Sympathetic to others who suffer from the same condition. Apparently 1 in 8 Americans suffer from it if numbers are right and that is including children in the numbers so it would be more prevelant without children in the numbers. Plus it's hard to understand something you don't see.

I live with chronic pain.

I finally got a job, and they have me working seven days a week "in order to give me more than ten hours a week." My health care provider advised me to get at least one day a week off, so I've told my scheduler that I will no longer be available to work on Saturdays.

I've had a worsening of carpal tunnel in both hands, and my lower left back is extremely painful.

The newest pain is difficult to describe. On very random parts of my body, I'll feel as though a hornet is stinging me -- brief, intense pain. Then, that pain abruptly ceases, only to occur on some other part of my body.

I've been using ibuprofen almost daily. And, I have to work, so I'm gritting my teeth and persevering.

Just a little puff will cure ya!
Legalize it!

After 30 years of migraines, I've finally found reliable relief. Thankfully it's legal where I live (Canada). It's even a tax-deductible medical expense here. Woo hoo!

Opiodes. That is all.

Besides being in pain 24 hours a day is "sleeping" in 2 or 3 hour bursts. Have to change positions to lessen the pain that woke me up due to the position I moved in while asleep.
Good times. That or the useless pain relievers.

My pain meds were reclassified several months back from a schedule III to a schedule II drug.

What this means is my doctor can no longer call in my prescription to the pharmacy.

I have to go to his office once a month to pick up my prescription, see him every two months for a check up at $50.00 a visit and give a urine sample every two months (another $26) to prove I'm taking my meds.

Because of the Pill Mill controversy in Florida a few years back, it took me a few weeks to find a pharmacist that would fill my prescription. Even then, there are two pharmacist at this establishment that will not fill the prescription under any circumstances.

I can't use pot because of work and the above mentioned urine test. If it shows up in the test from my doctor, no move pain meds for me.


It's been an eye-opening experience going through this process and my heart goes out to all chronic pain sufferers.

it happened during the 2014 election cycle, and i was focused on other things. the rescheduling didn't affect me until christmas that year b/c i had a 6-month refill that wasn't up until the holidays. THEN, b/c it was the holidays and no one was around, i had to go without pain management for a solid week...right when i had family obligations, cooking, driving...it was hell.

i was so happy to have access to something that worked without having to go to a pain clinic or be subjected to the constant suspicion that you're selling your prescriptions on the street, or whatever it is they think they're doing with your medicine. putting it up your nose?

my doc still can't call mine in, but she can write my scrip for 5 months, and it works out that i need to see her more often than that anyway. it kinda inched up. at first it was 3 months, and she wrote me three separate prescriptions that i had to take in on the first of the month to the pharmacy. then, out of nowhere i was able to do the 5-month thing.

they are so creative with making more money, by reducing access to the treatments they can dispense and increasing the cost of the access. Just think if we had to pay the cocaine dealer just to see him, before he sold us his drugs.

n/t

And I suspect the number is higher- I started getting arthritis at 25, and before that it was migraines mainstream medicine couldn't do anything about either.

my migraines started at 17, and it wasn't until i was in my 30s that i got any help on those. then, something happened where the discs in my back started collapsing, and getting infected. that set off a complicated all-over pain syndrome, in addition to sciatica and arthritis. there's days when i can't move, can't think. and the funny thing is, the back pain makes the migraines seem like a picnic. well, until i get one that's so bad i have to go to the ER.

i'm "lucky" in that the vasoconstrictors work well for me. but i'm getting to the point where i don't want to take them b/c of fear of stroke. i've been doing botox and relying more on fioricet, only taking a vasoconstrictor when everything else fails.

for people with fibromyalgia or other autoimmune (invisible) diseases, the medical establishment wants to say "it's all in your head," and treat the pain as if it were depression. it's a cart before the horse thing.

and, even though it shouldn't be like this, if you have depression on your chart (and are a woman) it makes it more difficult to get taken seriously for the pain. moreover, since depression medication isn't monitored and doctors aren't dinged for prescribing it, they're more willing to go there and ignore the pain AS IF it were in your head, or, hoping that you're one of the people whose pain will respond to an SSRI.

but yes, i'm glad to see HuffPo covering this. we have to win back some territory on this. pain sufferers aren't criminals.

after a hysterectomy in '96. The pain began in '98, in my outer thighs, to the point that every step was agony. I told my dr. at the time that I thought I might have CFS or FM and she said, 'You don't even want to think you have it.' So no treatment for the pain. I used ice packs and heat pads and a marble rolling pin to manage it. Whatever it was isn't constant anymore, but it flares up once in awhile. I sympathize with people who have pain. Pain pills that are effective should be a lot more available. Like as available as cigarettes. People are allowed to decide for themselves when they need a smoke, and most people can decide for themselves when they need a pain pill.

i know about that outer thigh (hip) pain. i can barely stand long enough to cook dinner.

having FM on your records is a problem. some docs get downright hateful when they see it.

I love my ice packs

According to a Harvard study, n 1990, less than 5 percent of U.S. counties had a population where adults over 50 made up more than 40 percent of the community, By 2010, this was true of 33 percent of all U.S. counties. That is an increase of %600. Still, the media constantly runs news stories about the "ALARMING" increase in pain med prescriptions. Always falsely claiming it's an epidemic of drug abuse. This got its start years back when Kentucky law enforcement released a report on a huge number of deaths caused by prescription opiates. It went viral, every agency getting frightening headlines from such stories. It was a full year before a journalist took the time to study the toxicology reports and found the majority of deaths reported by opiate use, were in fact cases where there were numerous other drugs and alcohol in their systems. Hundreds of similar scare headlines have been run, never mentioning that it is perfectly logical that an aging population will have more painful conditions than a young one. One we will never see again. And of course, they will never report that the number of deaths caused by over the counter NSAIDS kill far more than opiates. Our media is financed by big pharma who make billions a year selling poisons ( over 600 OTC meds contain ACT) that destroy the liver and stomachs of the people that use them. Example: When a study was done on the 24 hours that included a night of drinking and taking Tylenol - act - it showed the MOST damage was done when it was taken the morning after, to help the hangover. Where are the headlines on the fact that ACT and alcohol are the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S. So, lets take the safer opiates away from people with chronic pain, and let them take the poisons, it's way more profitable to the healthcare industry. A liver transplant now costs over a half million dollars.

we have an ALARMING increase in older people. makes sense. and the bit about the *abuse* of pain medication must be separated from the medical use of it. it's insane that this even needs to be said.

a dear friend of mine died at 46 b/c of liver failure due to alcoholism and overuse of OTC pain meds for hangovers. no one talks about the problem with mixing NSAIDS with alcohol. when i was in college beer + Goodies powders were what we had for dinner nearly every night. and maybe some coffee and fries. it's a miracle we're not all dead.

I've had it since 1997, when I had my first bout of shingles. I've had at least a dozen outbreaks since, all but one down my right sciatic nerve. They say that you can only get shingles once, ha! My pain doctor said that my case is not unheard of, but it's quite rare. Oh, goody. I have permanent nerve damage down my right sciatic nerve from all those outbreaks. I have pain relief to take the edge off that throbbing, searing, soul-sucking 24/7 burning pain, and now that I'm retired, it's manageable.

I would advise anybody reading this to get a shingles vaccine if you haven't already. It is an excruciating thing to go through.

amitriptyline is the generic name.
Off label use proven to help with that kind of pain.
Also helps me sleep the night thru.

Worst pain I have ever had, including natural childbirth and migraines.

Degenerative disc disease, a form of arthritis that forms Spurs that rips my tendons/muscles, chronic kidney stones, osteopenia and a few other things. I had two major surgeries that reduced the pain in my shoulders from a constant 8-10 on the right/6 on the left to 6/4 most days. My problems aren't visible to the naked eye, but they show up on tests and imaging, so yay? I get adequate pain relief. Well I'm also in kidney failure, so I can't take OTC painkillers like ibuprofen without dying so that helps.

I have a bad back from an injury when I was four, arthritis in my hands that started when I was 18, and a worsening case of carpal tunnel. The USAF doctor that gave me my induction physical said I'd be in a wheelchair by the time I was forty, earlier if I had kids. Three kids (big baby boys) and 17 years beyond that age, I'm still walking. It's more of a shuffle most days, but I'm still going. I couldn't use a wheelchair in my house anyway, it a single-wide trailer.

I'd like to be able to see a doctor about my issues, not that I think I could get anything done for it. The last time I tried, I got fired from my job (because of something going on with my right shoulder). I just don't have good luck with doctors. One told me I was depressed, and gave me sleeping pills and anti-depressants. He took me off them when I said they made me paranoid and suicidal, but scheduled no follow up appointments with him or a psychiatrist.

My sister had thyroid cancer. I went for a checkup, found out I have a goiter and a nodule. Doctor's response? "We'll just watch it." Went for a second opinion, got sent home with meds for acid reflux and sleep apnea. No tests done, pills were based on the fact that I have very occasional, very mild heartburn, if I eat something especially spicy. Oh, and I wake up in the middle of the night, thanks to a bout with a third shift job. It's insomnia, not sleep apnea. Geez.

My dream is to make enough from my writing to afford some good weed. It will be a medical marijuana state here soon, and they are decriminalizing it already. Not that I'd have to worry, I stay home mostly, and don't have to pee in a cup anywhere.

I suffer from migraines (1-2x a week), degenerative disc disease which causes pretty severe back pain at times and, for the last year, chronic gastritis and acid reflux disease. I've also developed a tremor since the gastritis and reflux started and horrible dizziness and fatigue. They did a lot of tests and can't find the reason for the tremor/fatigue, so what did they decide to pin it on? You guessed it; depression. The only thing I'm depressed about is that they've pinned this BS diagnosis on me and have stopped trying to figure out what's really wrong.

Anyway, I've been there (am there?) and the worst thing (aside from the pain itself) is people who think you're making it up to get attention or are secretly living some unhealthy lifestyle and bringing it on yourself somehow. I've had people tell me I just need to think positive and I'll heal. Sigh. It's hard enough getting through work every day and doing a good job without people whispering behind your back every time you miss a day or have yet another doctor appointment. I've gotten so I don't even mention it to anyone anymore. (Except now, aren't you all lucky? )

Edited to add: Hugs to all of you who are suffering from chronic health conditions.

Now it's moonshine, weeds and an illegal smile to finish this ride...

and recs. Be laying low due to on going issues. It will almost be a year that I stopped taking oxycodone. Due to my inactivity and perhaps other reasons I have gain a lot of weight and that has increased my lower back pain. I also now have a incisional hernia from the shunt surgery which has caused some pain but no one will operate due to the shunt tubing. The shunt surgery for my Hydrocephalus has caused hearing loss and this hernia and I am still suffering from headaches and other problems due to the water on the brain. I have tried to go into some clinical trials to find some sort of relief with no luck. I am also waiting for medical marijuana to finally be legal here in NY. Just felt like ranting a bit, forgive me while I whine.