LD I am sorry to hear of your back pain. I've had relatively mild back pain in the past and even a little sharp pain can be so debilitating, can't move out of bed, etc. I can only try to imagine what having such pain constantly or almost constantly would be like.

That plus migranes must be a difficult combination. Are the migranes "seasonal" for you or do they come at any time? Like depression, bipolar, etc, people who only have experience with regular headaches find it hard to imagine how crippling a migrane can be. Even with other types of chronic pain, you can maybe find a comfortable position to read or watch tv or something, a migrane shuts you down completely.

Currently I'm on over-the-counter pain meds for my arthritis. They only make the pain bearable, they don't at all alleviate it. I'm still working with my rheumatoid doc on finding something better that will work for me.

But it gets to a point where just being so controlled by all the pills themselves becomes stressful too, even if they help.

Are any doctors still looking for a cause of your back pain? Or have they said "no infection, you'll just have to deal with the pain"? It is exceptionally hard to think that there might be nothing you can do for relief in the future.

Good luck with it all hope you can find some relief. sucks, i know. For what it is worth though, you are one of my favorite posters here at psych-central and you seem very knowledgable and sensitive to others suffering... a great combination in life, and it is good at least that your current pain doesn't seem to dampen your spirit for helping others.

-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
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