it as a weakness.

As you may be aware, many people have bouts of depression during this time of year. My local TV stations are showing commercials discussing the signs of depression and how to get help. Recently, there have been a couple of murders by people who were in a depressed state, including a security officer who murdered his wife, daughter and granddaughter.But I believe the truth is that when individuals find out a person suffers from depression or anxiety, the 'sick' person is looked at differently.

Sorry for getting so off topic!
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

What you say is true. Some people don't want to admit to having depression because they think of it as a sign of weakness or a sign of poor character. Which of course we know neither is true. I have the depression genes running through my family. It's the situational depression that really is affected by how we look at what has happened to us. Even if pain or other medical situations have taken away a lot of the things that we do in our lives we can still see our lives as valuable, see the people around us as valuable, and see what we have left. We can focus on what we have left and find a complete life within those parameters. I refuse to let pain cause my depression even though I know or because I know that depression will exacerbate my pain I work very hard the focus on what I have left as opposed to what I've lost. Between psychologist, drugs, and bibliotherapy we have a large Arsenal of things we can turn to to fight depression. We have to keep in mind that life is a wonderful thing regardless of the situation in which one finds oneself. If we consider our lives measured against the lives of people around the world we're still pretty damn lucky even if we live with pain. Yes there been times when I thought not living would be better than living with pain and the other things that haunt me but in the final analysis I've seen my way clear to being a pretty happy guy despite the fact that I have to endure a certain amount of pain in life. My heart goes out to those who suffer from depression and cannot accept that and as a result can not seek help or take advantage of the three treatment modalities I mentioned .