[fatcat28037]

Arthritis in my wrists, hands, knees, shoulders and hips. It comes and goes. When it comes I take prednisone, it's the only medication that will control the pain.

 

[amphead]

Repetitive motion injury to my right shoulder and rotator cuff. I used to be a custom stratocaster luthier, and would hand sand the wood and hand polish the lacquer paint jobs. I built beautiful guitars, but no more. Try to avoid opiates, you don't want them calling your name. My move to building the Millett Max, has solved the problem with my shoulder injury!

 

[lisnalee]

After an accident at work i was left with 1 prolapse disc & sciatica after many years of pain i decided to see one of these chiropractors. Bad move went in with 1 slipped disc came out with 2

!!!!

 

[nibiyabi]

Walked around with a dislocated hip for about 4 months--was causing lower back pain. Finally went in to have it fixed (didn't know it was my hip) and physical therapy kinda helped, but now my lower back has basically no flexibility and there is a constant dull pain. Nothing as bad as some back pain I'm hearing about on this thread though--ouch!

 

[Happy Camper]

Yeah, my wife.

Just joking dea......Ouch!

I have had bone damage to my ankle since I was 14. Rolled it over sliding too late into a bag and catching my toe at the edge. All my weight came down on the ankle and twisted it. Joint surface was chipped. Going to bootcamp and marching for three months didn't help. The chips wore my cartilage out and dimpled my joint surface. Tried three surgerys with no luck. Muscle damage resulted from the surgerys. Just accept the pain as part of life.

I see children in hospitals with birth defects and I don't feel it at all. My pain was from playing. Theirs are from their parents. Usually drugs or poor gene pool.

 

[Shizelbs]

I've had pain in my knees for almost a year know. It sucks. I can't wait to get off my meds. I'm not sure what caused it, nor are my docs. I might have to get arthroscopic surgery just to take a look and find out whats going on in there.

 

[MuZI]

Only 19 years old but I feel as if my body is starting to break down.

Right ankle and knee pains. Then moderate hip pains... lower back pains (OMG... I would not wish this pain upon my worst enemy!), then there is my left shoulder, neck...

Funny thing is when I'm active (besides sprinting) I have no pains at all...

 

[boomana]

Yes, right ankle and knee due to injury 25 years ago. The knee is rarely problematic, but the ankle is bad--arthritic, deformed--and always hurts from pain that I can tune out most days to pain so bad I can't put weight on it, and even when propped up, it screams at me. I can't really do much about it except avoid activities I used to love (skiing, running, hiking, dancing), do excercises for flexibility, and keep my weight down. I've already had five surgeries and am avoiding one more (bone spurs digging in to Achilles tendon). I've studied self-hypnosis for pain management (which helps) and just started seeing an acupuncturist (we'll see). I don't want to start on pain meds at this point in my life, so I just take Aleve, which helps, on most days. Since I should have died or lost my leg completely in the accident that messed it up, even on the bad days, I still feel grateful that I have it.

 

[dcguy73]

Ha, reviving this thread that I posted under my former username (for which I forgot the password) back when I had back issues.

Now I may be looking at getting fusion surgery in my neck. I have scoliosis in my neck, which a chiropractor diagnosed when I was 23, but who I ignored because my primary care doctor (at the time) looked at the X-rays and said he was a quack. Well, 26 years later, that mistake has come back to haunt me. I have bulging discs at each vertebrae of my neck as a result of scoliosis (now confirmed by an orthopedist) and age. I have a pinched nerve that sends pain and numbness down my right arm and into my hand, and 1.5 months of physical therapy has not relieved my symptoms at all. I’m planning to seek out a chiropractor, as traditional medicine has done me no favors.

I haven’t worn headphones for at least a month to avoid making things worse. I felt relieved after I got the results of my MRI today, Headphones can’t make things any more severe at this point, so I can listen to my system again with impunity. It’s awesome. If I didn’t have access to a wonderful audio system and great headphones, I’d be much more down at this point. But I have a huge library of music and I can enjoy it again.

 

[dunring]

After a couple of motorcycle accidents I got a Tempurpedic mattress and it made all the difference for back pain. I found out later there's competitors that sell them for 1/4 the price and it's still the same foam NASA developed but they don't patent their discoveries so anyone can make it.

 

[dcguy73]

The last post I made here was pretty grim. Physical therapy is helping, and thanks to Lyrica, I’m not in pain. It still looks like I’m headed for fusion surgery, though, due to the ongoing numbness in my right hand. I’m getting a steroid shot into my neck on Wednesday.

I just don’t want to give up my headphones! That would be terrible.

 

[ra990]

Ugh, yes. Neck and back, herniated discs in both. Meds keep the pain at tolerable levels most of the time. And it really sucks when they don't.

 

[dougms3]

Speaking as someone who has been through the system many times.

Only people who have experienced back pain will sympathize with you, doctors will tell you "you may feel moderate pain" while never experiencing this for themselves. They push the steroid shots knowing its only temporary ($$$ for them), I'm sure you've seen it, they line you up like cattle and bang out 50 shots on patients in a row like an assembly line. They could care less if those shots work, they know even if it works its only temporary so you come back for another 2 or 3.

They will pass you off to the next doctor that will push the surgery next, which is never ideal because it will depend on the skill of the surgeon and if he doesn't make a mistake. And if he does make a mistake, he/she is in no way liable in anyway and will probably suggest another surgery knowing you have no recourse with the terrible pain you will have to deal with. And I know, that back pain will bring anyone to their knees. You're just a money bag of meat and bones to them. I was concerned about the risks and had a doctor literally tell me because he was annoyed with my questions, "it may fix it, it may make it worse, or you could die".

The problem is usually pinched nerves from a herniated disc, once the disc is herniated, it cannot be unherniated. Its going to constantly leak fluid causing compression of the nerves which in turn causes tremendous blinding pain. The lower back is one of the worst because they're big ass nerves that split down to your legs, so you may feel it going down your legs. The compression also causes inflammation which compounds the problem.

The best thing you can do is try to reduce the inflammation so that your body can heal somewhat, I found marijuana to be the best anti-inflammatory. Also have to excercise and try to strengthen the muscle tissue around the spine to help stabilize it so it doesn't get as compressed. Uphill grade walking and excercise bike are very good low impact excercises to help strengthen the back muscles.

There are also alternative treatments like stem cell therapy but these are crazy expensive.

You are still pretty young and in time hopefully you'll be able to heal or mediate most of the pain but the excercise will be a lifelong thing.

Just my personal experience, I hope it helps you. Best of luck to you.

 

[Jony Garnard]

So sorry for hearing your stories guys. I don't suffer from anything such serious you've mentioned, but I do have back pain too often. I take Canadian pharmacy painkillers, but I'd also like to get rid of the pain, rather than dull the pain with pills. I heard many good feedbacks about CBD, but haven't tried it yet. For the moment, I've started practicing yoga. I need to admit that I've already noticed some relief.