Share Your Pain Story

1,000 Replies to “Share Your Pain Story”

1. Fell off a ladder 9 feet in 2012, landed flat on my back onto concrete, my right leg landed across the ladder I was on, tore, ACL, LCL, PCL completely off leg, MCL was hanging on by a thread, also suffered a spinal cord injury to 5th lumbar nerve , which paralyzed my right leg 100% ,at 54 and a DAV, VA refused to do surgery, no outside insurance, VA stopped all pain med, they tried their useless pt, I made the decision to do my own! 14 months later, I started walking and driving again, but not without severe pain. If you’ve ever broken a bone, magnify the pain by 5, everyday and night, only thing that ever worked for pain with me was percocet, I can’t even get an aspirin prescribed, have tried CBD, no relief, every over the counter pain reliever, nothing ! I contacted the Illustrious self proclaimed Sen. Jean Shaheen asking for help, all I got was “ sorry about your situation “ NOTHING ! It’s all political ! As the parent of a former addict, clean 9 yrs, which I got him to do , these so called experts are going about it the wrong way ! By the way , our son thanks me every time we talk and tells me “ Dad, thank you for saving my life , I love you Dad ! So proud of him. I’m 61, never abused drugs of any kind, just my wife and myself, and I constantly feel like every Dr looks at me like I’m a junkie !

2. Thank you for bringing a voice to those of us who are needing and using pain meds. I had polio as a child. 40 surgeries later, including 2 spinal fusions, a severe case of scoliosis I am only able to function with pain meds. No, I do not like having to use them but need to inorder to live a somewhat normal life. Doctors can no longer prescribe meds, the government has the control. This is wrong. We are being charged and convicted of being addicts with no basis. It is about time to hear the voices of those who need these meds to be heard.

3. I wish I had known about the Don’t Punish Pain Rally. I was on fentanyl and oxycodone for several years for my chronic back pain, then all of a sudden last year I was abruptly taken off of them and put on Hydrocodone three times a day. The Hydrocodone doesn’t help! I spend every day in excruciating pain now. I can’t sleep. I can’t even lie down in my bed. I understand that there’s an epidemic of opioid misuse in our country, but those of us that never abused our prescriptions and need them are the ones being punished. It’s not right.

4. I too am a sufferer of constant chronic pain do to a neurological problem in my back, legs and arms. I did have a happy life and a job I LOVED for years. Now do to lowered amounts of pain medications by law, I am in bed more than 12 or more hours a day. This is so unfair to someone who has never abused the medications. I quit a job I loved, had to go on disability and cannot even drive. I am required to go to a “pain center” or “pill mill” I call it. They even were trying to make me use marijuana instead. So, basically you took a productive citizen and a happy one with a great life and turned her into a sick, bedridden, patient who has to now use a scooter to get around and another person who uses goverment help. It seems so unfair.

5. After living healthy my whole life, not a recreational drug user or even drink more than a glass or three of wine a year…underwent chemo, radiation and surgery and once the doctors felt I should no longer feel pain, they don’t prescribe any pain meds that were working. Everyone needs different time periods to recover from chemo. So instead they try all kinds of other meds, push antidepressants and increase dosages of meds that done relieve the pain. So while they “try” everything but a narcotic (which maybe I only need for three more weeks or three months) I’m in severe pain at 44 like an arthritic fragile 88 year old and pain at night that I can cry before I fall asleep. Never relied on pain meds they can see this in my medical history and still I’m left in pain post chemo until they find a med that works, it goes away on its own or who even knows. I have a supportive family that would help me monitor any pain meds as well. So still in pain on a scale from 1-10…an 8-12!

6. I have continual pain. The pain meds I am on never take the pain completely away but at least I am able to be partly normal.

   I have an entire back full of metal and a neck full of metal with more to come. It is a railroad track. Two rods all the way down my back and I call them cross arms. All metal. I have arthritis everywhere in my body and a left ankle the Dr does not want to operate on because they are afraid my ankle won’t heal and would have to be amputated. Both shoulders are full of arthritis making it very difficult for me to raise my arm. It’s extremely difficult for me to get dressed, put my shoes on I don’t bend. When I take my pain meds my pain level goes down to maybe a four on a good day. Usually my pain level after a shower and after getting dressed and everything is about at the six or seven even on the pain meds. I use a combination of meds for pain and extreme anxiety disorder and they don’t want me taking them which I have been on for several years so I have extremely high blood pressure and all of it is just a medical disaster because they are not helping me because of all the people on the streets that are dying.

7. Today many people across the nation spoke out against the current policies and the people responsible during the Don’t Punish Pain Rally. I joined with them speaking out and informing others at one state capitol. These fellow sufferers of pain soldiered on through the entire two hours at the steps with their wheel chairs, scooters, crutches, and canes doing their best to be heard and seen especially for those that couldn’t be there. It was very inspiring. There are some news stories about some of today’s rallies. There is supposed to be a CDC Rally as well in June so hopefully these things will help. I know it’s long shot but we need to keep fighting back for us and our loved ones.

8. Well, I am 63 next month. And at 20, I fell out of a car going 70 miles an hour. The ER doc said I would never walk again, but thank God I did. When you’re younger pain doesn’t seem to be at the forefront as much as when you get older. So at 25 I married someone who ended up beating the hell out of me so bad that he was put in prison for 14 years. This furthered the trauma to my spine to where a degenerative process started and misalignment and scoliosis.

   I have always worked. 24 years ago I became self-employed cleaning homes and have gone to work every day without fail. In 2012 I started leaning forward and could not straighten up. I had been going to chiropractors since 2006 to try to adjust my spine because my pelvis would rotate and not stay on its axis, which would pull everything on the opposite side into an overcompensation and severe pain. All of this over a period of time stretched tendons and ligaments and caused my muscles to become inflamed and burn. In 2013 I went to a doctor who did a year and a half of decompression treatments on me. Oh my gosh… The pain was unbearable, yet I went to work because I had to pay my bills. I had gone to my doctor for relief and I was put on a low dose of an opioid and because of the stress that comes with chronic pain a low dose of anti anxiety. Which worked for me. In 2015 because of the problems in my back which were becoming harder to live with, were: Spondylothesis, stenosis, scoliosis, 3 bulging discs, a slipped disc at L5 L4, chronic inflammation, dragging of my feet, hip pain, etc. I went for a procedure with stem cells because the regular surgeon I saw said I would have to have 2 fusion surgeries and he said you will never work again doing what you’re doing. SSDI would have paid me 1465.00 a month. Who can live on that???? That doctor said, You have a lot going on in your back. So, I have had 4 of these procedures to help bring some healing to some of the damage. In 2015 the doctor who had given me the opioid and anxiety said, I can no longer write these, you have to go to pain management. Which was an absolute horror and a joke. They wanted me to sign a waver stating I had to lock up my drugs, submit to random house visits and pill counts, only go to one pharmacy, the prescription had DEA written on it. They cut my dose in half and I had to come in every month to pick up the 2 prescriptions and pay the 100.00 office visits. That’s 1200.00 a year to pick up a script. Plus, I had to take a pee test every month and pay for that which was 99.00. I told them to go to hell. I said you are treating me like a flipping criminal. I have never abused the meds I was on. I said they cut the pain so I can function. I said, have you ever dealt with pain every day of your life. Grinding, tongue gnawing pain and still have to go to work and smile like nothing’s wrong.

   I asked the doc who did my first stem cell procedure why the crackdown. He said, first the Gov. was telling us to write as many scripts for people as they needed, then he believed there was a purpose to cut off the scripts that would then force those who needed it to go to the streets to get heroin and fentanyl. Diabolical pieces of s—.

   After my neck was worked on last May, a month later an overcompensation happened causing severe pain in my right hip and lumbar area which after runarounds from 3 doctors for 11 months I got xrays and need to get my hip worked on now. All of this has helped me, but the chronic pain daily exists. When I do get a script it’s like gold, cause you are terrified there will be some excuse as to why you can’t get it filled again and that causes much stress. This thing needs to change. I wrote President Trump and told him my story and said not everyone on opioids is addicted or abused them. Those that live with chronic pain don;t want to be a zombie, I just want to function and be somewhat normal again.

   Deb

9. My name is Shawn. Since age 14 ive always worked to provide for myself and wife and kids. 2012 i started a job working dump truck driver 40 plus hours a week. After doing my job months the way i was being loaded caused me problems. See when being loaded your supposed to kay the rock down close to the bottom of the truck bed. they were dropping 3 ton rocks at top of bed this jarred me knocked the wind from me several times i complained and even was yelled at for jumping out of truck while they were loading. Then one night after months of this happening changed my life.

   See i went to bed and had horrible shocking sensations down my spine electrical and they were like this many nights. Started wetting the bed then talking to my wife a few mornings later found i was wetting the bed nightly and lost all sensation of control. Went to doctor found i was 3 bulging disk.

   Weak to right side of body, falling, pain in my leg and back was unbearable but doc would not treat my pain. Blood pressure because of the relentless pain.

   6 years later i suffer from back issues which effects my rt leg and hip can’t move fast with hip cause it shoots pain to the roof on me. Within the last year and a half i have been diagnosed with severe hypertention. i take 6 blood pressure pills a day but that won’t control my pain. I was diagnosed with systolic heart failure, heart disease, diabeties 2, moderate nerve damage in my right leg lower back and right foot. The pain is to die for. I spend many nights contemplating suicide. i cant even get relief from the hospital because i’m looked at like a drug seeker.

   Never ever had a drug problem im my life and now at 44 wish for death. I want to live but not in this kind of pain daily. Gaining weight because i can’t tolerate to stand or walk long times on right leg. This is why i cant work anymore and ssdi says i’m not disabled enough in their book. Never thought my life would be like this at 44 i should be in my prime. Instead i’m in diapers, can’t hardly walk without pain in my leg and hip, and just found out i very well may have ankloosing spondilitis in my back.

   Thanks for your time.

10. I was injured at work Nov6, 2016 I had a lamnectomy ‘ 3 Epidural ‘ and EMG I had Eleven weeks of in home therapy and ten weeks of out patient therapy . The therapist said it’s nothing else they can do for me and referred me back to the back surgeon . Who said he would do a spinal fusion . Then he told me that workmen’s compensation said I don’t qualify for a spinal fusion .i’m here suffering without any medication. I been self medicating taking four Tylenol and sleeping pills to get some sleep the sharp pain is waking me up in the middle of the night. I also Ben battling a-lung disease (sarcoidosis) I had bilateral hip surgery twice. I never was addicted to pain medication I’m 53 years old was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and sarcoidosis in 1988 never was addicted to pain medication. Inedible it when needed. I even told my doctor to just give me something for pain in blood test me monitor me but please don’t let me suffer . I’m suffering please help Charlene Winters