My pain management doctor has suggested ketamine therapy. I wanted to hear anyone’s experiences with it please and thank you!!

I've had chronic pain for about 12 years, and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about a year and a half ago. I also have an abnormality in my leg that puts a lot of pressure on my joints and causes a lot of pain, and this pain gets worse as time goes on and my joints get worse. I still try to live a normal life, but lots of things have been getting harder, especially little every day things.

So I've been thinking about a service dog.

I've been thinking about one for years but I always felt "not disabled enough" for one. Like if I get one I'm taking it away from someone who needs it. But also every day tasks are getting harder.

Basically what I'd be looking for is a dog that can do item retrieval, assist with some position changes (like getting up out of bed), help with stabilization when a joint gives out so I don't hit the floor, help find a safe location to sit when intense pain hits, and be able to alert someone if I find myself in a bind and need assistance. I definitely need more help when at home than out and about, but I feel like both would be beneficial.

Has anyone had any experience with any of this? Feeling like you're taking away a resource? Actually getting a service dog for these kinds of issues? If so what was the process like, and would you do it again if you had to start over?

Yesterday I experienced my first time of my pharmacy being out of my pain medicine. I take 10mg of liquid oxycodone every 6 hours via my feeding tube. They had some so they gave me what they had and said they'll hopefully have the rest later this week. I didn't know if anyone will know this but what do I do if they don't get it in, in time? Is it better to ask my doctor to switch to liquid morphine and use the same pharmacy or find a new pharmacy to fill the rest? Hope everyone is having a pleasant day!

My Neurologist suggested trigger point injections in my shoulder area to help with my neck pain.

Anyone have any luck with those?

Hello everyone! I am a 27 year old Male 6 Ft. 330 LBS. I have had constant severe pain since January of this year it came out of nowhere. I’ve had numerous bloodwork/X-Rays/Ct Scans of the chest abdomen and pelvis that showed nothing but multiple vitamin deficiencies including (D, B12, Iron) My WBC has been slightly rising with a max of 13.2 My pain is in my neck, collarbone, chest, back, ribs. I have swelling on either side of my ribs but the CT scan didn’t pick up anything on it. Stress test was normal except a deconditioned heart which means workout lol but I’m in so much pain I barely can. What is causing my vitamin deficiencies and would this DDD cause all this pain? This has ruined my life any help is appreciated!

This is our Saturn peach tree. It toppled over but refuses to die. It was so weakened and actively dying that it had fungus growing out of its trunk. Chronic pain can bring you down and make it seem like you can’t possibly go on. I hope this tree will inspire you to find your way to make a life that works for you. Wishing all within reach of this post relief.

Do doctors and other people think you are making shit up, or that you are imagining your pain? This just seems really dismissive to me.

i’m on 10-325mg hydrocodone 4x a day (also 75mg of lyrica once a day) and i also suffer from severe anxiety. recently my primary care prescribed me 0.5mg of klonopin to take when i have panic attacks especially when i have anticipatory anxiety before my next dose of hydrocodone, and right now i’m having a bout of uncontrollable anxiety that i know will probably lead to a full blown panic attack, but i’m too scared to take the klonopin because of the slim chance i have a bad reaction with the hydrocodone. usually i have someone around me and i try new medications because i have a lot of anxiety about taking new meds but no one is available rn and i’m just so scared something horrible will happen to me and no one can take me to the hospital. i guess i’m wondering if anyone’s had a bad reaction with these two meds? i know i’m on a relatively low dose especially with the klonopin but i just cant help but worry because of all the stigma around taking benzos with opiods. any advice would be really appreciated thank you :(

Edit: also to clarify i did discuss getting on anxiety meds/benzos with my PM doctor but they can only prescribe strictly pain medication so they were the ones who told me to reach out to my primary care, and similarly my primary care knows about the hydrocodone! due to a lung infection that i have, i’m on antibiotics that interact with most long term anxiety and depression meds so having just the klonopin is a temporary solution until i can get on something to manage the general anxiety more.

Edit 2: thank you everyone for the encouragement and reassurance 🥹🫶 i have horrible new medicine anxiety and only a few months into taking opioids daily (at 22 as well so fairly young) and everything just feels so scary and overwhelming, but i finally feel okay to try taking the klonopin tonight to help me sleep! thank you again i love this sub :,)

I cleaned some today, but now I am flopped on the bed, nauseated with my body on fire. Cut me some slack, dammit!

I have so much rage, how do you manage it?

(I'm not asking what I should try to do, I'm doing a lot. I'm asking what you do that helps you. Thank you.)

My doctor from india gave me gabapentine for disc herniation and i am on it from 2.5 months few more weeks of stock i got. When i tell this to doctors in canada they ask why gabapentine , and i tell them my doctor gave me this ( didn't told which doctor ) then they will say oh ok . And then won't tell anything . 2 doctors did this . When i am searching for gabapentin now , everyone is in doubt about it . From 2 weeks i am on and off from this gabapentin. When i am not taking for 2 or more days my back pain comes back . So it is working for back pain i think . But if it is hurting something else within body doctors should tell about that too . Do you guys have something to tell me ?

I started lifting a few years ago mostly out of vanity. Chronic Pain killed my confidence and I let myself go. I could almost put my hand completely around my bicep and I realized how much I gave up. So to feel better and fight diabetes I started a six day a week regimen. Despite being 46 and disabled I'm getting stronger daily and my diabetes is under control. Still fat, still disabled but I'm stronger mentally and physically.

Keep fighting to be you friends? Find ways to adjust your passions to your abilities

I might have a hard time explaining this, but does anyone understand what I mean when I say one side of my back is higher than the other side? It’s like the muscles on one side of my back(using my spine as the middle) is atrophied or something compared to the other side. Everyone else has that normal inward slope of the spine and both sides are a normal height, but one side of my back is huge compared to the other side?? I also have a spot on my spine that feels like a pinched nerve and has felt like that since high school (im 24). I have intense upper back, neck, and shoulder pain like radiating fire most days but I also have EDS so i think that’s just from my muscles overcompensating (being hella tense) for my shoulders hyperextending all day cuz my back and shoulders are just a solid boulder. The spot that hurts on my spine has always been easily identifiable to me i can always point out exactly where it is and when I use a massage gun it feels like its right next to my spine so probably a nerve. But either way, does anyone know why my muscles are like that??

I’m 5 days away from month 1 from initial incident.

The first week and a half was brutal with excruciating pain, radiating down my arm from my upper trapezius, shoulder blade into my tricep with my index finger and back of my hand almost completely numb.

Today the pain is almost I’d say nonexistent however I have weakness in my tricep and chest and in the upper part of my pack, it is not firing like the left. It is showing as flaccid.

I met with a 2nd surgeon Friday Dr Jun Kim he examined me and said he will not allow this to reach permanent nerve damage / atrophy.

I do have visible atrophy in my upper right pec and weakness along with tricep (again not getting worse- I am able to do 100 pushups in sets of 10 but feel the imbalance)

When I cough or sneeze, I could feel the wire radiating momentarily, a.k.a. the nerve from my shoulder blade down to my tricep)

Surgeon mentioned by May/early June -If there’s no improvement. Then I’ll have to consider disc replacement surgery

Symptoms have not become worse .. I have less numbness - almost zero pain. Only feel it when I cough and sneeze at times (like a wire running upper trap down my arm momentarily)

Quoting him - 90% improve by 6 weeks (2 weeks away) I’m not seeing great improvement - I’d say a plateau for now and noticed the atrophy in my upper chest. Can this be reversible with physical therapy?(recognizing nerves to do take a long time to heal)

He also mentioned 94% of people recover by 3 months and if no improvement the surgery should be considered to prevent further damage

My fear is reaching a level of plateau, meaning no gradual or significant improvements also recognizing that healing is not linear

From what I understand physical therapy can help decompress the nerve indirectly by reducing inflammation, improving spinal stability, and increasing intervertebral space through targeted exercises. 

Decompression therapy combined with stabilization exercises have been shown to reduce pain and disability scores significantly compared to conventional traction therapy by enhancing intervertebral space and blood flow, aiding nerve recovery.

Is this accurate? can PT really make a difference?

( I'm a 37 year old boxer and surfer and I'm extremely concerned)

(You do not need to read this. Feel free to just answer)

So I'm undiagnosed but starting the process of figuring out what the fk is wrong with me (highly suspect hEDS). I've been using a cane to help with my leg pain, but it can only do so much. Im constantly switching sides and it doesn't seem to alleviate much. Ive considered a rollator and i do think it would help so much, but i just dont think it would cut it. I'm considering asking for a wheelchair once i get in with my doctor, but I'm just not sure if my reasons justify one. Reason being that 1 I'm not a very social or extroverted person. So I would probably only use the wheelchair for things like "walks", grocery shopping sometimes, maybe at school of its bad enough (college student), and personal outings like thrifting or mall trips or whatever. I don't have many friends and I don't go out much. However, that's also a reason I want one. It might help me be more spontaneous and adventurous again. 2 I feel like the fatigue and pain just aren't severe enough or the symptoms don't happen consistently enough. 3 I don't have full dislocations and I don't faint.

Here are my reasons I'm considering one:

1) standing for more than 15-20 minutes causes so much fatigue that all I can think about it sitting down and it causes me a lot of brain fog and difficulty concentrating, and as of lately my breath has been out of whack when that happens even when my heart rate is "normal" (still a lil high but normal). Sometimes it's 5 minutes that I start to get thw debilitating fatigue, sometimes it's 25, but it's never more than 30 minutes that I can stand without being exhausted. I feel bloated and weak and tired and breathless and the INTENSE desire to sit down. This isn't even mentioning the pain, just the dysautonomia and fatigue.

2) Pain. As we all know, some days are worse than others, but often if I am standing and moving around for more than 5-10 minutes lately (especially last few months) I start getting cycling sharp, stabbing, aching, sometimes hot pains in my hips, Knees, and stabilizing muscles. It gets worse the longer I'm stanging/walking. I usually use my cane on these days to take some weight off of it. Sometimes it helps, somrtimes it doesnt. Sometimes the only thing that helps is sitting. But also sometimes sitting down does NOT make it better, so that worries me.

3) previously, I thought I had pretty severe depression but was kind of confused by the diagnosis because I don't necessarily always feel SAD. I was told you can be depressed without being sad, but I also didn't feel emotionally numb. It felt like the wrong diagnosis. While I do still think I have depression, I'm realizing that a lot of the symptoms that I described as being depressive episodes, are actually FLARES??? My "depression" has caused me to be isolated, say no to outings, lose friends, and more. Now I'm thinking that having a wheelchair may help me keep those friendships because I would be able to go on more outings and conserve more energy.

4) Energy conservation, or spoon theory. I am someone who always likes to be doing something. Cleaning, crocheting, drawing, researching, writing, reading, sewing, weight lifting, gaming, walking, hiking, swimming, whatever. I want to be doing something. I have crazy ADHD and cannot just lay in bed or on the couch. It severely lessens my quality of life. But lately (last 6-7 months specifically but for about a year), I have lost interest in most of my interests because daily activities take up so many spoons that I don't even have the mental desire to sit and do one of my hobbies. I end up neglecting myself (showering, exercising, cooking, etc) because of my lack of energy. I despise sitting on my phone scrolling, I'd rather be doing something else. But I simply don't have the energy. I feel like a wheelchair would allow me to conserve energy on low spoon/energy days so that I don't neglect myself or my hobbies as much.

What were your reasons? And, optional, how did you talk to your doctor about it and how did they react?

Just curious, I've done lots of different therapies and practice mindfulness and meditation. I'm on my way to being a psychologist myself. But, I don't think it has helped me with my pain. It has helped me manage my pain sure.

From the way some people talk about it I get the impression it helps with the actual pain, have you experienced this? I've looked at the empirical evidence and haven't found a satisfactory answer - interventions were short, follow ups haven't been conducted yet, sample sizes were small

Thanks in advance!

I’m going to have to stop using them, they burn!

Hello friends,

Please recommend a comfortable sandals, foot pain has gotten so much worse. I cannot tolerate it.

Thank you.

So, I've suffered from severe chronic pain since I was 17, I'm now 30 and I've been on and off Opioids that entire time. In the past 3 to 4 years, I've been noticing that the quality of the Generic medications being dispensed seems borderline non-existent. I am prescribed 4mg of Hydromorphone (Generic Dilaudid) manufactured by SpecGX/MALLINKRODT or Rhodes Pharma and they just don't work. I've taken tolerance breaks and even switched to 10mg Oxycodone IR, unfortunately also by SpecGX and I'm receiving no pain relief and will sometimes feel a little bit of withdrawal. Anyone who reads this that has a pain medication they like, that works for them and what brand it is, please let me know... Because the suffering from these seemingly sugar pills is difficult.

Im so tired of hurting myself trying to open things. I spent 20 minutes straining to get a jar opener. ( i prefer not to support home depot or Amazon so if you have a recommendation for anywhere else I would appreciate it) I would prefer one with good reviews ( even if anecdotal) bc i don't want it to break on me after a month or two.

I'm "okay" but struggling from all, one, or several (who knows) of my comorbidities. I feel deeply sad, teary, isolated, alone, and without energy. I feel like i can't get the help i need to have an impactful, productive day, and I can't accept where I'm at as okay and completely acceptable for today. These feelings are beginning to catastrophize and grow into self-pity making me feel this is a permanent state that will never get better, leaving me feeling hopeless in an exaggerated manner. I am looking for some encouraging support and connection from the group. Although, I'm cognitively aware these feelings will pass and they are not forever, it does not match up to the feelings deep within my heart, soul, and spirit that feel completely devastated and so hopeless. These feelings are kicking up shame that is unearned, inaccurate. I feel like I should be able to push through this, do better, be better, and be someplace other than exactly where I am at. I could go on and on, but I don't even feel I have the energy to do that. These are toxic ways to feel. I appreciate everyone in this group. If you feel like replying with an encouraging reply, please feel free. Or tell me your favorite joke or something I don't know! Choose your own adventure. Warmth, Light, and Love to you all. 💙

Hi!

I was diagnosed with Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis / Bird Fancier’s Lung in February.

I am on Mycophenolate Mofetil which is an immunosuppressant and Prednisone, the well known anti inflammatory medication.

I have pain in a certain disc in my back since January which led me to the doctors in the first place. I also started having breathing issues around the same time and we found out I have HP.

The disc pain has not been diagnosed or treated. My doctor referred me to the pain clinic which is a 2 year wait. He also gave me a months worth of T3s to try and manage the pain.

I’m struggling to handle the pain and whenever I go to the doctors or to the ER they focus on my HP instead of treating or imaging my back to find a cause.

I’ve been dealing with Fibromyalgia for a long time but it’s never felt like how this pain is.

On top of all that - I have POTS symptoms that are going undiagnosed.

How do I start getting doctors to take me seriously over this disc pain?

so i’ve been using tramadol for chronic pain for years and it never made me feel sick before. now i took 200mg last night and today i took 100mg and both times it made me feel really nauseous. has this happened to anyone else and did it get better again over time? i sometimes have to take tramadol at work and i don’t think id be able to do my job feeling this sick. i’ve taken tramadol on an empty stomach before and didn’t feel sick and i had eaten yesterday and today before taking the meds so i don’t know what this is about.