Mental Health Support
Related: About this forumI do not handle pain well.
That means any pain, but especially physical pain. Now, thanks to a stupid bike accident, I am having issues with doing anything in life as well as sleeping because the only time this shoulder really goes off is when I lay down. I am having to sleep propped up, which I am not accustomed to. I was finally able to get an MRI after a failed attempt last Thursday due to the issue I mentioned. (Getting that MRI requires laying down with the shoulder in a prop. It was agony the first time, but the doc gave me some strong stuff and I practically was a zombie in the doughnut this time.) I will find out just what has happened on Tuesday. It might be a torn rotator cuff, which would require surgery and would pretty much immobilize me for just under a year. I doubt I can do this without more strong meds and I hate those things, but I hate pain even more. Not to mention the fact that they may try to suspend my use of medical cannabis, which is why I am not freaking out as I type this. (Well, keeping it to a low grade freakout is what it is doing, but this is really fucking with me and I don't know what to do.) We are not in a good position for this, should my insurance or my auto insurance (in this state, I am covered as a driver of my bike as well as my car). I already expect the premiums to go up and that may be bad as well. Thanks Federal Government, specifically SSDI, for letting me end up like I have. That is what I get for believing all that propaganda I got in school. I still kick myself for falling for it.
mopinko
(71,801 posts)about 6 yrs ago. i was lucky, it went well even tho this was a slow deterioration and i recovered very, very well. only took me a couple mos, but i think most ppl are recovered in 6 most.
yours might go even better, as it was a quick thing, and the muscles should be in good shape.
and here's a tip about pain meds most docs wont tell you- a combo works better than any 1 drug.
ibuprofen, aspirin and tylenol are very powerful combo, but any 2 of them, if like me, you cant take 1, will have a multiplier effect.
OldBaldy1701E
(6,339 posts)Of course, they are so very worried that I will become addicted to real pain medication that they sparingly dole them out. I have multiple issues that have a domino effect when something requires attention out of balance with the rest of the issues. When I had the quad bypass, for example, the main issue with recovery was my back, which was in agony from laying around for six days. They barely gave me enough to cope with it. It really sucked.
Karadeniz
(23,417 posts)you have to forego your regular analgesic?
OldBaldy1701E
(6,339 posts)I have an appointment on Tuesday to go over the results. I hope I am overreacting. I am guilty of such behavior from time to time. I also have more 'I was right' that 'I was wrong' on the ledger. We will see.
pwb
(12,198 posts)It came back and another shot cured it. I think it was a steroid. No more pain since and it really hurt.
OldBaldy1701E
(6,339 posts)to talk about my right shoulder. It was hurting and they decided after some X-rays that it might need a cortisone shot. I have had three of them in my back before. One worked great. One was iffy. One did not do much. Again, we will see what happens. I do know that I am not looking forward to being restricted in movement. I am practically a zombie now.
CountAllVotes
(21,067 posts)My chronic pain began in 1984 in my left shoulder.
I went from one doctor to the next looking for an answer.
Most of them believed I was faking it because they claimed I did not like my job. That was NOT the case.
When the MRI scan was developed in the late 1980's I was first in line to get one.
It showed a complete tear of the rotator cuff and joint abnormalities. It had been going on so long that surgery was not an option for me.
In the mid-1990's I was DX'd with multiple sclerosis which is only adding to my pain problems.
So believe me, I do understand and it really sucks.
I just got up and I could barely get out of bed as the pain is so severe.
Two pain pills and a hot shower is the treatment so far today and I have not even had a cup of coffee yet!
I hope you get some answers and some relief very soon!
Take good care if you can!
OldBaldy1701E
(6,339 posts)Yes, my body is already ravaged with neuropathy, arthritis, and other things that I have not had officially addressed yet, mainly due to their randomness and infrequency.
I think what stings the most is the insinuation that all of this is me being a lazy chump who would rather mooch than work. That shit really burns my ass, as I have been trying to get help enough to try and work again for almost a decade now. But, we see how the game works. They know based on my age and medical history that I am not going to be productive enough for their taste anymore, so they just hope I will fade away and die in some remote ditch.
CountAllVotes
(21,067 posts)I recently lost my husband and he left me with nothing, no SS, no nothing!
I've been trying to find some help with the house, etc. and this place wanted me to volunteer to do bookkeeping for them for free.
I told them flat out NO.
They then wanted me to rent out a portion of the house I live in to a roommate.
I told them flat out NO.
I just got rid of a "roommate" I had for 44 years and it did not work out so hot.
They do not understand the word NO.
I said if I thought I could work, I would not be on SSDI! I do not think I am competent enough to be keeping books for anyone!
No offer of nothing, they just want me to work for free and I CANNOT do that period.
Some people just look and judge. I appear to be perfectly "normal" but I have so many health problems and pain issues that it prevents me from living a decent life but they don't get it.
I'm sorry for your troubles and as I said before, I really DO UNDERSTAND.
I hope you are able to get some help.
Pain is a real bitch and no one wants to acknowledge how horrible it is.
Maybe some day they will wake-up in the constant severe pain like I have and then they will know, not that I would wish this on anyone.
Take care my friend and know that you are not alone!
slightlv
(4,325 posts)Thank you so much for posting this message. I am so sorry for your experience. I hope you get your condition identified correctly and rectified. I also hope recovery isn't as bad as you're thinking it might be. I've been through so many surgeries, some recoveries worse than others. Some, that I thought would be horrible turned out to be a walk in the park. Some that I thought would be easy turned out to be the easiest to go through. You just can't tell until you live it.
My hot button is how the government and the world treats those of us who are living with chronic pain. We are being left behind in a world more concerned with drug addicts and purposeful and accidental overdoses. What they don't tell is most of those overdoses are of heavy drugs because they couldn't get the meds they had been prescribed and turned to anything that could give them a moment's relief from their pain! Not understanding, or not caring how this "new" drug would react in their body, they were careless with administration and ended up overdosing.
Because our pain is due to chronic conditions not overtly seen by people we are judged to either be moochers of the system, or drug addicts working the system for drugs. No one takes us seriously at our word that we're just looking for answers to our physical problems. How many of us would give up the drugs if our pain would go away?! I would in a flash instant! Imagine a world where I would no longer have to feel like I have to beg every 3 months for the pills that allow me to live a halfway normal life for most of a month at a time. I say most of the month because only I swear, only prescribed pain medication, taken as needed and prescribed, is the only medication that will not last the entire month it is prescribed. So, you're left on your own to your own devices for at least one week each month without any meds and in agonizing pain until your next script kicks in.
Of course, as anyone in constant chronic pain understands, it's important to keep pain levels at a consistent level. If the pain goes
too high above that level, it throws not only your pain levels but also your entire physiology off. Therefore, you spend at least the first week of your next pain med month trying to get your body back to a status quo. In an entire month, you may get 2 good weeks to be productive and happy if you're lucky. And they call this living. I call this bullsh*t. And yet, even THIS they want to take away from this.
As some of you might know from some of my other message around here, I live in KS. In this state, if you're smiling, someone will want to wipe it off your face. I swear, this will be the last state in the Union to ever legalize pot. I realize there are states where pot has been legal long enough to have had enough research done where there are actually strains created to treat pain successfully. I long to try some of these. But legislators around here would rather see you suffer in excruciating pain than take a chance you may catch a buzz with something that might alleviate some of that pain. Rather than punish us, I think they are the ones who should be ostracized for cruel and unusual punishment, and I keep voting them out, but to no avail. I am but one lone democrat in a sea of red around here.
In the not too distant past, the disabled gathered together as a political force and got the ADA passed. We're currently not in a favorable environment for anything like that. But if we can win more seats in the Senate and keep the House (and maybe even win more seats there!), I suggest we try to form a political force online (at first) and make our voices heard. I don't know about you, but I'm damned tired of being afraid they're going to strip me of my meds or make me jump through even more hoops than I have to jump through right now to get them. And I'm tired of the lack of human dignity with which I'm treated whenever I ask when my meds are due to be refilled, or when I have a question of any kind about them.
I'm a woman. I realize at this point I'm a 2nd class citizen. I also realize that this is NOT as important as the abortion/gender rights issue. But it is a piece of that same issue, as no white middle class male I've been acquainted with has ever been subjected to the same treatment I've received. It's like they treat me as default "hysteric"; he's "normal" and needy. It's disgraceful. Once the only way I got my meds was when my husband told the doc he needed to prescribe them for me so that he (my hubby) could finally get some sleep. (I was keeping him away with my crying, IOW)
Like I said, this is a hot button issue for me. If you read to here, thank you. If it was TL/DR, I understand. If you're in pain, you have a friend in me, and a shoulder and ear whenever you need one. Peace to all.