To all: What do you suffer from and whatnot?

 

Hi all,

 since I'm new here and I basically don't know anyone, I would like to learn about the members. This idea came to me when Palady replied to my post and even though she sounded really nice, I realized I did not know anything about her or anyone else for that matter.

What's you age bracket, female, male, alone, married with kids, are you working?

I am not nosy. It just that it'd be so nice from now on to put a face (so to speak) on those friendly posts full of hope, to have an semblance of acquaintance so I'd feel closer when we exchange.

I'm Dany, I come from the province of Quebec, Canada and my mother tongue is of course, french. I am in my late 30's, have 2 kids (15 and 7), divorced, alone (and lonely) and I have not been working for the past 2 years. I try to keep myself busy in spite of everything, but it's tough and therefore, I fight depression constantly. My condition is the back: 3 slipped disks, pain in the lower back, upper and in the neck. Some in the heel, which I supposed is the sciatic nerve acting up. I was never close to my family so not much help there. I like reading, movies, animals and long walk in the great outdoors. I speak 3 languages without much of an accent: French, english and spanish.

Your turn! Please fell free...

Frenchie

Frenchie71 said...
 

What's you age bracket, female, male, alone, married with kids, are you working?

Hi Dany!

I am new to this forum as well, this is actually my first post.

I'm a 30 year old female, I've never been married and have recently begun dating a very patient man, no children.  I am still working although I'm facing some tough decisions since my job requires that I travel for months on end which is very taxing on the body.  My next project is set to start on 2/15 and I'm pretty apprehensive about the toll it'll take on me.

I'm relatively new to chronic pain at the level that I have it.  I woke up in May 2008 and was unable to walk for two weeks.  Turns out that I was in need of a spinal fusion at L5-S1 and I had that surgery on 4/20.  Since September 2008 I've been on pain meds, Darvocet from 9/08 - 4/09 and since my surgery I've been on a combination of percocet, lortab, ultram, tramadol, and muscle relaxers (the specific ones are escaping my memory right now).  I've also completed 3.5 months of physical therapy and have undergone routine chiropractic care and massage therapy.  My surgeon has handed my pain management off to a pain management doctor and I'm hoping to get in to see one in the next few weeks.

I'm at the point now where the frustration is setting in quickly.  I'm realizing that I may have to seriously consider making a career change so that I can stay local and not have to travel.  I'm trying to put a positive spin on things that have changed, like my inability to bend over and having to pick and chose my tasks for the day, I can either go grocery shopping OR change the cat litter OR vacuum OR fold laundry but in no way can I handle more than one of those a day.  I'm also starting to struggle with other people and their good intentions.  The perception seems to be that my surgery should have fixed my pain so I feel as if I have to justify my still having pain.  I feel guilty for being on pain meds and I feel that others look at me like I'm taking them for fun when I take them just to get out of bed in the morning.  It's tough to know that I may never have a day without pain and I'm still so young, and I feel guilty for having a hard time adjusting when so many other people out there have it so much worse than me.

That ended up being much longer than I anticipated! 

Jill

Frenchie71 said...

What's you age bracket, female, male, alone, married with kids, are you working?

OK, I'll try again....90% of my original post disappeared!

Welcome Dany!

I'm in my early 50's, female, married and on my second set of kids! LOL!

What I mean by "second set" of kids is that during my twenties I had 4 children....they are now all in their 30s except for the baby (my son) who is 29 years old today! 3 of the 4 are married and have had children: I have 5 beautiful grandchildren so far.

My eldest daughter could not raise her two children due to mental health problems, so I've adopted both of them; they are my "second set" of kids, a boy and a girl. The little girl is disabled with many serious medical conditions, but both of them are sweet, happy kids....ages 3 and 4.

My long list of medical problems is in my signature box....along with my list of medications.

I am working still.....I don't know how much longer that will be true though! I'm usually in a lot of pain, of course, plus I have lots of neurological symptoms like double vision, blurry vision, memory loss, vertigo (from the fibro, or the Lyme, or celiac disease, or lupus.....who knows?).

I actually have two jobs: scientist at a major research university by day and part-time math teacher at a local community college by night. I will probably stop the part time job....I have to decide very soon because spring semester is nearly upon us.

I'm hanging on by my fingernails to the day job because it's not only my dream job (I worked VERY hard to get my degrees so I could do this!) but we really can't afford for me to quit. The health insurance alone is reason enough to try to continue to work. My day-job employer is letting me work from home, at least for now, about 80% of the time.

At one time (decades ago) I was fairly fluent in both French and Spanish, despite being une Americaine! :)

But lack of practice has reduced me to mostly being able to read those languages, rather than speak them fluently.

Best wishes to you.....you've joined a great forum!
JoAnn

Hi Frenchie,

I am 43 years old and have 4 children 24, 14, 14 and 12. I suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibro, Depression I think caused by the RA and Fibro and diabetes as well. Love to chat.

I don't sleep very well so i'm usually on at night. I also speak both French and english.

Bonjour Dany,

I am new here as well - I just signed up today.

My name is Pam and I am 47 years old. I live in Calgary, AB with my fabulous husband Ray, and our tabby cat Dorie. I have two grown children from a previous relationship - my son Troy is 28 and my daughter Ashley is 27. They also live in Calgary, so I see them often.

Ray and I are Grammi and Grumpa to Ashley's three boys...the two oldest live with their dad in Moncton, NB, so we don't see them often, but the youngest one is with her and he's 4. Calen is an absolute sweetheart and he and I love to play trains and cars together.

I am a Certified Event Planner and have been using those skills in Sr. level Administrative positions for 15+ years now. I am currently on short term disability thru my employer (a large Canadian sporting good company), and will likely be moving to long term disability in the near future.

My list of conditions, etc. is in my signature below, but I try not to let that define "who" I am. I try to keep busy with crafting and reading, and my husband is planning on launching his own homemade soap company, so I'm in charge of the website and marketing for that.

I love spas, good wine (yep, I drink it despite being on narcotics), the Pearls Before Swine comic strip, anything to do with weddings, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the TV series), as well as pretty much any animated movie (Enchanted is a favourite). I adore music, and often use that for relaxation when pain is overwhelming.

My husband takes very good care of me and pretty much runs the house so I don't have to worry about stuff (in addition to him working part-time and going to school part-time). I consider myself very blessed despite dealing with major pain day in and day out.

I'm excited to have found these forums - it's great to connect and share with others who "get" it.

Take care,

Pam aka MsBunky

Hello Dany,

I am a few days shy of my 37th birthday. I am married and am mom to two boys, age 6 and 13, and step-mom to a 21 year old who also lives with us. I am fortunate to not have to work. Though that requires some definite sacrifices in terms of life style, it is worth it to be able to devote what little energy I have to caring for my family.

I have no health insurance, so I'm on the bare bones medications (whatever is cheapest and still treats my problems) which means my blood pressure gets treated, and I have vicodin for the days that my pain is too extreme to function otherwise. I take it only on the days that I can't bear the pain any more so that I don't build up a tolerance. Plus, it makes me kind of grouchy and very sensitive to noise to the point that even people talking sounds extremely loud to me, so taking it while kids are still awake isn't very fair to them. But it alleviates the worst of the pain and allows me to continue to function.

I just found these forums recently as well, and I'm very grateful to have found an active community of people who know what it feels like to "look" fine but feel terrible.

Hi, I am melissa, I am 31 years old and female. I am Happily married to a great guy. WE have been together for 14 years. We have 2 kids but I rather not mention much about them on a forum.

As you can see by my signature I have a few probelms. I also have bulging discs in my neck. I also fight severe depression. I am disabled since may 2007. Its hard but there is no way I can work. I brush my teetch, then have to lay down, brush my hair lay down. The pain keeps me from sleeping as well as the sleep apnea. I take meds to keep me awake and meds to make me sleep!

crazy pattern.


but I think you will like this forum. everyone is great.

welcome

Hi Dany,
It looks like I'm the old lady of the bunch that have posted. My dx's are posted within the signature like some of the others. I am 59 years and will be 60 in June. We have been married for 40 years and have two daughters, the oldest is 39 and a 2nd grade teacher and they have one daughter that is 18 so that makes grandkid #1; our other child is also a daughter that is 31 and she is a RN and she has two children, girl that is 5 and baby boy that is 4 months. So that make grandkids 2 and 3. We are fortunate to have them with us right in our same town and believe me we do enjoy it. I retired as the Human Resource Director from our hospital in August 2007 after 33 years of service and pain. I'm lucky that I had that option available but as I tell folks it seems that I retired to become a professional patient which really isn't what I had in mind.

Welcome to the HWCP forums and you will not find a better place for understanding and compassion. Take care because I care.