I'm finally being referred to a pain clinic north of Boston by my ortho doc. I have one collapsed disc, two more herniated discs, three fused vertebrae in my neck, plantar's fasciitis, plus fibro.
I've been having some intense pain in my ankles and leg spasms at night which the doc think is pain referred from my back.
I hope this will help out a bit.
People who don't have chronic pain wouldn't have any way of understanding what it's like to live with. People seem to expect me to function normally in spite of it and it gets me down.

Hey Coyote...

Good luck with the pain management. I hope they can find a way to help you get control of it.

I don't think people can imagine the consequences of a pain source that's with you all the time. It's hard for them to picture a bad headache that lasts for a week, let alone for months or years. I don't guess it's fair to blame anyone for not understanding what it's like, but sometimes I think it would be enough if they'd just accept that it's a lot to live with and give us all the benefit of the doubt.

Take care...

Isn't it weird being in pain all the time Coyote?

I never have a day that I don't have pain to one degree or another. I don't know what it's like not to have it anymore.

The only things that have ever totally relieved my pain were...being put under anesthetic for surgery, lol...or percodan, which doctors just don't want to seem to hand out, at least where I live.

So I just take my lousy vicodin once a day, after work and occasionally an ibuprofen or whatever.

They tried me on an nsaid, I can't think of it now. And I could not take that stuff. It revved up my ulcerative colitis to new levels I didn't want to deal with again.

Hey Coyote. So sorry to hear about your being so down. I also get in that condition...more often than not. After a while, it is almost smothering since you cannot get away from it. Something that really makes me feel bad is when people come up to me in public and tell me how relaxed and happy I look...and they don't know it because I don't tell. Guess when I hurt at a high level, I become a mouth-breather. Just remember, you have friends here who know, and care. These forums were a life saver for me a long time ago. Now I just crawl into my hole, lick my aches and pains, and think about tomorrow.

sally