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Chronic Pain
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Posted 3/30/2008 5:31 AM (GMT 0)
Good "early" morning, everyone! I am obviously new to this wonderful forum. I am 29, married, and have two beautiful children, ages 6 and 8. I am currently a stay-at-home-mom and former full-time college student (majoring in Psychology). I have Degenerative Disc Disease in my entire spine, severe Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, a heart condition, and possible auto-immune disease. The DDD is causing several spinal abnormalities, such as herniations (L5-S1), osteoarthritis, annular tears, bone spurs, hemangiomas (covering L4), and spondylolisthesis (L5-S1). My last and only MRI was performed in May 2007 on my lumbar spine. I have had numerous x-rays on my lumbar and cervical spine. I recently sprained my right ankle and caused soft tissue damage, due to the weakness in both legs. I have sciatic nerve pain in my left buttock and down my left leg/foot. My neurosurgeon wants to fight this "conservatively" because a spinal fusion will only increase spinal weakness. I go to a hand and wrist specialist on April 14th about the nerve damage in both wrists and hands. I am looking forward to meeting everyone and hearing your stories.

Sincerely, Tam
yeah
Posted 3/30/2008 5:42 AM (GMT 0)
I edited my profile, in order to add my signature.

Sincerely, Tam
eyes
Posted 3/30/2008 5:46 AM (GMT 0)
I forgot to add Mobic once daily and Diclofenac three times daily.

Sincerely, Tam
tongue
Posted 3/31/2008 4:57 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Tam!

And welcome. So glad you've decided to join our family. You are so young to be fighting all of those problems. I'm sorry you have to live with it, especially with caring for 2 kids. At least you can be at home with them.

I understand the L5/S1 problem. Both legs have nerve pain from a collapsed disk at that location on my back. I've had CT surgery on both hands and would recommend it in a heartbeat. It stopped the problem instantly and the surgery was very easy. Probably my biggest challenge is fibromyalgia. It's what causes my pain. I just can't imagine having DDD at your age. I sure hope your medical team finds a good solution for you.

Hugs and again...Welcome!
Chutzie
Posted 3/31/2008 6:55 AM (GMT 0)
Hi tam,im new too,and you will love it here.very warm,caring and compassionate people.I wish I could be their spokesperson because they are so nice.so I felt I should give you as friendly and warm a welcome as they gave me.hope you like it here:)
Posted 3/31/2008 9:26 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you all for the warm and inviting welcome! I am looking forward to getting to know each and everyone of you. I am very thankful to have found this wonderful and caring site!

Sincerely, Tam
:-)
Posted 4/3/2008 12:15 AM (GMT 0)

confused  hi, first time chat room participant so not sure of the protocol. i've been living with chronic pain for over 14 years and during that time i underwent more than 10 back surgeries you know cages, bone grafts (many) wire, rods, screws and so on. i also have a pain pump in my abdomen with (i always spell this wrong) dilaudid in it, i take 8 percocet a day,4 soma, valium as needed and various other meds for various other ailments. this is new to me as i said and i guess i just introduce myself at first so thats what this is.are people talking right now or do they do so later? nevermind going with the learn as you go plan. the main reason i've looked for this outlet is so that i would find people who have been where i am, felt what i felt and are not afraid to talk about it. i have a loving man and daughter she's 22, my immediate family is very supportive but find it hard to moan and groan or whine or what ever i want around them. i know they hurt for me and by talking about it i think it makes things worse all the way around.

i guess that's it for now, i do hope i meet some of you nice people i've been reading about and i also hope you will be patient with me after all like i said this is totally new to me, toritoo

Posted 4/3/2008 12:30 AM (GMT 0)

yeah  still me, toritoo, i forgot to mention i'm also currently using fentnyl patches. the pump is eventually supposed to be my only pain med needed, at least that's the plan so i've slowly been decreasing oral meds and patches and going up on the pump daily output. anyone else have one of these? it sure is hard to buy pants! there are good things in my life but pain is my constant companion and boy is she ...unpleasant.i spend most of my life in bed and i finally got a laptop from a friend so now i'm hoping to not feel so isolated and alone even though i'm surrounded by people, good people. family and a few friends.

one more thing please could someone tell me what a signature is and if i need it or not? if i do how do i get it, thanks again, toritoo

Posted 4/3/2008 12:39 AM (GMT 0)
and me again, toritoo, question? why is there a pencil that says edit and and x that says delete on my previous messages?did i do something wrong, boy i hope not. this chat room thing is a lot more complicated then i thought. fingers crossed. bye bye
Posted 4/3/2008 2:21 AM (GMT 0)
Welcome, Toritoo,
I'm relatively new to many features of this site, also, so my guidance may be less than perfect. This is the message board. You can post a reply to any thread (topic) or start a new topic of your own. I think many people seem to spend some time going through the topics that are already on the board, at least the first couple of pages, and if you read the ones of interest you can just jump in. The chat room I've only been in once. On the main forum page on the right (at least it's on the right on my screen) there are many things you can click on, inclduding the chat room. And then another page will open and give instruction of how to get into the chat. I've also learned of late it's a good idea to read through the forum rules.

Lots of people on this board I've seen with many similar physical problems to yours, so I think you'll find plenty of company, although none of us wants to be in chronic pain. I've only had one surgery, but it didn't help my pain. Been through a ton of procedures before that - injections, physical therapy, etc., and am having to make some peace with being in pain for the rest of my life.

Oh, the pencil on the top of your post means you can click on it if you want to edit your own post (like if you think of something you want to add or change, you don't have to write a new reply), and the X is there so that you can delete a post if you want. You can only do these things to your posts, however, not to others. But the moderators can also edit posts if needed. You don't have to have a signature - you'll see a list of things at the bottom of some peoples' posts like maybe a quote, or their diagnosis, medications, etc. You can put whatever you want but you don't have to put anything. Right now I don't have a signature.

Hope some of this helps!

PaLady
Posted 4/3/2008 3:09 AM (GMT 0)

:-)  Oh thank you so much PALady (hope i got that right) i was starting to get a bit worried it was me. I've been jumping around so much in this strange new world that i was feeling even worse. So thank you so much.

I definitely will have to go back for a look at your directions and tips they were great. I think I will just write again later though i'm feeling, well i'm sure you know how i'm feeling.

I look forward to writing again and getting to know everyone. I will get this down.

Thanks again PALady, till next time. toritoo

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