Young with chronic pain

[lukekr86]

Hello, I am 22 years of age and currently have pain in nearly all the joints of my body and mild headaches on an almost daily basis. It started when I was about 16 with back pain and within the last year my entire body has become exponentially worse. The pain is typically a 3-4 on a scale of 10, so tolerable but makes life very miserable at times. For instance, sleep is a joke, I can't run without having problems walking the next day and if I stand for more then an hour my pain starts to increase rapidly while becoming very fatigued. I'm always been active and healthy through my life and currently in the Air force.

I went to the doctors on base about 1 year ago and they have a tried a few things. Physical therapy,  chiropractor and recently they have me on Celebrex and Tramadol. Been taking those for about 3 weeks with no relief.  They have also ran numerous labs and done X-rays.

I guess my question is what is next for me? I feel like they don't believe or understand what I'm going threw. Thanks for any help...

[jmbirds]

now i was tested for VIT D deficiency mine was dangerously low  i'm on 50,000 iu  1 day a week  alot of my muscle pain and bone pain is gone on week 1  my endocrinologist tested me  i have normal TSH but hypo symptoms , fibromyalgia , cfs symptoms Myofacial pain sydrom so now i am on a trial of synthryoid 50 mcg for a week i felt better  have  an ultrasound of your neck done check for goitors then maybe your endo will try this trial therapy . you can go to walmart and buy vit d 3  and see if you feel any different and i think 100% pure pomegranit juice will help 4oz daily   and i drink propell vit water

[Toomanyadvil]

I'm glad you got some good ideas to take back to your DR!

It would be great to hear any any updates.

TMA

[lukekr86]

WOW! There is a lot of support here at this site, thanks so much everyone.

Toomanyadvil,  I was tested for lymes disease but not sure what else, the DR ordered of ton of blood tests for me. He said they tested for everything possible they could threw blood. We have no specialist doctor that deals with arthritis available to me, but they may send me to Seattle to see a pain/join specialist (I'm in Alaska right now.)

Jennifer, I just read about aspartame poisoning and found that very interesting. Never heard of that before and although my diet doesn't consist of any of the related products for the most part I'm defiantly going to look into that a little more.

Concerning Fibromyalgia, although I do have a lot of those symptoms I don't know what to think. For one I don't have any "tender" spots which from what I read is how they diagnose you, needing to exp 11 of 18 points. Although I may have pain in an area, it is not sensitive to increased pressure.

Well I have another appointment in 2 weeks, I'll make sure to update everyone what happened. It seems me and the DR have a lot to talk about.

[jennifer567]

Hi there.

First, I want to tell you I totally understand what you are going through. Though I am 31 now, my pain began in my 20's also, actually I can recall having pain at your age. I know how it is to wonder what's life going to end up being like, starting this so young. But do not worry, you will make it through and you also have many on here to help you every step of the way!

Hopefully, they will correctly diagnose you ansd either put you on the correct meds or you learn about some natural techniques, supplements and such to better or eliminate your pain. I recently was put on Lyrica, about threee months ago, it certainly made a dent in my pain. ALSO, I stopped drinking diet drinks and all of my FM, MS and Lupus symptoms have just about diminished. Have you ever looked into fibromyalgia? By no means am I suggesting you self diagnose or settle for that "catch all" diagnoses. but rather see what supplements they suggest for that condition and trying them.

I'm sure anyone with firbromyalgia (FM) who reads your symptoms will tell you that is what you have, buth there are some of us who feel it is beatable and stoppable.

I encourage you to do some research on aspartame poisioning, please! Your answers may be found there.

Best of Luck to you and know you are not alone. I feel for you and understand. If ever you need to chat you know where I am. Possibly you could consider joining our fibromyalgia community, we think of a zillion ways to deal with stress and pain!

Sincerly,
Jennifer

[Toomanyadvil]

Hi luke

  Have you ever been tested for lymes disease?
If you have or do live in an area where there could be ticks you may defenitly want to ask your DR about a test for it.
Lymes can work in funny ways. You could be bitten and not have symptoms of lymes for a really long time.
It can cause joing pain, fatigue,weakness, headaches and a whole list of things.
Of course joint pain can be so many things so this is only one thing you may want to talk to your DR about.
Tthe back pain may be related to the joint pain but it could also be unrelated as youve had it for 6 years.
joint pain can also be caused by an auroimmune condition like Rhumatoid Arthritis.  
Are you able to see a rhumatologist or do you only have one kind of DR available to you?
I hope you are able to get some answers so you can stop treating just the pain and start treating the problem so you can get back to being as active as you were.

TMA

[sandee1818]

When you don't get enough sleep you will get fatigue headaches, the joint pain could be a number of things. Have you asked the doc about fibromyalgia and what test and so forth have they done? Being in the air force I would think you would have access to the best health care but I could be wrong. I think you should go back to the Dr is has been a year and with all the symptoms your having it does not seem they will go away on their own and you need to have test and have the Dr find out what is going on. I also recommend you tell them the pain meds they are giving you are not working and you need some relief and let them know your not sleeping they will be able to help you hop fully. I know pain takes over your life and you have been dealing with this too long on your own please get some help and find out what is going on so you can be treated properly for it. We are always here for you and will do what ever we can to help you. Good luck and if you have any other questions or just need support please remember we are all here for you.