Back pain/depression

[Trev26]

Hello, this is my first post and am not sure if this is where it goes so I apologize if this is in the wrong place.

Here is a little background about myself. I will be 25 in January and have a herniated disk, and degenerative disk disease, and spodilosis of the spine. I also have sciatica nerve pain shooting down my right leg. I have had these issues going on for over 3 years. I have done everything from PT too epidural injections, acupuncture, and nerve blocks. My doctors only give me 10 percocets at a time I guess due to the whole opioid epidemic. It is truly the only thing that gives me relief. I have talked about surgery but because of my age and my injuries they decided it is not warranted. They have told me that it is a shitty hand I have been dealt and it what it is.

I cannot work really because of the pain that I am constantly in, or get a decent night sleep or really do any of the every day things people don't think twice about.

I am in a very deep depression because I can't travel or lift, or play basketball which was my passion and favorite hobby for 15 years.

My doctors won't really help and they barley give me anything for pain. I don't have a gf, and lost 5 friends in a car accident about 4 Years ago. Btw I was in Vegas for the massacre a couple months ago, so these last 5 years have been more traumatic and unbearable than most people experience in their whole life. Every day that goes by I get closer and my will too live gets less and less.

I guess I'm just posting this too vent. I don't really know what advice anyone can give me but if anybody reads this and has a suggestion or has similar back problems, I would like too know how you are handalling it, or if you have done anything that has helped you get relief. Also wtf does it take nowadays too go opiod chronic pain treatment. My doctor has basically told me if I don't have cancer than they don't want too give me any opioids.

Thanks everyone who took some time too read this.

 

[Painful One]

Hi,
I am so sorry to read this. I also suffer with these same problems. It is a really crap hand to be dealt. I have been trying to adjust to life like this since 2008. I am still trying to figure out how to live like this. It is so hard I know. So much is so limited.
I also suffer with major depression from the resulting disability.

I have been researching everything I possibly can and have tried all the things you listed and more. The things that help me the most are to eat a real healthy diet, drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep (ask for some sleep medication), soak in Epsom salt bath tubs, do some light massage, stretching and light exercise just as you go about your day, aromatherapy has helped a lot. Meditation is a very, very helpful thing. Teach yourself to meditate.

I know you need medication. I was put in pain management and am prescribed 75 mg MS Contin a day. I have had the same dosage the entire time. It is best to stay at the lowest possible dosage. You are still very young. The pain medication stops working after awhile. It becomes less effective. It becomes necessary to take breaks from the medicine so it will work better and that really sucks because it gives you withdrawal exactly like heroin withdrawal. The pain medication is the same stuff. Trust me on this one, take as little as possible but get the amount you need. Pain can kill too. Watch your mental health. Try to keep a positive attitude and most importantly is you have to keep a sense of humor about this life.

Keep trying things.

 

[herbavore]

Oh man, I am so sorry. You are way too young to have to deal with this. Adjusting to a life of compromised physical possibilities is really harsh--no one has ever done it without grief and mourning. I feel like this is one of those times where you can't go around it, you can't push it down inside, you just have to go through the mourning of giving up one view of the kind of life you expected for a different one altogether. And that is hard.

I really encourage you not to give up. My son died of despair and discouragement and I really wanted to die myself. I could not have forseen that this life that I have now, while full of terrible sadness and often gut-wrenching pain would also ever again have room for joy, for peace, for laughter....but it does. Do not sell yourself short. Find some heroes and read their stories. Sometimes it helps. But more than anything, believe that your life still has possibilities and surprises that you have no way of predicting in this dark time. Give yourself permission to grieve fully. Becoming strong usually involves being vulnerable enough to be weak and broken in the first place.

I hope you can use this thread for ongoing support and that means wherever your head is on any given day--just let it out.