Talk here all that you want. I care about you. I have PN too and fight the battle of depression. I hope you will keep coming back here. I also hope that some good doctor will help you more. No council in the world works unless you have a good pain management doctor along side. I so hope it can get better for you, and that you don't loose hope. ginnie

I have read through your history and I notice a few things. I have no medical background, but I will give you my opinion. It sounds as if your pain sources, are multifactorial. The numbness in your hands can be coming from your carpal tunnel syndrome. You mention that you are slightly hyperthyroid in an earlier post. I too am hyper (slightly) on paper. Very low TSH and at the high end of reference range on my T4. I lost over 10 kilos in body weight and half my hair. I would eat 6 full meals a day and kept losing weight. I thought I had cancer initially. Hyperthyroid does not mean you only have a fast metabolism. Every cell in your body is affected by the metabolic rate at which the cells use energy. Nerve cells are very sensitive to hormonal imbalances. A lot of Graves patients have myopathies and nerve related problems.

Your pain in your legs and butt can be caused from sciatica and spinal problems. Also I believe that nerves can communicate with each other and i sick nerves can signal healthy nerves and cause more havoc. I got whiplash last year in March after a car accident and had a bad PN flare. Before the whiplash I was pain free for 3 years. The 3 years I was in remission I was leading a normal life again. I had communicated with a few people on this forum via emails who also left because they recovered after 3,4, or 5 years of having this. This is how I know recovery is possible for a lot of people. Anyways, after my car accident this thing came back. It started in my upper back and then spread. It lasted only a few months and went away. Then later in September of the same year I had 2 viruses, and also started taking the anti thyroid meds. I was doing yoga in October, and my butt went totally numb. I went to hospital and they did MRI, and it did not explain numb butt. The numbness spread and it was progressively getting worse and worse to where I am now. It's very hard to figure out. Is it thyroid, is it the virus, is it my spine problems.... I find that regardless of what caused this, treatment options for most are quite similar. Doctors don't intervene too much because they work under the assumption that the body can heal itself. They give us meds to calm the symptoms. If I had to guess I believe my issues are autoimmune/ hormonal since I already have one autoimmune disease already. Reading through your history you have had many hormonal problems both Gyno and hyperthyroid. Aside from not being able to figure out what is wrong with your body you suffer from chronic pain, and I see that as your most debilitating factor right now and why you feel so down. You may need to switch and swap the meds you take until you find one that works better. They also use tricyclics (sp) for PN and they can be very effective.

Recently I stumbled on a PDF "The Intractable Pain Patience Guide to Survival." I just googled chronic pain and it came up. It's written by a doctor and is an instruction manual on how to cope with pain and illness. I highly recommend you read it. I can't send you the link from my iPad but I can send you the link if you can't find it by googling.

Before I sign off here and go to work I need to let you know that you are ok mentally. Being down is not a disease. You are depressed because you are sick. It's completely natural and it would be unusual for you to be completely content and be the way you are now. Your emotions and response to your illness are actually normal. What you have to be careful of is feeling despair to the point that you want to harm yourself. I believe the body knows how to heal itself and can heal itself but sometimes it takes a lot of time. It took me 2 full years to recover from spine surgery. I have foot drop and they told me that I will not regain function in my foot. 2 years later thanks to ballet classes I am using my foot normally and can dance. People have been cured from worse diseases than this and it all starts with what you Believe. If the mind believes the body is sick than the body will remain sick. I am telling you that you will recover. You will be one of the ones that leave this board eventually and go on with your life. Since you are still here 2 1/2 years later and walking & kicking you will be here a long time to come. If that burning pain were gone from your body, I believe you would feel calmer and be better functioning. It's the burning pain that has gotten to you and seems to be the key problem. I suggest you try to get your pain management to address that and get that under control. Believe me when I say it can go away. Please don't loose hope. You are not alone here.

Hello Featherbullet,

I'm praying for you that you'll get some relief physically and hope in your heart.

I know the pain can be tough and it's not hard to feel depressed. But please believe, you have so many who care about you. Don't do anything to harm yourself. It'll be two weeks tomorrow since a cousin of mine committed suicide and it has torn so many up inside, friends as well as family.

Don't give up. Keep searching for ways to get help, both mentally and physically.

We're all here for you. Hang in there. I'll be keeping you in prayer.


LillyLee

http://www.foresttennant.com/pdfs/In...inSurvival.pdf

Wow-aussie99 thank you SO much for this.
Honestly, best gift /tip/support I've received yet.
I've forwarded the link to my pain management doctor. Hope he changes his mind about always trying to keep people off opiates and just meditate.. HATE that. This is proof that its dangerous to be off meds with IP
Thanks again!!!!

Any time my feathered friend. And please do me one favour and believe me when I say many many people have moved on from this board due to recovering including myself for over 3 years. DO NOT, under any circumstance throw in the towel. You have so much life ahead of you,and you will recover. Please just keep on telling yourself that.

Yes, keep us updated featherbullet. And we're always here to help.

I will do my best. I will try everything possible to alleviate the pain, find the cause, manage the symptoms, ...even if it means crashing once in a while I guess..

I have a wonderful family to live for ( not my own..I mean my parents and sister, as well as niece)
If I didn't have them I may not have made it this far.
Thanks everyone. You got me over the hump. Oh and I start fentanyl today. Maybe that will take the edge off enough for me to move forward . Wish me luck

Wow fentanyl works really well. My pains down to a 1/10 for the most part.
This came at a good time. I'm able to focus on other things like a new job and mental health now. Wohooo!
I recommend ( for the opiate tolerant only of course)

what an uplifting presentation telling it how its is with no BS. IP is a quick ticket to an early grave due to organ damage instigated by the bodys inability to remain neutral during periods of chronic pain and turning on itself

Interesting analysis about soldiers dying quickly without morphine, not through blood loss or gunshot vital organ damage but due to the body unable to deal with the pain itself.