new here..please answer

Hello all,

I used to post on here but for some reason I stopped,  but I miss it and I have to admit that Ialways kept on reading you. However, if there is no real interaction then it is a bit pointless I realized.

Basically I am from Canada, in my late thirties and haven't worked for about a year and a half now. I mention it because of a previous post about working with chronic pain and I though that it was relevant.

Basically , my main problem is in the back. Three disc herniation in the lumbar area. I don't know how it is in the US but where I come from, if you can walk, no matter the amount of pain you are in, no surgeon is going to touch you with a ten foot pole. Mind you all, I read so many posts of people whose surgery caused them to be in more pain that frankly I wonder if they are not right.

To answer the post of someone whose post title was "working with pain" or something like that, well...I have slightly the same problem. Being home all the time can most certainly be a downer. Downer being a euphemism to say downright depressing. I feel useless and really bad especially you you see people around you going about working and living a meaningful an fulfilling life. It a double-edge sword: staying home alone is harmul mentally and depression exacerbates pain.

On the other hand, if a work (which is coming soon since I found a job) I cannot say that I'm in pain ( or else I would not have been hired in the first place) and thus I have to pretend, which can be quite burdensome. I am also afraid that I will have to take more drugs than I would if I staid home because I will have to PERFORM!  How do you keep up to par if you in pain?? How do you focus enough to get the job done? The more i will take drugs the more I will develop  a tolerance and then you get to the limit of your dosage and then you have to wean it off to get back on it. How do you go through withdrawal while you are working?? I can't take a vacation if it is a new job, I'll get canned! But I have to. In Canada, if you don't work, you get squat! Barely enough to make your rent let alone eat. I really want to work though but not sure how to.  So hopeless!

Ouf! So sorry!...I'm rambling on but I am so worried!

Is anybody in a simular situation and how do you cope?

Thank you.

Frenchie

 

Hi Frenchie,
Welcome back. I agree with Jim that sometimes here in the US surgeons are a bit too eager to jump to major surgery. I nearly went through with a disc replacement surgery a year ago, but got too panicked & backed out at the very last possible minute. After that, my doctor suggested trying Radio Frequency Nerve Ablation (RF). Between that & the home traction unit my back has finally started improving. I quite literally went from being in horrible pain every day (& sometimes unable to get out of bed) to being able to work in a moderate amount of pain after the RF -- we did 6 lesions at L5/S1 and 4 lesions at L4/L5. My PM considered doing 2-4 more at L3/L4, but insurance wouldn't cover it. So we waited a while to see how I responded to the RF & after 6 months (it takes 2-4 months to get the maximum benefit from the RF), he ordered me a home traction unit. Honestly, it has been a godsend. I can now go to work & not be in horrible pain & bent over all day. I can go up a flight of stairs without pain. I can go down 3 flights of stairs without pain. And after months of core work & some light weights (3 pounds for arms & just a resistance band for my legs), I have been cleared to start a land based light aerobics routine. :)

I know other members have posted that they were able to get RF procedures covered in Canada, so perhaps that is one way to go. I don't know what options they have for traction. For that matter, it would be better to try it out before trying to get a home unit. I had been in an auto accident several years ago & one of my muscles was determined to be "atrophied" and not able to recover function. But ever since the traction unit, I started getting sensation back in the muscle. It is no longer drooping down, but matches the glut muscle on the other side of my body. :) My next goal is to be able to walk half a mile 3x per week. It sounds so small, but as everyone here understands those small things can sometimes mean a lot.

best wishes,
frances

Hi and welcome to HW. I am excited to see a Canadian join on Chronic pain as there are no others but myself. Where are you from? I am in Ottawa. I was showing your post to my husband your post as I know he has a friend who'name is Frenchie and has problems witth his back, but it doesn't seem to be you.
I too am not able to work. I have continuous severe headaches for ten years. They are quite horrible now. No meds help, no therapies help and the doctors don't know what to do. In the meantime i keep researching and at the moment i am trying to find out if some of the procedures that are done in the states can be done in Ontario. You'll see a post i have made on that topic.
Good luck with your searcher here. Glad you joined.

Suzane

 

 

Frenchie, Welcome back....I know what you mean about being at home 24/7.  I haven't worked in over 8 years....I know, it's too long.  But I have a 16 year old son that I have been taking care of by myself since he was 4....and I know all about Depression.... Some days I don't even take a shower and get dressed...just because I really have NO REASON to.  This life of CP can send you down a long and dark tunnel....spiralling so fast that you feel like there's no way out.  I feel that way alot.  I also have dreams....weird dreams.  Sometimes I dream that I am in a World in such turmoil but the only thing I worry about is finding pain meds...I dream about going into Pharmacies and bagging up every narcotic I can find....just so I'll always have them.... I know it sounds very much like an addicts behavior..but I do worry about it.  I think it's the depression. 

 

We are here for you....just like they are here for me...The people here have helped me through some pretty bad times.  If I didn't have this forum to run to I would go crazy..

 

Me.

Nice to hear back from you Frenchie. I am going to see a specialist in Longuieul on Jan 20, is that near you.
Tell us more about yourself. Did you have a injury to have backpain. How long have you been in back pain. Are you see a pain management dr.? What do you take for your pain. Sure hope things will go ok for your new job. What is the job?

Suzane

Well, working FT is a big, BIG challenge for anyone with CP and something I've been consistantly writing about and worried about for awhile. I work FT and the past four years has been difficult with a hospitalization, a surgery, another possible surgery coming up (not ready to talk about that one yet) and all my sick/vacation days go to dealing with bad CP days--vacation, what's that? The best advice I have to offer is that if you are going to attempt to work FT then you will have to alter your lifestlye to maximize resting/sleep; I actually sleep 14 hrs a night 2 to 3 nights during the week and I have to absolutely rest one weekend day, letting chores and errands go. The psychological part is challenging, ironically, when you don't work you think life if passing you by, but when all you do is work and rest, you also feel life is passing you by. I too am on pain meds and haven't found that to be an issue for me because I take an ER med and try to limit my BT med as much as I can to avoid high tolerance issues (don't get me wrong, I have high tolerance, but I put up with more pain than I probably should rather than up my meds). Oh, and what's really helped is I don't pretend to be something I am not at work, I'm not one of those perky, "Good morning" people, but I'm respectful, do my job as best as I can and for the most part keep to myself, it's actually worked to my benefit, I've stayed out of the gossip pool.