*laughs* Okay, I have chronic back pain - primarily mid-back on the right side and in my shoulder/neck on the left. The pain comes with a gigantic knot on my left collar bone that doesn't go away while I'm standing (The fact it does go away when I lie down is a source of endless confusion for my doctors. But then, almost everything about my back is a source of endless confusion for my doctors.)
I've been dealing with this pain for 4 years, 3 Doctors of Osteopathy, 2 physical therapists, 2 chiropractors, a massage therapist, an accupuncturist, a surgeon and a back specialist resulting in a whole lot of theories and not much help. The theory I think is the best right now is that I have 3 scoliosis curves that are compressing discs and stressing the muscles, but there's no proof that it is progressing and none of the curves are big enough for a surgeon to want to go near me.
I'm in the process of getting a brace and meanwhile I take a lot of odd meds and I wear a little TENS unit which sends small electrical pulses through my muscles (kind of like feeling my phone on vibrate at all times) and is designed to trick the central nervous system into perceiving something other than pain in those muscles. The theory is that if the nerves get something besides a pain message, they will stop spasming 24/7 and I will get some pain relief. Which is a nice theory if the new TENS they hooked me up with exactly 1 month ago hadn't crapped out already.
A lot of my journal is keeping track of what the docs are saying and what is being tried. So if you see this icon, there is pain-related news ahead.
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I've been dealing with this pain for 4 years, 3 Doctors of Osteopathy, 2 physical therapists, 2 chiropractors, a massage therapist, an accupuncturist, a surgeon and a back specialist resulting in a whole lot of theories and not much help. The theory I think is the best right now is that I have 3 scoliosis curves that are compressing discs and stressing the muscles, but there's no proof that it is progressing and none of the curves are big enough for a surgeon to want to go near me.
I'm in the process of getting a brace and meanwhile I take a lot of odd meds and I wear a little TENS unit which sends small electrical pulses through my muscles (kind of like feeling my phone on vibrate at all times) and is designed to trick the central nervous system into perceiving something other than pain in those muscles. The theory is that if the nerves get something besides a pain message, they will stop spasming 24/7 and I will get some pain relief. Which is a nice theory if the new TENS they hooked me up with exactly 1 month ago hadn't crapped out already.
A lot of my journal is keeping track of what the docs are saying and what is being tried. So if you see this icon, there is pain-related news ahead.