please help pain is intolerable

[MrsNaeNay]

i was diagnosed last year for Ankylosing Spondylitis and have been without insurance or money for a little over a year and now the pain is unearable. i have been trying to just deal with it but i've lost my job, can't take care of my kids or live a functional life. the pain has me in bed half the time and cryin the other half. i'm at a dead end and i can't find help anywhere, i understand that treatment for AS is expensive but i would be happy with just pain management until my husband can get on his feet financially. someone please help me i don't know what to do i've been to the ER about 8 times this year and they just tell me sorry they can't help me.

[Munchausen]

I love how you always manage to make everything about YOU!!!!

[worried878]

a friend at work has this...the last time hers flared up she went to my chiropractor and after about 6 adjustments she was out of pain....it comes back though...it is a form of arthritis so anti-inflammatories like ibuprophen help...stretching and things like yoga help as well...keeping the muscles strengthened around it can help ..i feel for you cos when hers flares up she can not hardly walk...have u tried chiropractic?

[hajibaba]

I have sympathy for you and your predicament.  I may have what you have, although I have not been officially diagnosed by a physician.
I find that stretching helps me as much as anything.  There are books on stretching.  There is a right and wrong way.  Be careful to follow directions and not over-stretch to the point of pain.  Stretching and exercise help me more than drugs.  I hope this will help you as well.

[Tuckamore]

I do not have the condition you do. But I do suffer with severe pain. I have a wonderful caring physician that will prescribe me just about any medication to help ease my pain.

All that said I still have pain. I still have pain some times that makes me wonder if I can make it through another day. Yes medications and my physician have been God-sent but it isn't the entire picture. What has worked for me is adding the "old fashion" approach, as one poster put it, to my medication regime. Warm baths. exercise (walks), heating pads, medicated rubs and positioning my body is different ways when I take a rest. Those things do help and I encourage you to try them.  

Additionally I would makes some calls and do some research to locate a physician that will treat you and help you manage the pain until you are able to afford more aggressive treatment. And I would clarify that upfront with the physician. You are looking for interim pain management. It will be less expensive that 8 trips to the ER.

I wish you the very best. Please let us know how you are doing and keep in touch. Thanks for sharing. Take care, Tuck

[dialectialdarlin]

Sorry to hear your perdicament.  move to Canada.  seriously if you have an illness that is going to be affecting you long term go somewhere where health care is covered.  regardless things do have a way of working out.  hang on and keep your head up.  I wish you all the best.

[Farrahlicious]

Honey, i am not an American Citizen nor my country gets any money from your goverment. I live in a small country called Chile in South America. We're mostly educated people, most of us go to college after HS. Most of us can afford private healthcare and we get to choose which Dr we're gonna see, pick up the Hospital we want to go, etc. All depending on, of course, like in any other country, your income. I am incredibly surprised how you have to wait, go to a general Dr and ask that Dr to send you to a specialist, that, hopefully, will be covered or in your insurance "list". I agree with you that Citizens should get the best treatment and as quick as possible. I am also disgusted by the illegals that get into your country and commit crimes and don't get punished for what they do, I hope you don't feel the same way about other countries. I am also in great pain, i suffer from both AS and MS. That's why i have an appointment at John Hopkins and i hope it pleases you to know that International Patients have to pay $800 to get a specialist just to SEE you. It's $625 per each slide or MRI you bring with you. Both my conditions' dx are based on MRIs and Scans. Our doctors don't jump to put you in Beta-Interferons, corticoisteroids or strong painkillers. I am only going to John Hopkins because my dad begged me to get their second opinion. He can't understand his 32 year old baby can have AS and MS.
I hope you find it in your heart not to feel so mad about things that you can't control now. As i can't control the Immigration officer that will give me the evil eye as i check into customs. To him, i'm just a beaner trying to stay there. He has no idea how wrong he is.
To Mrs NaeNay,
honey, i have been fighting this thing for about two years, have gone on everything and then said, to hell with it. For the pain, i take a warm bath (i know it's a bad idea since it's still hot in the US) and i do the old people thing. Rubs, heat pads, etc. And there's also what i'm trying now, Biomeds, such as Heel. there's one for the back and i tell ya, i don't know how those things work, but it has helped. You can find that brand at your local vitamin store. I will be praying for you.
xoxo
Farrah

[StacyCPHT]

Try stopping white foods and nightshades. White breads, pastas, sugars, potatoes, etc
nightshades are tobacco tomato eggplant etc. great info avail online about the nightshades diet. Plaquenil is great to use as an antilrheumatic and cheap in generic.

[mareke]

This may not help but I have a stiffening of my spine not unlike AS as well as compressed discs and spurs up and down my neck and spine and for about 6 years all I did was live on painkillers (mainly Tramadol but also Celebrex and a few others). The more painkillers I took the less I did and the more pain I felt in my hips, neck and lower back and so the more painkillers I took. These days I'm off prescription painkillers (after going through withdrawal) and only take over the counter stuff like Ibuprofen and Codeine. I discovered that by exercising twice a day I could manage my pain and reduce its severity greatly. I still have neck pain and lower back pain but now it's manageable. My hip pain has mostly disappeared and lower back pain is quite mild compared to before. If I stop exercising my body stiffens up and the pain comes back. By exercising I mean simply walking briskly on a treadmill set at an incline for 45 mins on waking and 60 minutes at night so I get my heart rate up and work up a sweat as well as doing pushups to strengthen my upper body. At night I push myself a bit harder and even run a little. I now exercise for nearly 2 hours each day and have become quite fit. Stress made my pain worse because it caused tense muscles and the exercising helped relax my body and ease stress. If you told me that I could live without painkillers like Tramadol a few years ago I would not have believed it. I used to wake in the morning stiff all over and aching badly and routinely take a Tramadol and try and go back to sleep until it worked. These days I wake with much less pain but with some stiffness which goes away after a 45 minute brisk walk. At night I do a long 60 minute walk that miraculously seems to help relieve the morning stiffness and pain I had come to expect on waking. My condition is gradually getting worse yet I feel maybe 30% of the pain I used to simply through moving my body and getting fit. I'm 56 and no longer feel helpless or resigned to unmanageable pain.

[Melissa70817]

It is just so disturbing to me that we live in the United States of America in which so much of our money is given to outside countries while we, who are U.S. citizens are forced to suffer because we cannot get medical care or afford the pain medication to help us suffer through the chronic pain we suffer from.  It is disgusting.  I think it is great that we help other countries with their medical care, housing and food needs, BUT what about us?  The people who pay taxes and  have worked to pay those taxes in order for all of those things to be done.  It is VERY disturbing to me.  I am a single mother, no job, no income, have been fighting unemployment since the end of March and coping with the chronic pain and fatigue.  It would be nice if OUR GOVERNMENT would help those in need here, in our own home land.  What is sad is, I have worked since I was 16 years old, I received my Social Security Statement in the other day, if I applied and received SSI, I would get a WHOPPING $700.00 a month.  That will buy my meds, thats about it!  
I wish I had answers for you girl.  When I first got sick my doctor thought I had AS, I have read a little about it, I wish there was something I could do to help, I know it is not anything fun.  It just frustrates me to see someone like you in this position when there is no need for it.  You should, as a citizen, be cared for.  This is not just my OPINION, it is a FACT!  We do not care for the elderly, the handicapped, the disabled but the able bodied people who enter this country illegally are cared for.  Maybe you need to cross over into Mexico, become a citizen there and come back illegally.  Maybe then you will get the medical help you so desperately  need!

[eshjay]

Hi,
Iam leaving in the same hell. I had been diagonised AS little over 2 years ago. Iam having restricted neck movements and an inflamed back. It all started with low back pain few years ago. Now my on the verge of quitting my job.Just can't do any work at all due to incessant pains. My wife has been very helpfull. She gives me moist heat massage all the time. But honestly Iam tired and lost all confidence in life. My doc has been giving me NSAIDS..Feldene, Indocid etc. A rheumotogits recommened Remicade Injection. Its an expensive affair.....US$ 2500 one shot and 12 shots are required to arrest the inflamations. Can't ignore the side effects. No way I will go for it. i have been abroad for long and now Iam winding up and going back for good. I will try all kinds of medicla help available there. If some thing works will definitely give a shout. my email is ***@****  

[Ghilly]

Since you have a diagnosis, you can get your records from the doctor who made the diagnosis and take them to any doctor.  Perhaps you can get in with a family doctor or even a local clinic who can at least prescribe pain meds for you until your financial situation improves and you are able to go somewhere else?  Most towns have low cost clinics that can help in situations such as this.  Normally, with places like this, as long as you can prove your financial limitations, they will provide medical care for as little as $25 a visit.  With your diagnosis, chances are they will not deny you pain meds.  It's not like you're going in with just a vague complaint of "back pain", you have an actual condition that has been diagnosed.  Good luck to you.  It's extremely frustrating to live in constant pain and not have anything to take to help you through it.

Ghilly

[scottma]

Try to avoid consumption of starch,.Please go to the library to review the book"food allergy and intolerance". written by brostoff and challacombe, 2nd edition, saunders.This book contains the information regarding ankylosing spondylitis.

[Cindee56]

I am sorry for your pain.  When you were diagnosed, what did they give you?  Did you get treatment initially for this disease?  If you are in that much pain, I can't believe an ER would not help you.  I know this is discouraging.  Can you afford at least a family doctor and maybe he can give you some pain pills?  In the meantime, all I can think of is taking Advil and Tylenol--I had surgery on my wrist and I can't take a lot of the pain medicines because they bother my stomach so my doctor told me take 3 Advil and 2 X-tra strength Tylenol at the same time.  It did seem to help.  At least they are over the counter.  Also, maybe a heating pad on your back could help.