Living With Chronic Pain

It's 11:07 pm and it is the fourth or fifth day I have spent in its entirety, in bed. Today was the best day in all of this since I chose to be productive rather than wallow in my pain and frustrations. I got up and moved around the house more. I watched a movie in the living room, (lying down of course) I took a tiny walk outside to check on the hummingbird who built its nest on one if our wind chimes (she is safe despite the strong winds of today) I even went out to dinner to celebrate my mother in laws birthday and managed to sit for about 45 minutes. That's a huge accomplishment. I was a bit uncomfortable and started feeling some pain but I made it through, got home & immediately laid down. I suffer from chronic low back pain and sciatica which is caused by my herniated L5-S1 disc and its stage of degenerative disc disease. Most of you may know bits and pieces of the different therapies I have undergone to control my pain and ability to function properly like the 25 year old that I am. I don't want to say that those things have failed but I suppose that when you're dealing with chronic pain, there aren't too many successful procedures. I've relied thus far on exercise, stretching, and when extremely necessary, narcotics. The pain has been with me for almost two years now and after 1 spinal epidural, dozens of physical therapy visits, adjustments, spinal decompress sessions, & prescription drugs, I have continued to deal with this annoying pain. A few days ago I began having this excruciating pain down my left leg. The pain was familiar and I knew that it was my sciatic nerve acting up. I brushed it off and went to the gym. Bad idea! 15 minutes later we were on our way home and I was begging for an ice pack. I didn't get up for four days after that. Walking to the restroom was a challenge, but worse was having to sit down. Somewhere in between I went to see my old pain management doctor and I was prepared to move forward with a more aggressive treatment. He recommended a more centralized injection into my nerve that would block the pain down my leg and in my low back. On the side I will be taking Neurontin (which is a nerve pain reliever) Percocet (everyone knows what that is) & Somas. (for helping me sleep, which right now is not proving to be effective) Now it is just a matter of waiting for my insurance to authorize the injection and I'm ready to go. This experience has really encouraged me to share with friends and family the importance of taking care of your back. Our spines are so delicate. Of course they are strong and hold the rest of our body up, but they are fragile and need our care. I would not wish this on my worst enemy, so please friends, take care of your back; sit with appropriate posture, always support your lumbar spine, do exercises to strengthen your core muscles and hamstrings, be at a healthy weight for your height and age, always pick up heavy things using your legs and not your back, don't let friends crack your back, flex your stomach muscles when standing for long periods of time, wear good shoes that have good arch support. There are dozens of steps you can take to take care of your body. At 25 years old I am realizing how important it is to take care of our bodies now and not down the line when it is more difficult or painful to fix. If you read this far, I applaud you. Take care of yourselves my friends.

Beatriz