Living with Chronic Back Pain

I started having mild back pain when I was in mid late twenties after having my first child. It was pretty controlled back then, and I had no problems doing a lot of things from walking, stretching, swimming, climbing, or cycling at that. In fact, I was able to do a lot of things that most people in their early twenties could do. When I was in my early thirties, I had my second child, and that's when things took a turn for the worst. I didn't realize it at first because I ignored the pain. I also didn't realize how severe my pain or how damaged my back was too. That was until I couldn't take the pain any more, and over the counter medications wasn't working and my family doctor found she needed to refer me to a specialist now. Physical therapy had worked for awhile but once it stopped, my pain returned again. I had finally gone for x rays and to my horror had discovered that I had degenerative disc disease in my lower back. At that time, it was mild, and was controlled with medication and therapy. Late last year, I began to notice numbness in my hip and right leg and ignored the signs for months. I told my mother one night and she freaked out, as my own mother had gone through the same experience as I was going through myself and immediateley advised me to seek my doctor or a chronic specialist. Once I did, I realized what was going on when the results of the tests came back.

The doctor had sat me down and explained to me that things I once loved years ago or even a year ago, I couldn't do anymore because the pain I was feeling was caused by many things besides the degenerative disc disease now. The results had shown that I had developed joint and nerve damage in my back, to arthritis, and osteoporosis. With that, the doctor explained that the pain had traveled into my right hip, and traveled into my right leg, which would explain the numb ness often to sometimes tingling sensation I would feel. I never had no injury to cause this kind of pain, as explained to the doctor. But one thing did make sense, my second child had drained my bones so bad, I wasn't able to replenish what I had lost during that pregnancy. I was devastated to hear that I wasn't able to do a lot of things I once loved. Just a year ago, I was able to walk for hours on end with the right medications and feel fine all day. Now, I am lucky if I can walk at least thirty minutes without feeling the numbness in my leg or the pressure in my back shooting up my middle back or spine. I had received shot injections recently to help relieve some of my pain in my lower back and right leg as a result of the damage done to my spinal back. My chronic doctor even issued me a special unit for me to use at home , in which it would send impulses in my nerves to help ease the pain. Though it won't take the pain away, or make it go away completely for ever, it does help ease my pain for hours . How ever, as a single mother, who once tried to do everything herself, and tries to be strong as well, I still do things myself a lot. I have learned that I can not do a lot of things I enjoyed , to lifting things or moving objects by myself anymore as I thought I could.

It has frustrated me to no end to realize that having this kind of chronic pain will be here for ever now and will not go away. Living with chronic back pain is not pleasant at all, and I am still learning it myself these days. My mother has it as I do, and I learn from her and from my doctors and research too. I learn from myself of what I am capable of doing and not doing with the help of therapy, medications and much more. I am told if I continue doing the horrible things to my back, I can look at surgery, which is something I don't want to do right now in my life, as I'm fearful of surgery as it is. As a woman who lives every day with chronic pain, I am learning to live with it and cope. I can understand what others go through, next to my own mother who has the same problems as I do myself, and for myself, I never realized what this pain can do to one. It can prevent myself, for example, from going out and enjoying the simple things of life I once loved and no longer can do anymore. It's something I must learn to cope and deal with each day I deal with the pain.