Embracing life with chronic pain and illnesses.

Posts tagged ‘severe pain’

Discouragement

It is inevitable during our battle with chronic pain that we face discouragement. After all, we are battling on so many fronts!

We find ourselves struggling with the guilt that our longterm illness/conditions cause…as we watch our finances depleted and debts grow…knowing that we are helpless to do anything about it!

You may be fighting for social security disability like I am…finding that each time we get close to scheduling a hearing…that the “backlog” has pushed our case out yet another two to four months…

Add another layer.. .that with insurance changes that placed me into forced withdrawal as I awaited my prescription to be approved…

I could go on and on…the important point is to understand that we we will have ups and downs…no matter how positive we try to be.  Remember that our projecting a positive front wears on us as well! Our limited “spoons” are often used before we can get out of our bedroom in the morning!

Allow yourself a time out…a day to sleep…a day to watch your favorite movies…the time will help you to “reset”. Our struggles will still be there but our spirit will have been strengthened.

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Opioid Effects

We have all seen the commercials on TV…those commercials for medication to combat opioid induced constipation. We know that opioids as well as any type of medication (prescription or over the counter)…even the simple Tylenol can cause constipation.

My system is extremely sensitive…which has really limited what medications I can take. I have also had to modify my diet to a Low FODMAPs diet for my IBS-D.

My husband and I had been very hopeful for the opioid that I could tolerate. After all, it is helping me to get some sleep and helps take the edge off my pain. I have been eating dried prunes (they are not Low FODMAPs but I have determined what I can safely get away with), sipping warm water, and occasionally using Milk of Magnesia.

For the first few months, this was working great! Yet now, I am faced with the reality that my body is “on to me”. My husband noticed my swollen belly…around my stoma. Yes…the worry that had been at the back of my mind…is making itself blatantly apparent!

I will have to revert to what my surgeon had me do when I was recovering after my colostomy…I will start taking one tablespoon of Milk of Magnesia every day…along with as much fruit as my system will tolerate…in hopes that my system will respond so that I can continue taking the opioids.

Thankfully, my pain specialist and the maker of the pain pump are working with my new insurance to get the pain pump trial underway. My underlying hope is that I will have a successful trial and be able to go that route…forfeiting the opioids all together….only time will tell!

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The “Shocking” Side of Fibro

Now home after being gone for about one and a half weeks to visit family in Oregon….my body is very riled up (as expected)…

I had made the decision to take advantage of an opportunity to go to Oregon to visit family. Those with Fibromyalgia/Polyarthralgia/Chronic Pain Disorder/Etc. will attest….this was NOT to be taken lightly!  It was a decision that would absolutely increase my all ready out of control symptoms.

Yet…I know that I cannot miss out on such a valuable opportunity!  An opportunity to enjoy time with family….to have our son enjoy time with cousins…

It is important to make these tough decisions….resting beforehand as much as possible….and resting as best as possible while on the trip….

The hardest part is remembering to be extra patient once back home!  Whether you are like me with a body that is still out of control, or fortunate enough to have symptoms well managed, more than likely you will deal with a flare once home!

I have no idea how long my flare will last….will it be one week…two weeks….longer?  Only time will tell….

I do know that the entire ordeal was worth it!  Cannot live completely isolated in the house until my doctors and I can finally come up with something that will help to at least take the edge off the constant pain!

For now, I get to enjoy those fabulous “electric shock sensations”!  You know the ones that:

• Feel like an electric shock traveling through one’s body, sometimes accompanied by a “falling sensation”;

• Feel like pins and needles but more painful, alarming and pulsating;

• Jerks the joints of arms, legs, fingers and toes;

• Can come on at any time and is like a flash of light followed by electric shock tingling;

• Feel like “creepy crawlies” or ants crawling under one’s skin and causes the skin to tighten and jerk; and/or

• Feeling of twitching scalp along with facial twitching of mouth, eyes, and eyebrows.

 

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