Dealing with Chronic Pain

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Hi. I am 39 and live in Texas. I have been married for 18 1/2 years to my high school sweetheart. We have two boys 16 and 17. I have been dealing with chronic neck/upper back, right shoulder and arm pain for two years now. (Actually have had symptoms for 18 yrs but it wasn't severe until two years ago.) I had an anterior cervical discectomy with fusion of C4/C5 on Nov. 27, 2006 for a double-herniated disc with two tears and nerve entrapment of the C5 nerve root. It was supposed to be my magical "cure". Unfortunately, my pain has come back near the level it was before surgery. My neurosurgeon says it can take the nerve up to a year to heal. My neurologist thinks I have Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and doesn't know if it will ever heal. I am dealing with the uncertainty that goes with chronic pain. I am still working at this point. I am a registered nurse. I am developing a new program at our hospital for breast cancer patients. I love what I do but am finding it hard to make it through an 8 hour day. I have more doctors on my case and am taking more meds than anyone my age should be. My family is very supportive but none the less can not fully appreciate or understand what it is like to be in pain 24/7. I know you all can and do.

Hi, Cricket. Welcome to the family. Yes, we do understand. Everyone here just about has pain 24/7 and has had for years.

I'm Dan, one of the managers here. I'm sure the others will be by to say hello also.

Over on the left are links to a lot of information on chronic pain. Let us know if you have any questions. Otherwise, this is the place to come to rantk, rave, jump up and down. yell, scream, holler, whoop, and... Well, you get the picture.

Hugs and lots of love,

Actually, this ISN'T the place; the General tab is the place. : ) Most people will read your bio once, then check back later to refresh their memory on details, but rarely check here for posts, so you're better off putting those under the General heading. I do sympathize with you being in the medical profession and having chronic pain; you most likely will get the old fishy eyeball from a lot of doctors who think you are drug seeking or even treating yourself under the table, as it were. I suspect there are more doctors doing that than nurses, given the safeguards on narcotic meds in hospitals, though. I sincerely hope you DON'T have RSD, Cricket; that'd be the pits. And I do know from personal experience how long it takes for nerves to heal after surgery, so try gentle massage of the area to diffuse the jangling nerve effect, if you can stand it; I found that helped me after surgical procedures.

acetaminophen is found in many many pain relief medicines which causes liver damage. N-Acetyl Cysteine also referred to as NAC neutralizes the affects of

acetaminophen on the liver. Please be sure to take Vitamin C when taking NAC, once a day.

Important Announcement The MSN Groups service will close in February 2009. You can move your group to Multiply, MSN’s partner for online groups. Learn More
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