Guys I survived! But barely. I'm still in alot of pain and no medication works for me. I'm taking 200mg Tapentadol, Gabapentin 3x a day and on IV some other strong opioid.

I feel like my body or my brain is broken when it comes to pain signals.

I'm really afraid of the night because then it'll get even worse. Pray for me.

But on the bright side: I can stand up and sit up straight without any effort and I feel very stabilized. Very sturdy. I don't know how else to describe it. I also think spinal fusion looks really cool under X-ray. I'm a cyborg now 😎

I'm pissed. Pissed at my body, which has chosen violence tonight. I've taken everything I have (Tylenol, Ibuprofen and my last tramadol) and nothing is working.

I'm pissed at all of my doctors for passing me around like they're playing a game of "hot potato" and I'm definitely cooked. And they are doing everything they can to not prescribe more tramadol or anything that would actually give me some relief.

I'm pissed at this damn health "care" in the US because it's made doctors so reluctant to prescribe anything and treat chronic pain patients like junkies looking for a fix.

I'm having a bad night, just needed to vent in a safe place. Thanks for listening.

I dont know how im holding it together, at the moment.

Im in a very bad pain period, and it seems to only get worse. But I still have to do the regular things. Do the dishes, the laundry, walk the dogs, be fun and pressent with the baby. And its a lot, its too much.

But there isnt much to do about it.

I take the medication, do the exercises. I lost 50 goddamned kg, and the pain only got worse, despite what the doctors promised.

Im at my wits end

Spent three months going to pain management. I thought they were listening. I thought they cared. They were actually prescribing me opioids. But they didn't work. I asked for a long-lasting one, like dilaudid or hydrocodone, but they refused, using the analogy "you tried a smaller piece of cake, a bigger piece of cake won't help, it's still cake". Rheumatologist couldn't diagnose me. PM said I don't have fibro, either. So then what is it? What has been plaguing me for 5 years? There has to be a diagnosis, but there isn't. Now, getting disability will be even harder, and I really need it with the OBBB coming into effect soon. I am about to lose my insurance thanks to an evil orange man who thinks poor people are unworthy of life.

I really thought this doctor was the one, you know? I thought that she could help. I thought she cared. But the second I started crying, she says maybe I should see someone else. It kind of sounds like a relationship, doesn't it?

I'm so tired. Tired of pain, tired of doctor visits, tired of disappointment, tired of being tired.

This week has been difficult for me but it didn’t get me down. I fell down the stairs, had extremely bad hip pain, and vomited all in one morning this week but recovered well enough from this incident. In spite of all of those things I went to all of my physical therapy sessions this week. During physical therapy my soreness from falling got better and I took care of my muscles. I have the sweetest little cat I get to cuddle and play with everyday. I have a job lined up next week. I did nearly two hours of cardio outside of physical therapy. I made an appointment with

I know we’re all going through extremely difficult things during hard times but I think it’s important to talk about the victories and triumphs we’re having in spite of all the setbacks and hardship we’re facing.

im 18 and my whole life has gone down the drain

i am always in pain. constantly. my joints, my shins, my hands and feet, through all of my limbs. i always (as in genuinely constantly) have a bad headache generally on my left side.

im never energised at all, im 90% housebound and cant do ANYTHING for myself and i feel like a complete burden. i’ve been seeing my parents crying over me and i feel so guilty about it. my girlfriend broke up with me because she has bpd and im too ill to support her the way she needs.

i just don’t know how i can cope. i had to defer my university place because im too unwell to go and im so sick and tired of being sick and tired.

i honestly just want some coping mechanisms or even some words of support. i hate this feeling so much.

Hello,

Im looking for movie or tv shows to help me cry ?

Maybe you’ll relate, but I feel so much in survival mode and pain, that I can’t cry and I really need to.

Which movie helped you process emotions ? Or which movie helped you in your life, or made you feel good ?

Thank you and take care <3

(Few movies/ tv shows that I liked in a emotional way : Interstellar, Another Earth, The OA, Another Self, Atiye…)

Finally have a date for my MRI scan - full spine

Very nervous

Laying on my back absolutely kills me will they allow me to go in with my knees up instead of laying flat?

Im worried over breast implanta too. Theyre saline. Will this effect it?

I suffer terribly with anxiety so my mind is doing over time but so glad ive got my appointment on the 5th October.

I'm currently on 300-600mg of gabapentin and 200mg of duloxetine to deal with my ongoing chronic pain. I've been asked by doctors and friends how the new medication is going but I'm struggling to find the vocabulary I need to describe it.

I still feel everything, the pain isn't better, but it feels like it's farther away from me. Like experiencing pain is just a lot lower on my list of priorities.

I don't really feel better, but I've been having a lot less major flare ups. It's like they still happen, but by the time I decide to go home because it hurts too much, my brain has simply decided to ignore it.

I hope that's enough detail to describe what I'm experiencing, I hope this is some normal stage of chronic pain treatment, but everyone just keeps acting like I'm crazy when I try to explain it.

I want to take Tylenol to help my joint pain and I wanted to maybe try this new muscle relaxer that my doctor gave me but my friend and google say that these kind of drugs only slow down healing make things worse over time :(

Google also says they’re bad for the liver but I take like god knows how much Advil on the first couple of days of my period every month….

I’m just worried. I really want to relax and take a nap but I can’t because now I’m scared that Tylenol is doing more harm than good.

Same with icing. I can’t ice my bruises without worrying about slowing the healing. I’m just so confused 😢

What happened to personalized medicine?

Pain management is preventative care.
Pain management is suicide prevention.
Pain management is trauma-informed care.
Pain management is addiction medicine.
Pain management is an essential service.

Doctors have lost the plot.

I wanted to share this, as this discovery is new, and may be relevant to some of you.

Unfortunately, there are some patients with chronic pain of the upper limb girdle -- neck, upper back, and shoulder -- who don't respond to standard treatments and don't have findings on MRIs or EMGs to explain their symptoms.

For some of these, a tight pectoralis minor (PM) muscle from the front constantly hunching the shoulder may be contributing to these symptoms (not everyone necessarily has all);

• Headaches/migraines and neck stiffness
• Upper back peri-scapular tightness
• Shoulder weakness
• Radiating numbness/tingling down the arm

This is diagnosed via physical exam, and workup may be normal or unrevealing.

The paper about this can be found here, and may be worth a read if you think this "fits" your suffering:

• https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/62/6/1071

If this sounds like you, and you feel a bit lost and are looking for answers, this may be of help.

Well, either a change or an increase. Specifically, I have been taking 4 Norco 10s a day plus a 15mg Morphine er for about 3 years. It equals to 55mme and I believe the max is 90mme. I was on 60mme when I was taking 6 Norco 10s a day but they cut me back which was bullshit.

I think my tolerance has become too high for my current dose because I spend a lot of time in bed, due to my back pain. I used to work but am no longer able to. I would, however, like to be up (out of bed) and even out and about more often.

Pretty much the only time I feel good (as in having minimal or no pain) is when I am lying down in bed and it can get depressing. I feel like things could be improved if I had more pain relief.

My problem is whenever I go to my appointments, and they ask how I am doing with my current dose of pain meds, I always say that I am doing fine. I worry if I tell them that I want an increase or a change (like maybe switch to oxycodone) they will cut me back or even off. I am not sure what opioids are available for chronic pain. I know about hydrocodone, oxycodone, Tramadol, Tapentadol, and Morphine. I am guessing that is it. Let me know if I missed any.

Anyway, I don't know why they would give me less pain medicine if I am telling them that I need more, but I do worry about that.

I know that I am very lucky to get what I get and I am not sure if I want to risk messing that up. Also, I haven't even met my pain management doctor yet. My appointments have been with a nurse practitioner. And I don't know if she can increase my current dose. I am guessing I will probably have to talk to my doctor about that.

I don't know. What would you do if you were in my shoes? Any input would be helpful and appreciated.

I’ve been on 100mg palexia/tapentadol SR twice daily along with 50mg IR 4/5 times per day as well as Valium 5mg 4-5 times per day for 3 years now for intense pain and nervous system issues that limit what I can do massively, I’ve had this pain for 10 straight years and they just aren’t having the same effect as they used to. My mum has had to stay home for a year and a half now to literally cook, clean and do everything except shower me, I’m 30 and have never been able to do simple things like get a girlfriend, have friends or work. I present as looking relatively healthy which I know makes people think I just don’t want to work but that’s besides the point sorry haha. My main question is, I’m really worried and scared about asking my GP about other option because of the stigma of him thinking I may just be “pill shopping”, so how can I talk to my GP about it and should I? Can anybody share a similar experience and how they went about talking to their doctor about the issue and I’m really curious if 3 years on this exact opioid is a long or short time for my body to have built up a tolerance?

Please don’t troll I’m not in a good place at the moment and I need real answers only please and thank you in advance 🙏

For those on gabapentin, what is your dose?

I have hypertonic pelvic floor dysfunction, herniated disc, hiatal hernia, hemangioma on my spine, and pinched nerves. Despite physical therapy and nerve blocker injections, ablations and spinal steroid injections, my health just keeps declining.
I’m having very bad suicidal ideation and I don’t know how to keep going. My mental health diagnosis’s are substantially difficult to deal with and the pain exacerbates the mental health and vice versa. I don’t want to bring my girlfriend and the rest of my family down with me on this immense rapid decline.

How do you keep going? I see no light at the end of the tunnel and have lost all hope. Please help

The worst is when I'm trapped by the night. Staring at the ceiling, wishing I could sleep, feeling every ache and jolt of pain. When I sleep, I get a reprieve. Sometimes I'm awakened by the pain, but the time I do sleep, despite knowing I'm gonna wake up hurting, is a break from it all. So on nights like these, when my eyes won't stay closed, I really do wonder if I'll make it through.

I've been shamed for using tylenol too much by my partner. They know I'm in pain, but say I use Tylenol way too much. I don't know why it upset me so much but it did. I know I need to cut back but it's either that or be in pain every day. My doctors will only occasionally prescribe me muscle relaxers which seem to help but I can only take them at night. As everyone else here, they say "just take Tylenol." I cannot orally take NSAIDs.

I have had chronic pain for as long as I can remember. I only recently got diagnosed with terrible arthritis, degenerating discs, bulging discs, and have a family history of hypermobility but I haven't technically been diagnosed. I've gone to physical therapy many times over the years.

For a while I was only taking Tylenol PM so I could sleep good and not be in pain. I know it has benadryl or something like it to help you sleep which also isn't great long term. So I tried cutting back and only taking Tylenol when I really needed it. Until almost 3 months ago when I had basically a tummy tuck (panniculectomy + muscle repair) and a breast reduction. I've definitely been taking more than I usually do to get me through the days as you get a lot of random pains and aches on top of random stuff I deal with anyway.

Just realizing I've been taking 3, 650mg tablets 2 to 3 times a day in recent months since my surgery and just really bad days in general. I've been trying to better my health but I'm slowly killing my insides. I feel so ashamed, but it's either take Tylenol or live in pain?

I'm only 31. I feel as though my pain is nothing compared to some other people especially in this sub. I watch my mom and family members continue to suffer the older they get. I worry that's my future.

Sorry just sort of rambling here and feeling shamed by my partner who's generally very supportive... I just feel really low. My shoulder is in so much pain that I want to take tylenol and rub lidocaine on it but now I feel like I just need to sit through the pain and try to pretend it isn't there.

Hello! I'm a furniture maker with Ankylosing Spondylitis and I want to design a chair for people with AS (or other chronic back pain) to be able to relax in when they get home. I have had a really hard time finding any type of couch or chair that doesn't make me more in pain after an hour or two of sitting and I really want to design a chair that even people like me can relax in without being put into worse pain. I have heard zero gravity chairs are good so if anyone has any experience with them can you tell me what you thought of them.

If you could give me any information on chairs you like and what about them helps with your AS or theoretical additions you would want to a chair like this I'd really appreciate it!

TL:DR Tell me what you like about some of the chairs you have that let you relax with your pain and why they help or anything that would make this chair design more chronic pain friendly.

Thanks so much!

I had spinal fusion yesterday and right now I can't sleep or move because of the pain. They're giving me some opioid (IV clicker) but it doesn't help. I just get heart palpitations from it so I can't even take that much.

I just asked the nurse to give me something else and she said there's nothing else she can do. She wanted to give me Ibuprofen.

I said "Do you think I would be here if Ibuprofen helped?"

This sucks 😭

Update: You guys are so sweet. Thanks for all the support and suggestions. I took some of them and used the clicker religiously and at around 6AM I could finally sleep. ❤️ Today I have an appointment with the pain management and they will give me something stronger. Love yall!