I must say that my latest symptom is not a whole lot of fun. This all over pain really bites. Before, the muscle weakness was pretty much an inconvenience – yes it sucked, but being in constant pain is well… a pain!
I have tried:
- OTC pain killers
- Prescription pain killers
- Prescription sleeping pills
- Heating pads
- Ice packs
- Massage
- EMS machine (electro muscular stimulator)
- Physical therapy
- Chiropractic care
- Topical pain medicine
Nothing seems to take the pain away completely and what does seem to make the pain tolerable doesn’t seem to last. I keep trying to push through the pain, take something to bring the pain down to a tolerable level and get on with things. But everyone has their breaking point. I thought I was building up a tolerance to the pain, but every time I seem to go a stretch without having to call in or cancel plans I hit a wall and I’m taken out of the game for a few days again.
What does it feel like? You know that achy feeling you have when you have the flu – it feels like that. Most of my muscles and joints hurt and I almost always have a tension headache. So imagine that feeling, and then it feels like I’ve fallen down a flight of stairs. Not a whole flight, just like 5 or like I’ve taken a tumble because I’m sore in addition to being achy.
So my latest routine to battle the pain is this: I do the nightly exercises and stretching as assigned by my physical therapist and chiropractor. I go to bed early so I can take a prescription sleeping pill so I can sleep through the pain and at least get a good night’s sleep and therefore I’m not sleep deprived. I get up after about 8 hours of sleep, I’m in pain. I immediately take my prescription headache medicine and an OTC pain killer. I do my morning exercises and get in the shower and hope that the hot water will help the reduce some of the pain. If by the time I get out of the shower the pain killers and hot water have not done the trick, I bust out the EMS machine or massager and try again to get rid of the aches and pains that way. If I am still in pain, it is time to call in to work or cancel my plans and place ice packs on the most painful areas to numb them because by this point I know I’ve lost the battle. The ice packs are like my white flag.
I was taking really strong prescription pain killers to combat the pain, but those were so powerful they left me in a daze and I was still completely useless. Plus it was rather depressing to have to be that out of it just to feel relief. So I decided it was not worth it to take the prescription strength pain killer because it just felt like I was putting myself into a coma like state. I’d rather be in more pain and at least be able to have complete thoughts.
I guess what makes this hard is that the pain is constant, yes, but the level of pain fluctuates. That is not fair – isn’t that like moving the goal post? I think this game is rigged!
You are so my hero! I know how difficult all this must be, but you are hanging in there. Have you thought of, or tried acupuncture? Never done it myself, but I have heard that Eastern Medicing can do wonders. Keep your chin up!
Yup, I’ve tried acupuncture – and in all places China! It gives me the same limited temporary relief as the other methods. Again, I think the problem is that no on knows what the problem is so even just treating the symptoms, which be both know is not a cure, is a challenge. And you are my hero too – you kept your chin up when you went through your own medical mystery nightmare.