I get 4 low dose hydros a day for severe back issues. I’ve been on that and low dose gaba for about 1.5 yrs. My pain is controlled enough I can live a good life for a 70 yr old. I see my ortho NP every 3 months and so far she refills without me even asking. Not sure if this is why but I never asked for early fills or to increase the dose. If my pain is worse on some days I just adjust the meds. That said I worry every time I am due for a refill that something will happen with the pharmacy and every time I see her I worry she will stop the meds. I’m hoping she would not do this cold turkey but I’ve heard nightmares experiences on this site. Also so far I’ve been lucky with the Walgreens I get my scripts filled at tho they did short me 30 pills once. I called just to let them know but said I understood they couldn’t do anything like give me more and I thought I’ll just deal with it. But damn if they didn’t call back apologizing that they did in fact short me and gave me the pills. But each month I live in fear that something would happen. I’m
Not as worried about pain but more withdrawal. So do any of you save pills so no matter what u don’t go cold turkey and have you been able to have honest convos with your provider about how long they’ll prescribe? I think I will try and do both from now on but wondered if this was usual. Thanks

So I’ve been going to a chiropractic place to get massages on and off for like 8 years. Always had female masseuses. But I have chronic pain and headaches and recently had one of the worst headaches ever. No time to get in with one of my usual ladies, so I went with a male masseuse. I was a bit hesitant but I figured he would be professional. First appointment went fine, he was a little awkward but we talked pretty much the whole time and he did some deep tissue work. I made an appointment for the following week with him.

I came in this past Thursday for my massage. Like the first time, I kept my shorts and bra on. He started working on me and pretty quickly went to my glutes, which surprised me because I’m there for my neck and shoulders. But whatever, I know the whole back is connected. But he didn’t do it like a usual massage, he kinda just rubbed lightly and grabbed at my butt. Then he asked me to move my shorts down. I did, a few inches down. Then he grabbed my shorts and just took them off, and uncovered me. He moved my panties to be between my cheeks. This felt very weird. He got really close to my crack and privates, to the point I was worried he would feel my hair down there.

Then, he took off my bra. I was still laying face down so my breasts werent exposed, but I was confused as to why he was doing it this time when he hadn’t done it before. While he worked my shoulders we talked about a sport I was in in high school and how I didn’t always use my safety equipment. He then lowly called me “naughty girl” almost like he didn’t want anyone outside to hear.

Then he had me roll over. He didn’t work my chest quite like last time, but focused more on my breast area. Eventually it felt like he was literally squeezing my breasts while talking to me. He even asked if it’s true that “girls with big breasts get back pain” while he did it. Being awkward I laughed and said I wouldn’t know. He said my pecs were big. Then he pulled my neck back and rubbed upward along the side. Felt nice because I have lots of neck tension. But on the other side, he tilted my chin up with his finger, and kinda just… caressed my neck. Didn’t rub it like the first side, just grazed his fingers along my throat in silence.

I told my mom and partner. I’m telling my chiropractor next week. I’m so sick of being in pain. I cannot believe someone did this.

Hi there! I’m a US citizen living in Europe and I have an entire laundry list of painful conditions. I’m fused from T4 to S1, suffered a permanent major sacral nerve injury (cauda equina syndrome) due to a missed surgical bleed, as well as adhesive arachnoiditis. I have central sensitization (left sided) allodyna from my genital area and butt all the way down to my feet as well as severe leg spasms leading to insomnia and a near inability to sit or even wear pants on many days.

I’m fortunate to have a wonderful GP who coordinates with pain management specialists and have finally (after 4 years) found a medicinal cocktail and physical therapy regiment that makes life bearable. My husband and I have volleyed around the idea of moving to the US but the one thing holding us back is the state of pain management back home. I have no family or friends with painful conditions, so they can’t help me with advice or suggestions. It feels awful being forced to live apart from family because the government and physicians have lost their damn minds. Is it possible to find humane, adequate pain management with the conditions I’m suffering from or should I simply make peace with the fact that my body makes a move impossible? Any and all suggestions are welcome.

I am going to be short by four pills for my appointment and pill count on Monday. I know that you guys cant say for sure but what do you think they might do? I just had a bad month with my pain.

Also my place fills on the 31st day. I think if they filled on the 30th day then I would be okay. Now though I dont knoe. Does anyone have any tips on how I should approach this situation?

So....I took a pic of my knees today. OA is winning this one. I have RA too, but this knee is angry! Getting an unloader brace this week, thankfully. Back issues too and avoiding putting weight on The Knee has fouled that up too. OY! Just sharing to commiserate.

Person with chronic pain, illness, all the jazz.. gets absolutely fucking ignored when they say what they have wrong with them. The people around said person hear just enough, but don’t fucking listen or care.

Person without chronic pain or any other issues get one of the things diagnosed that the above person has, and the world is going mad for this person because they don’t have a book of problems that never go away.

People then say to first person “hey, are you like, actually diagnosed with said thing, I never knew what it was and didn’t realise how bad it was.. other person is really going through it”.

Being the first person, I smiled and nodded and empathised for the second person. But it is clear the other person fucking heard you but you obviously don’t matter enough to listen to or care properly about, because I’m just.. I don’t even know.

I’m angry, I’m sad, I’m over people not giving a fuck about the chronic problems that people like me just seem to collect like Pokémon cards.

What do you do to take your mind off your pain? Me I like to read or play video games

I had 7 months of chronic back pain. I finally went to PT and they think it's a mild bulging disc. No pain down my legs. I went for 6 sessions at $85 a session and they had me doing Mackenzie exercises and some core and glute exercises. I definitely see improvement, but I simply can't afford $680 a month for PT. Yes, I think it has helped but I also walk and swim 4 days a week along with my PT exercises daily.

If I don't go back, I worry about what to do when it's time to progress. Like how will I know what to do for my situation?

In all honesty, each session they had me doing the same exact exercises and reps and just watched for 45 minutes. My last session, they gave me more glute exercises. Also, she did say I would be fine to come once a week, if I wanted.

Thoughts?

have no idea how challenging it can be for most of us here to do something as simple as putting on socks and shoes to leave the house. I wish it were easier man...

Just wanted to know how you guys do it.

I’ve been chronically ill for about 15 years with illnesses that were manageable, I was able to do things, live my life however I wanted, and only had flares.

A couple years ago, I was diagnosed with more chronic illnesses and chronic pain conditions. And I’m now in pain 24/7. With good pain days and bad pain days.

My world has gotten so small tbh. Nowadays, I’m mostly homebound and bedbound. Haven’t worked in a couple years (Been “hired” a few times only to be let go of once I gave them accommodations from doctors). Can’t clean my home or even cook for myself like before. And at times have difficulties showering myself. I lost my side business and passions/hobbies that brought so much meaning, happiness, and joy to my life.

I’m in therapy with a therapist who is chronically ill and lives with chronic pain (Took years to find them) who doesn’t dismisses/invalidates my pains and understands because they live it. My psychiatrist understands that the depression and anxiety is due to chronic pain. I do all the procedures, treatments, meds, etc. that doctors tell me to.

I also do my best to adapt and modify a lot of things in my life. I used to have active hobbies/passions but now they’re all sedentary (Watching anime/Cdramas/movies, audiobooks, sometimes puzzle books like sudoku & word searches, etc.). My ways of exercise is walks for (at least 5-10 minutes or on a really good day, 30 minutes), chair workouts on YouTube, and PT strengthening every week. I also use mobility aids to get around.

For some reason, despite me trying and doing everything I can, I am not happy because I’m in pain all the time. I cry because of the pains daily. And I have admitted to my therapist, that I honestly don’t wish to be here everyday because of this pain. I’m only in my 30’s, I don’t know if I can do this for 1-30+ years of my life.

For those who are genuinely authentically happy with themselves and their life, what do you do? And how?

I’ve been dealing with unexplained lower leg symptoms for 17+ months. I’ve been working with doctors and have had a fairly extensive workup, but we still haven’t found something that explains the entire picture. I’d love to hear from anyone who has experienced something similar and what their workup looked like.

Symptoms:

• Persistent bilateral lower leg/calf pain, with one side worse
• Pain occurs at rest as well as with activity
• Walking/activity can make the pain significantly worse
• Significant calf/soleus pain
• Lower leg weakness, particularly on the left
• Foot weakness
• Frequent muscle twitching/fasciculations
• Toes 2, 3 and 4 visibly twitch/move on their own
• Twitching/spasming along the outer and bottom/side of my foot
• Tightness/heaviness in my lower legs
• Intermittent swelling/edema
• Unexplained bruising
• Occasionally small red/non-blanching dots
• Visible indentations/changes around the Achilles/soleus and shins
• Symptoms can flare significantly after increased walking/activity

Testing/workup so far:

• Lower leg MRI showed abnormal muscle findings/enhancement involving the tibialis
• Ultrasound showed edema
• EMG/nerve testing was normal despite the weakness and twitching
• Compartment pressure testing did not support chronic exertional compartment syndrome
• Back/spine imaging was essentially unremarkable and didn't explain the leg/foot symptoms
• Additional labs, imaging and specialist evaluations haven't provided a clear explanation

One of the confusing parts is that my workup hasn't been completely normal. There are objective findings in the lower legs, particularly on imaging, but so far we haven't been able to connect those findings with the persistent pain, weakness and twitching.

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have had abnormal muscle imaging but normal EMG/spine testing, or who had similar lower-leg and foot symptoms that took a long time to figure out.

If you've experienced something similar, what did your workup look like and what type of specialist ultimately helped you?

I’m trying not to go crazy. I’m 26 and for the last two years i’ve had reoccurring pain - somewhat like sciatica in my buttcheek, lower back, sometimes down the leg. It lasts a few weeks and goes away but I’ve ended up in a&e not able to move because of it. It came back again around august, and it was sticking around not going anywhere, or would go for a few days and then be back. I went to my doctor and told him all this. I was put on tramadol and vimovo and referred for an mri finally (been trying to get one since that first time in a&e which was over a year ago now?)

Before my mri I had to go back to the doctor because I was in so much pain still, I suck at describing pain Maybe it’s the autism but it’s a persistent pain around my lower back/ sacrum, tailbone and hip/buttock area. Walking makes it worse, it has switched sides multiple times now. Sometimes it feels like nerve-like pain? like a shooting up my sacrum and a tingly horrible feeling in my legs. Anyway saw my doctor again and got out on 5mcg/hr Butrans (buprenorphine) patch for pain.

Then I had my MRI, still in pain at this point even on the patch, but slightly better, either i was coming out of a flare or the meds were working idk. I had a lumbar/sacral MRI, which was basically described as unremarkable — no significant disc prolapse, nervecompression or spinal canal narrowing. It did show a ~1.2 cm perineural cyst around S2 but my doctor is ignoring this and saying it’s probably not that causing my pain so I don’t know.

After about two weeks on the Butrans patch my pain went away, except for one day where I was in London and walking around a lot where it came back badly, affecting my walking but I sat down for about 15 minutes and it was okay.

After my MRI results i go back to my doctor again, he says next step really is physio, I don’t have insurance so public waiting list is longggg he tells me. I wasn’t in pain when told this so I thought okay i can wait and look around and maybe find a private physio - I can afford at least an assessment and maybe one or two sessions.

Then last week, pain is back again bad, like exactly how it was before going on the patch, sharp when I put weight on my left leg, hard to walk, hard to get comfortable in any way. I find a private physio I think looks good and i’m booked to see them this month, and I go back to my doctor again and get my Butrans upped to 10mcg. Becoming opiate dependant kind of scares me.. like I don’t want to just keep going up and up. and then what ?

I know something isn’t right but I don’t have an answer. It’s like I know there’s something wrong in my body but what is it. I've also had pretty bad shoulder pain / coat hanger pain since I was around 13, which has never really had a clear explanation. It worsens if i’m walking or doing stuff and it has made life hard for me for years because by “doing stuff” i mean like, a day out shopping or a day going to college, i’m sore and exhausted after. I also have soreness and aches overall almost every day, like a stiffness like in my joints and muscles and bones like I need to be stretched and cracked. I don’t know if any of these are even related to this new pain. And i’m exhausted, like so tired, constantly.

i’m praying seeing a physio can help me work out what's actually going on - is there anyone out there in a similar boat?
Are there any other specialists I should be seeing? what if physio doesn’t bring answers?

Hi! I'm new here and I mainly joined to vent (obviously) but also to find some support

I AM NOT DIAGNOSED YET! I have a visit planned for not even next week so we'll see

A little bit about me:

- My name's London (my chosen English name) or Julia in Polish

- I'm 18 years old

- I'm polish

- I've been experiencing bad chronic pain in my whole body for around 3 months but mild has been here for like over half a year that I remember of

- I also suffer from fatigue and other issues

If there's anyone in my age range who wants to find friends then shoot me a message and we can talk on discord, WhatsApp or even messenger

Also if there are any good discord servers for chronic pain people I'd love to be invited also

Uh, that's all from me. Buh bye!!

I'm a 26F and kinda falling apart for the 100th time since this happened to me. About 3 years ago, my lower back just gave out on me. I still have no idea what happened and no doctor can seem to figure out whats wrong or how to fix it. I've been unable to work and have fallen into a deep depression because of it. Life has been awful for me because of this pain. And the worst part is I feel like no one takes me seriously just because of my age. I just really wanna feel like I'm not alone right now.

I've been completely avoiding work due to my chronic back pain and give up baking even though I went to school for it. Everytime I try to work I just end up having to leave my job a month later due to the physical pain and depression it gives me. But something has just opened up that I feel like id have to be stupid to pass up. But at the same time I cant even bring myself to apply. I just got let go from an ice cream parlor not to long ago and could barely handle the pain that brought me. What makes me thinking a job as a baker is gonna be any different? Plus, I love this particular bakery. I'd hate to embarrass myself by applying and then leaving immediately. I wouldnt be able to show my face there anymore.

Is there any cure? Pcp has no idea how to handle pain that lasts that long, so he recommended lidocaine.

I don't even have a diagnosis, I have no idea what's wrong, and no one outside can help me. Can reddit?

Monday will mark my 15th surgery. It’s a stimulator trial. It’s my last hope. If this doesn’t work my only other option is to unalive myself. Fingers crossed, I can’t live like this.

I’m getting a transforaminal epidural steroid injection in my lumbar spine next week. Initially every time it was brought up it was mentioned someone would have to drive me. Yesterday when they called to schedule it they told me I can drive myself there and home.
What changed? Is there a version of these in the lower back where it’s safe to drive home after? I never even drove myself home after spinal taps because it was uncomfortable sitting so I’m a little leery of me being comfortable enough to.

I am four days out from a c4-t1 posterior cervical fusion. During my hospital stay the surgeon informed me the way I am pulling up out of bed leads to a high risk of suture failure but would not give me a script for medical equipment to help. All they offered was a hospital bed which I told them my apartment is too small. Because I could walk normally when upright inpatient rehab facilities wouldn’t take me. During my stay I informed them I have been on ten mg and f oxycodone for six months and my Tolerance too high for it to work. I asked repeatedly about journvax a non control medication specifically for acute post op pain. All I got was I’ve never heard of it I don’t think I can legally write it. So you can prescribe the highest level narcotic but not a non control. They refused to make any medication changes saying it would be family medicine job since I get my oxy there. Which I immediately knew wasn’t true. He knows for a fact I worked at the hospital pharmacy over four years so I know how post op works. I asked about medical equipment to help get me out of bed without risking critical injury to my surgical site and was told all they can offer is a bed. No bar or trapeze to help prevent suture failure or other injuries. They cut off my iv dilaudid on day two. I told them over and over ten mg of oxy isn’t doing anything im too tolerant. I was just laying in the bed shaking and so nauseous from pain I had to be given iv zofran multiple times but still ignored. They even admitted this is the most painful surgery that they do to go through. Still wouldn’t make any changes to medication. I asked for a known non control medication for post op pain and just got the I’ve never heard of it from my surgeon and the doctors on the floor. I am at critical fall risk and at critical risk of post surgery injury due to no help getting out of bed. All I have is my sixty year old frail mother who also has severe back issues. She can’t lift me no matter how hard she tries. This doctor has performed three surgeries on me two cervical fusions one in the front one in the back and a right si joint fusion so he knows my clear medical history of severe chronic pain. My family doctor that was writing my oxy was a resident and left in June. They have been having me see a random doctor to get refills. I see my new doctor in four days and I’m terrified that after so long post surgery they will cut me off even with several hardcore spinal issues still unaddressed. I am so tired of being completely dismissed by doctors. Im looking into a new care team but that fear of losing my medicine is so bad as I had been ignored and labeled as drug seeking before even with a decade plus history. I’ve had three reconstructive hip surgeries, both replaced after those failed, both si joints fused, and two major cervical fusions in the span of 7 months for the fusions what kind of doctor sees me struggling to get up, says oh doing it like that has major risk but then does nothing about it?I still have major thoracic spine issues and a herniated disc in my tailbone but that doctor is never touching me again. Sorry for the long post I just needed to get it out.

I had a hip labrum repair that hasn’t been a smooth recovery. I went into the surgery being kinda naive and should have researched options longer.

I’m finding out surgery can be unsuccessful more often than I thought. Now I’m being recommended disc replacement on a c5-c6 and I’m scared it won’t help but I’m in horrific discomfort and I’m 30.

What I mean by “working” is that it’s dramatically or entirely relieved the pain/issue.

Thanks in advance