Archive for the 'painkillers' Category
July 23rd, 2011 -- Posted in massage/physio/chiro, pain / disability, painkillers |
I wrote this little note to a friend who has started to go down the same path that I have – discovering that her pain just won’t go away, finding out she has a condition that has lifelong repercussions, getting inundated with comments from friends and relatives who think they know the answer, feeling worried about addiction to pain medication she thought would only be temporary.
I offered her a few thoughts and then I realized I should share them with others, too. It took me years to “figure it all out” so why not save someone a few steps if I could? For some things, there are no shortcuts; you need to try as hard as you can to get better to your own maximum potential before you can really believe that your condition is something that is with you for the long-term. But for other things I have discovered, I wish there had been someone ahead of me to let me know what I was in for… it seems I am always in the reverse role!
No one warned me it would be like this... but I'm keeping a brave face for my family (like the photographer of this pic, my 12-year-old!).
Here is that note to a friend… I hope you find it helpful:
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October 31st, 2010 -- Posted in massage/physio/chiro, pain / disability, painkillers |
So the Graceful Agony blog has started Round 3 of the Blog Carnival for the chronic pain community… I think at this rate I’ll probably end up doing every second round, or just the ones I can keep up with. :S
The theme for this round is “A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes”… and for me, thinking of the dream in my heart was instantaneous. I am constantly thinking about and dreaming about: just being comfortable again.
me on Valentine’s Day 2008, opening gifts while curled up on the couch (after having decorated cupcakes with the kids that I’d baked for them!)… who is this strange, comfortable woman?!?
I have vague memories of my life pre-chronic-pain, but it is very hard to really remember what it felt like. This new reality is all I know now; constantly being in pain and being uncomfortable has become as “normal” to me as anything else. It’s been 2 and a half years since I had a day without pain and it’s starting to feel foreign to me that people can experience a life without nagging aches and burning all over. I chase comfort all over the place, with a ridiculous determination, like it’s an inaccessible, evasive prey…
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October 11th, 2009 -- Posted in friends, pain / disability, painkillers, people suck |
The first set of observations are mostly related to my most recent visit to my family physician, a brisk and dismissive woman who seems to want to write you a prescription and send you on your way instead of helping you. Last fall she was the one who told me I was “carrying too much” and to just keep on going to work every day. I have yet to be able to walk again the way I could before doing that. And yet I’m forced to depend on her for help, still staggering out to the same doctor, hoping she might be able to accomplish something useful for once and not accidentally kill me in the process.
Observations:
* Just because doctors haven’t yet seen a direct physical cause for pain doesn’t mean the pain doesn’t exist and doesn’t mean there isn’t a cause that hasn’t been discovered. With so many ligaments and tendons and muscles and nerves, it’s ridiculous that some physicians chalk nerve pain up as “nothing” real quick. If someone is having sciatic pain sharp and shooting down their butt and leg, there is something physical at work there! It may not be a bulging or herniated disc, but it may be a muscle or anything else. Until the technology exists to see everything at work, I don’t think doctors should be able to say “Well it’s nothing”. If it’s just not something you have personally detected, that doesn’t meant it’s nothing.
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