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Posted 6/6/2012 3:04 AM (GMT 0)
Hello everyone,  

 I am new to the forum. I am 48 years old.  I have chronic pain due to osteoarthritis, bulging discs and a large herniated disc with a displaced nerve root in my back and fibromyalgia. I also have Bipolar II and anxiety issues.  They seem the less of my issues. My bipolar is well controlled at this point. My chronic pain is not. I am currently going to a pain clinic and receiving lumbar steroid injections for my back. I also had Synvisc injected in my knees.  I am tired of the constant pain that I am in and try to find way to distract myself from the pain. I often wake up in pain and go to bed in pain. What are some of way others distract themselves from pain? I am currently disabled,so I don't work. I go to the community pool to exercise and get some relief from the pain.  I have a unit the PT has showed me how to use. I like the heated blanket on our bed , it gives me some relief too . I use ice on my back. But I am wonder if there are other thing I should/could be doing to relieve the pain I experience.

Posted 6/6/2012 4:26 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Millymilan,

Welcome to the CP forum of HealingWell. I'm sorry that you are suffering w/ chronic pain though.... :(

It sounds like you are doing many things to help distract or deal w/ your CP. For me, it's a combo of medication (opiates, nerve meds and muscle relaxers) combined w/ occasional injections.... I do use ice and/or heat when needed. I also have a script for lidocaine patches. Over the years, I've done PT, tens unit, massage, all that sort of thing.

Do you take meds for your pain issues?

In addition - just when I'm not feeling well in general - from my health and/or pain - I try to stay distracted - whether it be on the computer, TV, reading, my family, etc... whatever it takes to keep my mind focused on something else.

Anyway, welcome aboard.... and hope to see you posting more!

--Tina
Posted 6/6/2012 5:44 AM (GMT 0)
Hello millymilan!…and Welcome to the forum! wink

One thing that works well on me for the distraction of pain, are the videos on Youtube. Try searching for comedy…music videos and such…and if you can,….. grab a set of head-phones to block out any outside noise. A good movie may work well also. Choose an activity that uses most of your five senses…all at the same time….Taste, smell, sight, hearing and touch. If you can find something that uses three of the five…the odds may be in your favor for decent distraction.

All in all though,…. the best distraction for moderate to severe pain is a good pain management Dr scripting your med's correctly.

Take care!…and again, Welcome!

SE wink
Posted 6/6/2012 6:07 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Millymilan and I too would like to welcome you to the chronic pain forum. From what you have described about your health problems no wonder you are suffering a lot of pain. Has any of the drs ever discussed surgery for the herniated disc and the displaced nerve root? Have your seen a neurosurgeon for a consult? Sorry for so many questions, lol.

Are you having epidural steroid injections with the pain mgt dr and if so how many more do you have to go? Normally they are done in a series of three spread out over a few weeks apart. With this nerve root being displaced are you having a lot of nerve pain. Nerve pain is in a class of all its own, If you do have nerve pain does the PM dr have you on any of the meds used to treat nerve pain? Regular pain meds just do not work that well for nerve pain.

The water therapy should help you with building strength and very good fr your knees, I have had multiple knee scopes and had the injections similar to Synvisc. My ortho used Supartz instead of Synvisc. It took a long time before I could really tell if it did my knees any good.

Tina pretty much covered it all on ways to distract yourself. You may want to try some arts & crafts, take up a new hobby of some kind, there is a lot of different things to do in the crafts department. I read a lot, I have always enjoyed reading, listening to soft music.

Anyway, I wanted to pop on and tell you hello and welcome aboard. Take care....Susie
Posted 6/6/2012 8:38 AM (GMT 0)
Hiya Milly and welcome,

I'm disabled too, and I know how that limits you. I tend to distract myself by either reading or using the internet. Stumble Upon is a great distraction, it's a program that takes you to new webpages. YouTube is a great distraction, I find new music or funny things there. I am also owned by 3 cats so they provide distractions.
This forum helps too :)
Posted 6/6/2012 4:52 PM (GMT 0)
I take oxycontin twice a day and I also take percodan every 6 hours as needed for the pain. It seems to help me a great deal. I need to take it right away in the morning when I wake up due to the extreme pain that wakes me up. Thank you very much for your suggestions they really do help me a lot. I will try them!!
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