Life can be a Pain

[Former-Member]

@Owlunar, have you found certain foods aggrivate your pain? I've been eating Mandarin's this week and back on bread again. 🌷🌿

[Zoe7]

Thinking of you @Owlunar 

[outlander]

since you like the beach @Owlunar 

[Shaz51]

thinking of you @Owlunar 

[Owlunar]

Hi @Former-Member

You would need a specialist for pain medication if you have problems with depression - and yes - I have read all the paper that comes with medication and they have to put the contra-indications there - even if they are not really common - so it's a lot of try-it-and-see

But first you need tests to see what's wrong and you need to go to a public hospital for that unless you have private insurance - and if your pain gets really bad again - then if you decide to ring an ambulance - ask to go to one of the big public hospitals where they are likely to have an MRI machine because they can diagnose your back problems with one of those

And they are noisy and kinda cramped - but it's okay - it's not at all painful

One thing I have found with the medication I have been taking for a long time is that it can be addictive but that is something that happens in the brain of the person taking the medication - but it is true that I am dependent on it - which means my body needs it but not my brain. The pain comes back if I stop the medication and does it ever!! - and I would have withdrawals if I stopped them altogether - but I don't crave them - I sometimes forget them - and the pain itself finds me - I don't find myself looking for the pain - 

It's a thought anyway - but still - who wants to take it? I would rather not - but it's there to give us QOL - Quality of Life - and that's an important consideration

I like heat for my back - or knees or feet - but I like a cold pack for a headache - but I would not put the cold pack near my spine - oh no no no - not at all

I hope you have a good afternoon out - and today

Wow - I have been busy getting my wireless printer connected - I have tried everything - that was yesterday - I went and saw a friend of mine who looks after all the computers where she works and she told me to ring the manufactures or the company that operates in Australia - and I am connected now.

So I made fried rice and enough for tomorrow at the same time - and I am going to ring my uncle - I have my grand-fathers war medals and now I can print out what the medals are about - I know two of them - and my cousin wants to see them too - so perhaps I can go and see my uncle when my cousins can visit their dad too -

I have to ring a tax accountant - I can print out my tax details from my bank now and get this sorted - this was the main reason I got the printer - but I will use it to print music to play on the piano too - I had some kind of trouble with the printer but now it is set up - it will be okay - even better

So @outlander

Yes - I did have some bad luck with the printer but it's okay now - but I know to tell a friend of mine who wants a printer like mine to use the phone number for connection through his router - that was something frustrating that kept me going on and on with my back pain with major frustration for days - and countless printouts telling me I hadn't done it properly

But now that is done I think I can deal with it all

Dec

[Owlunar]

That's beautiful @outlander

Thanks - I love that - I do love the ocean and a lot of the pic on my desktop are pics of the ocean or lakes somewhere

Yahoo puts up a lot of beautiful pics now - and info on places one would not think to look - I love the internet as well

Dec

[Owlunar]

Thanks @Zoe7

I felt so frustrated I was really edgy - but now that is sorted I feel I can get on with my other stuff and it seems easier now

@outlander- and Zoe - yes - I will worry about the pain specialist on Friday - my GP is writing a letter because I have cut down a lot of my medication voluntarily but whereas I feel better in some ways - I still have pain - and I get nervous about my medication every time I go there

I see the specialist twice a year for about 15 minutes - I see the doctor every week for as long as it takes to pass the time - sometimes we talk for a few minutes and other times - ah - I need an injection - seconds - but he sees me in pain and knows it fluctuates a lot and can be really severe quite often - that small knocks for other people really set my back pain zipping from hardly there to 8/9 in seconds

He encourages me to go out and likes it that I go shopping - he wanted me to buy something more interesting that food - which I am particular about - but I got new clothes and a new printer and take walks - it's really good he has me in the picture - and it seems he really cares

So - that's on Friday afternoon - I will worry about that then

Dec

[outlander]

Hi @Owlunar

im sorry your in pain- i hope it does ease soon the same for you too @Former-Member- sending you both big hugs

im glad youve gotten your printer up and running now. Mustve been bloody frustrating
im glad you like the beach GIF it made me think of you when I see it.
I know your worried about the pain specialist on Friday but ill be around as well to hold your hand through it as well
your gp seems like he does really care and its good hes support of you

[Former-Member]

Hi Shaz51, Zoe7, Outlander
@Owlunar, good luck with Dr Friday, make a list of what u wanna cover. Why are you anxious about the visit? Is it that they might take you off more pain meds and leave you in more pain?

Its interesting your pain goes from 1-8 in seconds. I feel like a sook because today the pain is almost not there but Sunday I could hardly move. Doesn't make sense accept I probably overdid it the day before, like when you sorted your bookshelves, this level of pain is bearable.

I am waiting on the results of a thorasic spine CT as the weekend before I couldn't even sit through a 6hr woman's conference without having to lay down a while (embarrassing). Now the problems moved sth, any wonder drs think its all in our head 1/2 the time.

I'm glad you make yourself go out in spite of the discomfort. We have to move too. A lot of people get their walking exercise at the shops. The temperature is regulated and the terrain is safe I guess. Glad you do that. A little retail therapy works wonders too.

I'm planning to do a pain chart that includes activity and diet so I can try pinpoint what is affecting it. Then maybe I can present that to the Dr.

Dec, do you think I'm doing OK in the forums? Sometimes I think ppl dislike me and sometimes feel left out. Do I treat u OK? Just wonder how I come across, what if anything I can improve on? Tend to live in the moment.

My a/t went OK. 🌷🌿

[Owlunar]

Hi @Former-Member@outlander

Thanks ladies - I always feel nervous about seeing the pain specialist - she is a nice, kind person but also very firm - and actually impossible to change her mind if she decides to change my medication - and for some reason I decided to take less and I am more alert - but yeah - I am scared stiff she will take what I am allowed away - it would be the end of my independent life and this is more than I want to think about

But I am also pretty sure she won't go too far - she has promised me she won't - and I try and trust that - she has been my pain special for nearly 20 years - and I am not at all anxious to change anything in this area

In the past - wow - my case worker - who was my first case-worker - retired suddenly and my father died just after that - and having both of these happen was really hard - and then a few years late my GP retired and my mother died - and both of these experiences were incredibly difficult - the changes in my life but the deaths of my parents were hard and no one seemed to notice that I was grieving with all of this stuff happening

My medication makes it possible to live my life where I can travel when I choose too - and go out - I ride a lot in taxis which can cause a lot of pain if the driver is rough - and shopping is strange too - I get very tense when people start to mill about in an unpredictable manner and my pain can skate up so fast - it's called RAPS or Rapid Acceleration of Pain Syndrome - and I have a lot of damage in my lumbar spine with DDD and Spinal Cord Canal Stenosis and yeah - I have had this for 22 years and I know it will not get less and I have learned to live with it - I accept it - but this is not easy

Lapses - as far as I am concerned you are fine - you are interesting to talk to and your writing is great - but as far as you go in the forums is impossible for me to know - everyone is different and I only respond to a few people because there are too many people to keep the thing together for me - and it's no reflection on anyone that this is the case - I am sure there are conversations happening I never see - and yes - there are often posts I find impossible to answer. I think we are all different and just as within a crowd of people - say in a university or a large company - there are people we never meet - and I think you are fine with no need to worry

There is no need in the world to worry about what other people think of you - one thing my years have taught me is that people are really busy thinking about what we think of them - I did when I was younger - and I had such a hard time when my son was young and people  were so critical to my face - what a bad mother I was - what a bad Christian I was - egad - now I realise their little minds had no idea of what coping with a badly-wired child was like - not even Dr Phil understands that. What comes out of people's lives is more from ignorance and a terrible fear of their own - feeling at least they are not as bad as someone who is not coping. I am not explaining myself very well but perhaps you know of The Desiderata  - and the warning that we should not compare ourselves to other people because there will always be someone better and someone worse.

But to me you are fine - so stop worrying - chances are good people think similar thoughts and there is no need to be concerned about it

Dec