Ruth P.
I read your post with much sympathy. I am a 54 yr.old nurse and have been out of work on disability since sept.98. I was in an auto. accident and after 5 and 1/2 mo. of phys. therapy I had an MRI,where herniation of two cervical discs was identified. I tried an Aspen collar, but it caused intense pain, so the neuro- surgeon told me I needed anterior cervical fusion and discectomies, which I had in May 1998.. Ever since I have had dreadful migraines, and when I worked my way up to full time work, my lower back went bad with severe sciatica, which resulted in an L-4,L-5 partial discectomy with poor results, and then a repeat of that surgery.Then I developed a colon abscess from taking hydocodone and getting constipated, and had to have my sigmoid colon removed. Meanwhile, I was diagnosed with fibro. My salary was 50K a year, and now I'm living on half that much. Two things that I think are helping me are my medications(I take desipramine for the depression and migraines and methadone for the pain) and my physical therapy and TENS unit. At p.t. I get a weekly interferential tens unit treatment.I go to a psychologist whose specialty is chronic pain, and I have had several epidurals with varying results. Hang in there. I am trying to salvage my life by developing a new career in teaching, which I may be able to do for a couple of hours a day. This will be therapeutic for me as well as supplement my disability income. I hope you can get some relief. Most of my management is done by a pain specialist. This is a relatively new specialty that is starting to gain popularity especially in urban areas. It takes a team of highly paid professionals to keep me going, and some days are definitely better than others, but I go on.