Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

@meg17 Have you been tested for Sjogrens. It causes severe dry eyes and mouth!

@chrisco Thank you. It is day to day, isn't it? I haven't figured out what makes it worse or better. I pray that you will have more good days and greater relief from your pain.

My pain management doctor had been prescribing pregabalin for me, but I needed to go off of it because it, along with another medication, increased my risk of falling and made my thinking less clear. I have chronic pain due to arthritis in my back, knees, hips, and neck (and also other joints) with my lower back and knees being the worst. I can't take NSAIDs and Tylenol does nothing for me that I can detect. Recently, I had a GAE -genicular artery embolization - for my left knee. This is a fairly new minimally invasive procedure. They discovered that people struggling with knee pain due to osteoarthritis (and other conditions) have extra and abnormal blood vessels that cause inflammation and feed the nerves in the knee. The procedure done under X-ray guidance while you are awake. I asked my doctor who did the procedure so so many questions that he brought me back to the room and showed me photos of my own knee on the monitor. And sure enough, I had those blood vessels. (The human body is fascinating!) After being told by my previous primary care doctor that X-rays show my arthritis is not severe, it was satisfying to see proof of why I might be in so much pain. (It's not all in my head!) I was helped significantly by this procedure. I no longer wake up in pain before I even get out of bed from that knee. Although my back pain in particular keeps me from doing many things that I used to do, would like to, and still need to do (like more housekeeping!), I don't think it is as severe as what so many others have to deal with. My mobility is greatly decreased, but I know I need to keep trying or I will loose the mobility that I have. (I just did another 5 months of PT to help in that regard.) My heart goes out to all of you struggling with chronic pain.

Hello, my name is Leslie. I am new to this group. I have chronic pain. I've had fibromyalgia pain for 20 plus years. Additionally, after getting covid in June/July 2022 and having life threatening complications, I also have neuropathy in my right foot, and lower back issues as far as pain issues. The fibromyalgia is pretty stable with a high dose of medication (Effexor), but I have flare ups periodically (especially during changes in seasons) or during high stress levels. The neuropathy is the worse part of my chronic pain issues. Though I take Gabapentin at the highest dose 3 times a day. My Docs are trying to get me on another medication, as Gabapentin isn't as effective -after taking it for 3.5 years now.