Welcome to the Pain management community!

[sandee1818]

Welcome to the Pain Management forum!  We are so glad you joined our community:)

If you or a loved one has experienced pain of any kind that has affected your life you've found the right place.

You'll find we are very supportive and caring and understand how pain can affect every aspect of our lives. We understand you may be shy to make that first post as pain can affect us in such personal ways, that's ok- But keep in mind that no question is too silly or strange!

Please feel free to look around the forum and get to know the options you have on your personal profile.

There is an option to view the 'community archives' located next to the green 'post a question' button. In it you will find the forum’s past questions and posts regarding the treatment of Chronic Pain and some of the possible treatments you may have had or would like to learn more about. There is also the 'health pages' option in the upper right corner of the forum. You will find some great information on symptoms and the different options available to treat your pain.

You have many options on your personal profile. You can 'add' friends, send 'private messages' and post 'notes' to the other members of MedHelp, as well as add Trackers as they become available! You'll also find you have a 'Journal' on your profile. You can write anything you like in your journal and chose to make it public for any other MedHelp member to see, allow only your friends to view it or keep it private for only you.
You may also want to fill out a little bit of information about yourself on your personal profile so we can all get to know more about you as you post and comment in the community.

We're so glad you have found Med help's pain management community and really look forward to getting to know you better, and learn how your pain has affected you and your quality of life.

We want to make sure this community is as helpful and supportive as can be. So If you ever have any ideas or comments on how this community can offer even more help and support, please feel free to message us at any time and we'll do all we can to make it happen!

The pain management community is very special and important to not nly us, but to the other members.  We welcome you to post your questions as well as offer any help and support you can to others here. We all deal with pain and ,of course , the issues involved with living with pain daily and we all have different ways of dealing with it. That makes us all well experienced in the things we must deal with day in day out and your experiences and knowledge will help members here that are new to this so we  encourage you to share your knowledge as we are sure it will help someone else.

Also tell your friends or loved ones about our community here. The more members we have the more support, advice and knowledge we have in our community and it will benefit everyone for the community to grow.

When you see a new member has joined feel free to send them a welcome note or message.

Sandee1818 & Tuckamore
Your Community Leaders

[neel453]

sandee u r doing great job.God bless u

[dontundertand]

Well, I guess I should go ahead and formally intruduce myself. I am 28 yr old female. About 5 years ago I began to have severe left side abdominal pain. My first recourse was a GYN. He performed a laparoscopy to try and determine the source of the pain. I called his office shortly after the procedure eager to find out what he had discovered. He told me on the phone that there was nothing wrong with me and my pain was all in my head. I never even went back for my post-op. So I went to a second OB. We discussed the possibilities of the source of the pain and I tried several things for months before we decided to do a second lap and remove my left ovary. (I have 2 children already so while I was not ready to completely abandon the idea of another child, I wanted the pain to go away). This seemed to help but it was not long before I was back in her office in the same amount of pain as before. She diagnosed me with IC and referred me to a pain management doctor. The pain management doctor told me that he could control my pain but not to the extent I needed it without a confirmation of the diagnosis or another diagnosis. So for a few months I went to see him while going to a gastro who diagnosed me with IBS, and esophagitus, a urologist who confirmed IC with a cysto w/hydrodistention, another lap revealed endomitriosis, I've been told I have arthritis in my SI joints, and I saw one gastro at Emory who told me I had abdominal tears in my abdominal wall. So he sent me to a colleague of his who did trigger point injections for several months, which seemed to help but only for a few days at a time. When the injections didn't seem worth the hour and a half drive I began looking for a pain management doctor closer to home. I saw one who told me again kinda that he would treat my pain but that abdominal pain was not his specialty. So I went to him for a few months until I went to a local doc for a second opinion who seemed to know more about abdominal pain. He wanted to try a nerve block which I did but it really backfired on me. My symptoms got 10x worse overnight. When he asked about a second nerve block the next month I told him no way. I was not doing another one. I guess this upset him and he took me off my meds and prescribed only naproxen. I did a lot of researching and found the doc I go to now. He gave me complete validation and told me that I made the right choice not agreeing to a second nerve block. We're still in the process of finding the right combo for me but next month I'm doing a neurostimulator implant trial (yes, I told her to go ahead and put me on the schedule I'm ready). So we'll see how much it helps. My main concern with it is that it is going in for the IC and I have so much other stuff going on the area I don't want to get my hopes up too high and find that it doesn't help as much as I would like but only actually doing it will tell me.

I still feel like I'm missing something though. How does one go from being totally healthy to all these issues overnight? I feel like there's a link that ties it altogether that I don't know about yet. I had scheduled an appointment at the Mayo clinic about 6 months ago but was not able to keep it due to work trips going on. Haven't abandoned the idea of going, but I feel like I'm chasing a ghost sometimes and it can be pretty exhausting.

Thank you everyone!

[DeeJaye45]

Hello and thanks for welcoming all of us. I stumbled onto this quite by accident but am so glad I did. I live with arthritis, fibromyalgia, and spinal stenosis. I have had these for so long I don't know what it's like not to be in pain. But I, like some others have said, try not to let it affect my mood. I try to live each day to its fullest and do what I am able to do on that particular day according to my pain level. Though I am careful to never overdo because that just makes the pain worse the next day. I am currently trying to wean myself off the narcotic medications I've been on because they are no longer helping. But I have found a topical gel that works well most of the time. I absolutely love it. It is like my new best friend. And I can use it as much as I like. I look forward to new ideas for pain management as well.because as  I have found nothing works 100% of the time. It's good to have lots of options to choose from.

[teresamsmith]

Thank you for the welcome, hopefully I can get some ideas on how to handle this pain I have been dealing with now for years.  I am at my wits end and sometimes just feel like I can't even get up, now I have two five year olds that keep me going, but I can not let this pain get in the way of their happiness and childhood, or I will not, and have to say without these two guys, I don't know where I would be, but do look forward to learning some new ideas and how others cope...thanks again..teresa smith

[Rita48]

I have a tethered spinal cord and deal with constant pain.  Can you tell me what medication  will help with the pain in my leg and ankle.  It can go from mild to extreem.

[sandee1818]

We are certainly glad to have you here. As Tuck said we offer support and will try to answer any questions you may have:)
Welcome!