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Originally Posted by lunafay
I am a chronic pain sufferer. I have an autoimmune disease called ankylosing spondylitis. It affects my spine and hips. It's a large reason why I am so depressed. I'm on an injection called Humira and bunch of other medications for the pain. It's hard living with chronic pain and depression. Every day is a struggle. I was hospitalized for a week this last month because of it and they performed ECT "electro shock therapy" on me to help with the depression. I am still doing the ECT but as out patient. So far it's helping but not as much as I would like. I just want to feel normal again and keep up with my 6 year old son. I want to go back to work and live a normal life.
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I was at risk for that (HLA-B27+ and family history) but have just about aged out. I got a lumbar MRI last year and there is no fusion, but I do have spinal stenosis, degenerative arthritis and multiple herniated discs, which explains the persistent pain. The good news about persistent pain is that it starts to be like background noise. When it is a 2 or 3, I almost want to punch the doc for reminding me to pay attention to it.
I can only take pain pills for a short period with supervision because they are yummy and NSAIDs are a joke for stenosis. So mostly I ignore it when it's not too bad or cross my eyes and curse if it is bad. Fortunately, I am a stoic.