Pain Management Community

Are your meds helping you? How often do you have breakthrough pain? In my humble opinion if it works leave it alone as long as your doctor is OK with it.

Hi, Coyote

First, you will never be a bother here! That is what we are here for, to ask, and find answers.

Kim, your pain is your pain, not your husbands! You do whats right for you, not him, ok? I can understand his worry over pain meds, but its not like you are abusing them, right? Take them as needed, till you find something else to relieve your pain. And thats IF you ever find something?

Yes, you should try to maintain a healthy body weight. Studies have shown a correlation to body weight, and pain. There has also been studies that correlate to what you eat, and pain. Keep looking, try entering "weight/pain" and see what you get? Or "food/pain. Just put pain at the end, and see what you get?

I hope this helps, good luck!

Dennis

It is your decision, not your husbands. He does not walk in your shoes.

If it is helping you live life as well as you can why change it? What does your doctor think?

Hi, Kim.

You have already been given excellent advice with which I agree 100%. It is your body, your pain, your health and you and your doctor decide what is best for you.

About the diet, I know I suffer because I am obese. My poor decrepit spine is not supporting all this extra weight. I'm trying to make healthy choices, but it is hard - especially at this time of year. I feel best when I follow a diet low in carbohydrates and high in lean proteins, dairy products and veggies like the South Beach Diet. It is a proven fact that carbohydrates increase pain in patients with arthritis, DDD, and other spinal problems. White starches are not right - try to stick to whole grains like brown rice, multi-grain breads and whole-wheat pastas. Above all, everything in moderation.

Come here any time to ask questions or to vent. We are here and we definitely understand.

Hi Dave,
I just noticed your post about weight loss and thought I would share with you our experience!!!!Thats my Husband and me!
WE went on the 7 day diet!!!It's really incredible,I was never hubngry Ihad alot of energy and I did not get tired of the foods!!!Try and look it up on the net if you want!!!
Gotta run,My Husbamd just came home!
Blessings,77grace

Oh honey, I have so been where you are! People that are not in pain all the time like we are sometimes just do not get it! It isn't like a cold, or a headache or even a broken limb-those all get better with time-our kind of pain doesn't exactly.....but it isn't just about the pain, it is also about your quality of life-being able to do some things, and still enjoy some things as best you can; I have learned to adapt, and while I am not pain free, with my med and other things I do my levels of pain are tolerable. I have not had surgery. I have scoliosis (spine curves more than it should) DDD, 3 messed up discs, stenosis, and really bad arthritis in my spine, facet joints, and other places in my back. No one else but you is walking around in your body-and no one has the right to decide how much pain you should suffer but you. I hope you have a decent pain management doc-you should take your husband with you when you see your doc next, and have the doctor try and explain to your husband how much chronic pain can limit you-also, when your pain is not contolled, it is hard on the rest of your body too! If nothing else, you could possibly sit your husband down and gently point out all the things you do-for example, if you do all the housework, sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, dishes, laundry, errands, etc-if you are in too much pain because your pain is NOT being managed, who is going to do all the things you've been doing? You say you don't want to burden him, but what about your burden-your pain? And the fact that your life has changed in a major way and you will need to learn to work around it, adapt, as so many chronic pain sufferers have? As a Mom, and housewife a lot is expected of me-it has been hard getting the idea across to my family that things have changed, I have changed because of the problems with my back and the pain-I used to just keep going and going long after I should have stopped whatever I was doing, and I cried a lot. But I finally came to the point that I couldn't quite do everything I use to, or at least not the same way, and decided I'd do what I could but not to the point of hurting myself-and that my family would have to adjust too-I did everything for everybody-they would just have to learn to do for themselves once in awhile. I didn't ask to be this way and certainly didn't want to be, but if I had to learn to adapt, I could also learn to be kind to myself and my family would just have to be patient with me and accept things had changed and appreciate what I could still do-I try not to dwell on my pain, there are so many worse off than me, so I consider myself lucky in some ways. It sounds like you are trying to stay as active as you can-and that is great! I try to keep moving as much as I can too. There is nothing wrong with taking a med for a health condition like chronic pain, and it doesn't make you weak, you only want to have a life and be able to do things. I am including a link that kind of said things I wanted to say but didn't know how-I showed it to my family, and the few friends that didn't "get" it-and it seemed to help some. There are always some folks that think your pain isn't that bad or you should just "suck it up" or take an aspirin (which by the way too many aspirin or ibuprofen can tear your stomach up, I know, I've had bleeding ulcers three times-not fun!) but those people do not have the right to judge you or decide anything about YOUR pain because they are not the ones feeling it. Here's the link-http://www.howtocopewithpain.org/blog/47/are-you-pain-free-10-things-those-of-us-in-pain-would-like-you-to-know/ . You sound like a very brave and gutsy person and I really respect you for that and your positive outlook. I hope things get better for you and you find some relief. God bless you.

Thanks for all of your input. I really appreciate the feed back I have gotten. Of course thank you for telling me that I am gutsy that just made my day. I know my husband is trying to help me is his own way and I get where is his coming from in fact the last time I went to the pain doc he didn't even listen to me and already had my pain meds written out for me before i even told him how I felt! I felt like I was as at a drug house just scoring my drugs! it made me think what do I want to go from here! I always wanted to go more holistic and know maybe I should go and try different ways to manage my pain beside drugs, I am going to try acupuncture this week end and I am reading up on going on a more healthful way to deal with my pain Don't know if any of this will work but at least I am going to try since I really don't want to be on meds all the time, It just scares me being on drugs, like am I going to be addicted to pain meds??? I understand that I can;t be the way I was always doing everything for everybody and I still have a hard time saying no I can't do it its just being a mom and housewife for so long. My family tries to help but of course they really don't understand Im so afraid that one day i will be walking with a cane or walker and won't be able to do all that I use to do. Has anyone out there tried some different types of help beside meds. I'm trying to adapt and I guess I have to take one day at a time. Thanks everybody for the inspiration to go and try to be the best me that I can be. Much thanks and love to all, Kim

Kim,

There is a vast difference between being addicted to prescription pain medication and becoming addicted. Very few chronic pain patients actually become addicted.

Be careful what you tell others - family, friends, even your husband. The can not fully understand until they have experienced pain themselves. It is usually best to suffer in silence, as they say.

I can only take enteric coated aspirin and a prescription muscle relaxer for my chronic pain. I am allergic to all else or it does not work for me. I rely more on a good mattress, good recliner and hydrotherapy. We have a hot tub but I am looking to sell it and buy a walk-on whirlpool tub for our bathroom. Many people have tried meditation, bio-feedback, cognitive therapy, and have seen a psychologist or psychiatrist that specialized in treating chronic pain patients.
So, there are many ways to manage chronic pain in addition to prescription pain medication.

Keep doing your research. Keep moving as much as possible. Keep a positive attitude.

Hi Kim,

I think we've "talked" before.

I think you have gotten excellent responses to your discussion, don't you?

Personally speaking, I do not carry any extra weight, BUT just the few pre-menstrual pounds makes a huge difference on my spinal cord injury pain issues. I have read over-and-over that weight is not an issue in fibromyalgia management, but your pain is not fibromyalgia and, so I have read and believe, pain based upon structural matters are different.

I will not repeat what Dave has said regarding addiction vs proper use. What I will repeat is what my pain management MD has said to me upon many occasions:

Proper pain management (including drugs) increases the person's ability to function; abuse deteriorates ones function.

I do partake of non-drug therapies, but medication is also a piece of my pain management- NOT the only methodology!

Still, without the small dose of MSContin I take three times a day, my pain would not be managed for me to participate in other things I do to help my pain management.

I will be following this discussion to read all the responses. It is an excellent discussion!

Love,

CTB

There are many different things to try out there, of course you should discuss any thing you want to try with your doctor first! I started taking omega fish oil for cholesterol, but it seems to make me feel better all the way around; also have a tens unit, and it helps sometimes; you can find a lot of information on the internet also. For my arthritis when nothing else seems to work I sometimes take an herb called cats claw and it seems to help. I really think you're doing good to do the yoga, stretching different parts of the body can help loosen things up and take pressure off things. Racking my brain to think of other things, if I come up with anything else that might be of help will post it here.....please let us know how the acupuncture goes, been interested in that myself! Take care and good luck!

I thank everybody so much to put things in perspective . I know I have to take my meds to function out there. Without them I wouldn't be able to do the simple things most people take for granted. I guess every once in a while I need the support from others out there that are going through similar things that I am going through. Iwill go throughout some of the links that you have given me. I will look positively towards how to deal with my life with chronic pain and know that what I do to help cope with it is ok cause nobody else knows what I going thought but myself. Like I said before this is so great to have a place where we can ask for help or find new ideas from others. Lots of love and happiness to all of you from me and hope whatever holidays you practice I hope they are wonderful to you. Much love, Kim

Gaining and losing weight has not made any difference in my FMS. 50 pounds would have, if it was going to.

That said, I feel better when I am lighter in weight. It is a mental thing, more than anything else. This time, I have lost weight very slowly and steadily rather than quickly. I can do more than I felt able to do when I was heavier. But, it has not changed my pain levels at all. Oh well....

I also take meds for my pain in addition to exercise, and other things. It is only one of my tools.

Take care, Annette

Hi Kim,
Just another little note for you!Cocerning weight problems!WE ,(my Husband and I) ftried a new diet!It's Wonderful!!You get to eat alot ,never hugrey and lots of Energy!Its called "The 17 day diet!~"Get the book or look it up !I know many success including both of us!
77grace

Can you only use this diet for 17 days? What then?

Take care, Annette