Hi John, I can relate completely. I've lived a full life, have had much joy and happiness intermingled amongst 40yrs or more of pain. I agree our stories are worth sharing. I believe life is for living, pain has on many occasions held me back, pushed me down & trampled me in the dirt, but I prevail. I will give my all for as long as I can.

We, my husband and I have recently been adopted lol. A young 21 year old girl, with many many lifelong emotional issues & drug abuse has become a large part of our lives. She brings much joy to our little family. She who has been abandoned by her own. I'm not sure how long she will live with us, there are many obstacles to cross, but for now, she has lived with us since August 18th, it feels like a lifetime and she has become family.

That is really beautiful, what you are doing. I canot say I don't have my down moments. Connecticut is on a "Opio" scare, and even though I have been on the same amount for over 5 years, they center just had enough, and an APRN had me booted out. I titrated myself off of Morphine in two weeks. I am down to one pill a day, in much more pain, but felt no kind of withdrawal symptoms. My pharmacist says it is because I burn it up. He is disgusted by how these doctors have been treating me. I've known my pharmacist for over 10 years It's a problem getting pain management. The Nevro Unit only helps my feet. This may not sound like much but my inner arches were experiencing Neurapathy, they hurt really bad, and itched so bad I made them bleed unintentionally from the scratching. The Nevro Implant stopped that sensation in two days, and my arches have free up. It no longer feels like someone is hitting me in that area with a Hammer when I walk. I can walk much further, and can now go food shopping through the store without having to stop and rest. These kind of miracles keep me (us) going, even though the Doctor that put it in kicked me out of his practice on the word of an APRN, who told me he knew more pain management than the Doctor, and had me booted before I could explain what happened. This APRN had been pushing me hard to get on Medical Marijuana. Been there, Done that. For me, it just didn't work, and made me very depressed and paranoid. He had an agenda. I did not buy and asked him to please stop. This infuriated him. If that works for some people great, but in Connecticut, it can run $400 dollars a month, and the insurance companies don't cover it. Besides, I could grow my own, and higher quality if I needed it. I grew up in the '70's, for God's sake.

I have a new Dr. for pain lined up. We'll see what happens, but my Neurologist is really helping me out. I don't do well with NSAIDS and the Nabumetone (an anti-inflammatory) he had me try knocked me on my butt, but did relief the neck and migraine, but caused a rash, and made me feel extremely cold. It may be an initial reaction, in any case, it will be a last attempt if the Sumatriptan doesn't work, to try and stay out of the hospital, where they treat me very well by the way. (Danbury Hospital, Danbury, Ct.) They know me well there. I end up there around 5 to 6 times a year. They now give me a 75% break on all services, and so does every doctor in their network.