Ankle Joint Breaking Down, chronic pain, young, help

   Dear Painful,

      Good morning. My name is Dani and it is a pleasure to meet you. I am very glad you found The Healing Well community and I would like to send you a warm welcome! 

     It sounds like your have been in pain for a long time. I am sorry to hear that. I too have areas that are arthritic.... so I know how relentless that type of pain can be. All I can suggest is perhaps re-training at your local vocation school for a job that has you "sitting". If you are a "long term resident" of your state, most states will pay for most, if not all, of your school. Then all you will need to do is pay for books (or find grant to pay for books). That way the end goal will be to keep you off your feet for the most part.

      I know it is frustraiting when we want the doctors to "fix" the pain. If you are in anyway, uncomfortable with your doctors treatment options, never be afraid to change. One thing I have noticed so far, is that they want to "fix" areas that will cause even more problems or "effect other areas negativly" as I age. You see I am 29 now. I was 27 when pain knocked me flat 24/7. (In my heart I think I had warning signs before that...but I dont want to get off track. ) My doctors whole goal seems to be trying to prevent further damage and repairing damage where/when they can. The "pain" aspect has never been even remotly addressed in a manner that suggested "getting rid of" but more of making me "comfortable to continue living". Perhaps that is the case with you?

     I cant give you advise in the "family" area as I don't really understand those types of relationships yet. Sorry I am not much help in that area right now thou...

     I am sorry it is hard to be with friends. Perhpas there are other things you can do together? Like a comedy club? Or things like that you could do once in while, but where you can also sit and be somewhat comfortable? I know its hard when friends dont understand that your body "just cant go". When I first came here to Healing Well that is one of the fisrt things I noticed we all hand in common.... that our friends turned out to be much different people. *hugg*

You said ~~>" Is there anyone else here that is young and has arthritic or is otherwise in severe pain, but because you are young or appear young, people don't take you seriously or tell you you haven't "earned" it?"

      ...Well, at first, the first doctor I met when I was 27 kinda treated me that way. He apologized perfusely to me later while I was being wheeled into surgery. I could tell he was very very sorry. But, I will never consider him in a professional manner nor would I ever suggest his name to anyone as a care giver. I know he was sorry, I really do. But a simple x-ray could have told him all he needed to know. He didnt have to treat me like that. One of my current specialists knows him. I really do understand how sorry he is... I think sometimes people forget? To have compassion for other? Who knows. All we can hope is that they learn from the experience and never treat others the way they have treated us.....

      I don't know if ibuprophen can cause weight gain. I take a "type" of ibuprophen (relofen) along with my pain other pain medicines. I have the opposite problem. I have to consume alot of protien because I burn alot of calories with the amount of pain I am in. I eat 4 to 5 times per day and am still only 115 - 120. Has anyone ever suggested that perhaps it could be an allergic reaction of some kind? When you do find a new doctor mention it for sure.

      I think perhaps you should call your states local health and human services thou.. It wont be easy. But, they will be able to cover you with insurance while you are looking for employment or training for something new. I would start, once you are approved, with interviewing primary care physicians. Once you have found one he/she may be sent to pain management, rheumatologist, orthopedic, etc.. It will all take a very very long time to get the ball rolling in the right direction and will likley be frustraiting, but, well worth it in the end.

      It is good that you have somewhere to live while you are going through such a time in your life. But, again I am unsure about family dynamics in that reguard yet... 10yrs ago when I needed help with reguards to housing while training for a new job the local human services were able to help me out a little bit. Not much, but enough to get things on track. Give your states local center a call, maybe they can help??

     Angain, it was a pleasure to meet you. I do hope to get to know you better as time goes by. Try to relax if possible.

*hugg*

  dani

Ibuprofen can cause fluid retention.  So it could be that some of the weight you are gaining from being inactive is, in fact, fluid retention.  Watch your salt intake and fluid intake and that might help some with that problem.

I would apply to your state's Vocational Rehabilitation Program for testing and job training in an area where you could work sitting down (as a computer tech or in computer graphics, for example.)  The testing and schooling are free.  I have gone through them twice in my life.

I would also suggest seeking another opinion from an orthopedic surgeon and a rheumatologist.  I don't feel that you've gotten a firm diagnosis.  It could be that you have rheumatoid arthritis or a variation of it.  There are many other joint diseases that can cause pain.

It can sometimes take a long while to get Medicaid or SSI.  If you are in or near a large city, try a teaching hospital.  They offer free clinics and meds to people with low or no income.

Best of luck to you!

Connie

I truly cannot add any more than what the others have already told you in ways of getting help. I am so sorry that you have trouble with your father, but the important thing is for you to get busy checking out some of these places the others have spoken of. Alot of people are not aware of the many programs out there that are run by the state you live in. As far as I know every state has Medicaid which is insurance for people with no income and no job. That will get you medical treatment either at no cost or very little cost. Please do check into the CP101 as Chutz suggested there is alot of info there that can help you too.

Please let us know how you are progressing along and getting some much needed help. Again, welcome aboard we are glad to have you.

Your post reallly touched me. I can fairly say that I utterly relate regarding many of the things you said particularly having zero support: I myself have none either. Moreover, I am the same bracket age as you: 38 year old. I have had 3 disc herniation and all the due pain that comes with it and as a result, have lost almost everything: first went the job then my savings to my kids (from every other week to every other week-end). Now, I'm living in  sorry 2 1\2 in a basement, fighting depression, going through withdrawals every now and then (price to pay not to be in pain all the time) and trying to get back in the saddle AGAIN! It gets tired though to spring back up just to fall back all over again. Sorry dude, should try and give you some hope instead but from my own experience, not much of a success story there. If that's worth anything, they are people just like you, alone in their predicament. I understand and I hear you about every single thing you said.

I know about the frustration too to see people going about their lives and getting ahead, making things happen and not being able to follow the troops, not because you don't want too but because you can't. You want a life and you are entitled to one. In short, your feelings are totally legitimate and you should not let anybody make you believe otherwise.

Good luck and hold tough!

I'm sorry you're experiencing such horrid pain, and worse, that your own father doesn't seem to believe you. It's bad enough when doctor's disbelieve our pain and what we endure, but to have your own family. I have been there, though it was my boyfriend who was convinced I was faking it, that I was being lazy, that I was a hypocondriac. It doesn't help those of us with chronic pain at all, as it's devistating to our emotional state.

"Is there anyone else here that is young and has arthritic or is otherwise in severe pain, but because you are young or appear young, people don't take you seriously or tell you you haven't "earned" it?"

I'm in my late 30's now, infact my birthday's next month, and for 3 and a half years now I have lived with chronic pain as my new companion. It's very hard to adjust to this new life, to learn to pace myself, what my limits are, and how far I can push them before I do to much harm to myself. It's been a learning experience for my family too, as they're my support team. Even my son has had to learn just what his mother can and can not do with him; which is hard on him given he's 8 now. To add to my chronic pain I also have mildly arthritic knees from a rough life-style -- auto accident, martial arts accident, and a horse back riding accident have all taken their tolls. But if you were to pass me in the store you'd never know the pain I live with. Yes, people who don't know me find it extremely hard to believe that I'm permanently disabled, that the "disease" I have will only get worse with time (as it's already proven in the last 3 years), and often when I ask for assistance they look at me for a long moment and you can almost hear their thoughts. "Is she really that lazy?" "To good to do get dirty and do your own work?" For a long time it made me not want to ask for help, but recently I have learned that it's not worth the pain it causes me... so I just endure their looks. The hardest part is when I ask for help and I get none.

I'm hoping you've filed for unemployment, but if not, have you looked into state medicaid? I know I didn't qualify when I got unemployed; told me I made to much to qualify for it. But when my unemployment ran out I was able to get it, and it pretty much covered everything. In the mean time have you seen  Pain Management Specialist yet? That was specialist number 7 for me, but he was also the one to finally figure out what was wrong with me. All my lab work was normal, my x-rays were normal, even my MRI's were normal, yet I was constantly in unbearable pain from in my right wrist and hand... with time it included my elbow, now it includes up to my sholder and a bit of my neck, making my entire right arm (my dominant one of course) pretty much painful even when I do little things like hold a cup of coffee. The worst times are when I'm laying down, doing nothing with it, and it hurts, and no matter how I lay I can't get it comfortable.

You will find that you'll always have a support team here for you, incase you haven't figured that much about all the wonderful folks here. They have  wealth of knowledge and compassion, so don't ever be affraid to post because you need to vent. I know my email link is clickable, and I'm always happy to provide an ear to chew on.

As for your friends, do they know what you're dealing with? Do you think if they did they might cut you some slack and ease up with their teasing?

I know you may feel like a "cripple" or that you're a burden, but you're not. You do have alot to adjust too, and it won't happen over night. For the longest time I alternated between sad that the life I knew was gone, and this was my new life... or angery, angery that this happened to me, angery about how I was treated by some doctors; especially the one that told me "I can't find anything wrong with you, there for you're obviously fine." I was angery and hurt over the boyfriend who was convinced I was faking it, that I was just being lazy, that I didn't want to get a job, that I was happy to live with my parents, that I was a hypocondriac... and who eventually left me, and two months later was married to a coworker of his -- and we'd been together for about 5 years and engaged. I was angery at the man who wanted to be my husband and my son's father, who said he understood, but in the end didn't. Nor could he deal with my disability and kept telling me to give up doing everything I loved, to stop putting myself in pain (I'm in pain regardless what I do, but I'm also supposed to fight my condition and use my arm so that it doesn't completely atrophee and have to be removed) because my pain got in the way of his happiness.  So I do understand what you're going through. It seems unless someone deals with chronic pain they just don't understand what we live with, but if they could spend a day in our shoes they might be a bit more understanding, supportive, and compassionate.

That isn't to say all people are bad, and that there aren't kind, caring, helpful and compassionate people out there. But I'm really glad that you found this place, I know I cried tears of joy when I did... to finally be understood, and actually meet others who deal with the same rare condition I have. You will always find people here that will be here to help, and to listen. So remember, you're not alone, you're not a bad person, and you're not a burden. Please keep in touch. *hugs*