Pain Management Community

I lost my hearing in my right ear during a lumbar fusion surgery in 2006. The loss of hearing has been replaced with tinnitus. The tinnitus is 24/7 and with 3 children under 10 yrs old can get pretty intense. The louder my environment around me, the louder my tinnitus gets. Recently my PD lowered my med's at the same time I tried working for the first time in almost 7 years. I have been off since Dec 2005 with a work related fall. I struggled and struggled.my neurosurgeon placed me on restricted ours from 40 per week to 20 per week. I never did work more than 26 hours in one week. I was a field superintendent for a small gen contractor. Even with the lowered hours I struggled. I spent most of my time at home on ice packs. Every weekend i could not do much because i had to rest up for the work day on Monday. Every month I asked my PD to change my pain med. every month she would say " I really like this med due to it is easier on your body". When I explained to her that my tinnitus would get so bad in the later afternoon and night due to the increased pain levels that it would make me extremely irritable. My children didn't want to be around me because the slightest things could set me off into a rage. Never physically violent but I had a very hard time controlling my temper. Tinnitus is extremely difficult for people to understand and I get that. When I explained this to my PD she said "I don't see the relationship between pain and tinnitus". I responded by telling her "that is the problem". Unless you have tinnitus, you have no idea the negative effects it could have. The slightest stress and anxiety increases the tinnitus. The best way I have to explain it is, imagine being in a forest filled with secatas. Now take the millions of secatas and place them in a jar and put your head in the jar. I came up with this analogy because we had the secatas out in spring of 2007, only months after getting tinnitus. There is no escaping it. I have tried many treatments for my tinnitus but nothing has worked to any great degree. My PD finally switched me from Nucynta to Dilauded. This has worked much better and now that my employment has been terminated, I have been able to manage my pain and my tinnitus much better. My temper has been more manageable, my pain is much more manageable and I don't spend most of my free time laying on ice packs. I can function around the house much better. Now I don't miss my kids sporting events, before I couldn't make them.

If anyone out there has pain and tinnitus, please share with me how you manage the 2.

To everyone with chronic pain or tinnitus or both- i wish you all relief!