This isn’t meant to be a pity party; however, it will come across as one. From time to time, I document my extreme pain events for future reference. What better place to keep one than in a blog. Other chronic pain sufferers may have ideas or gain inspiration…
I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia for nearly two decades. It took many, many years of specialist running and rerunning blood work and various other tests, each making their own evaluation. Some of these physicians are tops in their field – internal medicine, infectious disease, rheumatology, and so on.
For the past decade, I’ve suffered from degenerative disc disease of the lumbo-sacral spine. Pain, numbness, tingling, burning, spasm, and muscle fatigue are a few of the effects of this disease. I’ve been through physical therapy, epidural steroid injections, trigger point injections, facet injections, and finally multiple bilateral SI & LS rhizotomies. If you’re interested in learning more, you’ll need to google any of the previously mentioned treatments. I’m not up to explaining. Sorry.
My most recent issue is regarding my cervical spine. I have herniated discs & spinal growths causing cord compression around C4-C7. It started with some mild local pain and numbness in my hands/fingers. Thus, I got CT’s and MRI’s – with and w/o chontrast.
Right now, I’m at my wits end with the pain. A little over a week ago I got sick – fever, sore joints, swollen glands, etc. Since shortly before I became ill, my neck and back began hurting on a scale of 8/10. It’s been incredibly intense and there isn’t anything that I have tried that has provided even the slightest relief. TENs unit, heat, cold, anti-inflammatory, etc. NOTHING will help!!!
I’m not even sleeping. Four hours max per night is where I’m sitting. That’s with diphenhydramine, muscle relaxants, and sleep aids. I’m exhausted. Usually my mind and willpower get me through these tough times, but this is beyond that. It’s out of control and even the strongest meds are not touching the pain at this point.
Something I’ve noticed… I picked out a tattoo. The placement is extremely sensitive/painful. I think it’s compensating for the pain that I’m in. Does that make sense? I’m looking for a different place to send the pain. Hoping for the chance to relieve this other pain or at least forget about it for a short time. This is bad.
