Brand new to this community and let me just say, I think I could spend the next 6 months just reading all the great information here! A little background information:
I am a 46 (soon to be 47
) year old female with a diagnosis of degenerative joint disease, Fibromyalgia, Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis...good grief, maybe it would be a shorter list to say what I don't have! Anyway, I was just recently referred to a pain management physician after almost 3 years on Vicodin 5/500 prescribed by my family doc. The Vicodin had long stopped being effective and I ended up taking my own "medication vacations) in order to try to help boost the effectiveness of the Vicodin, especially during the long, painful Ohio winters. PM doctor ordered a bone scan and found bone spurs and joint degeneration (or complete obliteration) in bilateral shoulders, knees, thumbs, mid foot and right ankle.
I find myself in the catch 22 of being inactive due to pain, gaining weight due to inactivity, inactivity due to increased weight and pain in joints, gaining weight.....well, you get the picture. I just don't know what to do or where to go. I have had injections in both thumbs with Cortisone in the past week. The PM doctor has placed me on Butrans patch 20mcg but I have so much breakthrough pain I am not comfortable on this new medication. The PM doctor cannot see me until the end of January, due to the loss of office hours during the holidays.
OK, sorry about
that. I just wanted to give a short history and introduce myself; didn't mean to turn it into a whine fest. It's just nice to know there is a community here where people can relate to what I am experiencing.