PHATBRACES
Apr 27, 2015 5:24:04 GMT -8
Post by jeff1967 on Apr 27, 2015 5:24:04 GMT -8
Acrobat,
I made it almost 18 years without dealing with pain management. It got so bad that I never slept more than 30-45 minute stretches. Tough when you work everyday but I never missed a day. Now that I have no other alternative I'm treated like I am some pill head out here on the street dealing drugs. I told a doctor yesterday that it is bad enough living with an SCI for life but to be treated like a second class citizen to boot is almost more than I can take.
I take Cymbalta to help with my depression. It took my wife 15 years to convince me to try and wow it has made a difference in my life.
I do think this wedge is going to be a BIG help to me as well. The ankle pain which was constant has been very minimal the past 24 hours. First time in years! I'm not calling it a miracle cure yet but I will take a day of relief anyway I can get it.
I am excited for you to get yours as well. I have spent the better part of my life not having anyone to communicate with that has any idea what I am actually dealing with and these forums, especially this one has help me tremendously as well.
I started taking Cymbalta in 2003. I stopped for a couple of years in 2012 when pain management was messing with my meds. But I recently went back to it because nothing else has worked. I slipped into a major depression when I gave up my job. But the pain got to the point I was making mistakes and just couldn't hold my focus. The drug stigma is so bad but Cymbalta really has made a difference in my life too. It doesn't work for everyone. It seems to work for low injuries like ours. I have several friends that could not take Cymbalta but had higher up injuries.
I have Central Pain Syndrome which is the burning, stabbing, altered skin feeling stuff. My calves and my feet feel like someone has taken steel wool and scraped all the skin off then poured alcohol on the open areas. It never goes away but I have varying degrees of high and low pain days. When it rains, I have a high pain day and no focus. I honestly chose to move back to the high desert of Colorado for this reason.
I went to Craig Hospital in March and went through their "aging spinal cord injury re-evaluation program". It was the first time since my initial accident that I had been through testing like that. Physical Therapy did a full evaluation and several other medical specialties. I will have an MRI and see Dr Falci when I go back to get my new braces. He is a neurosurgeon that specializes in tethered cords. I guess they are going to see if my increase in pain is related to a syrynx or tethered cord. I guess scar tissue can cause the cord to twist up and grow together causing an increase in burning pain. In the late 80's they just sent me home and said do the best you can. So I know too what it is like to have no one that knows what you deal with. Aging really does effect things too.
I saw a pain management doctor in Grand Junction and he was horrible. He interrupted me several times and said (exact words) "why are you here"? Then when I started explaining he said "get on with it". He walked out of the room leaving me on the exam table with my braces across the room. He was so patronizing that I cried all the way home. I have never been treated so bad by a doctor. I wrote him a nice letter the next day and let him know I wouldn't be back even if I had to drive to Denver to see a doctor. So my primary care doctor said she would write my prescriptions.
I haven't seen a neurosurgeon in probably 15-16 years. My accident was in the 90s and I'm not sure how much was known about neuropathy then but when I told people about the burning, freezing cold and needles again, they looked at me like I was absolutely insane. After reading your post I told my wife I am going to find a doctor in Jacksonville where they have a very good SCI facility and get a thorough check up.
The first doctor that tells me to get on with it better be out of reach because I am coming up swinging LOL.
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