Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Anyone else here suffer from long term chronic pain?

How do you deal with it, besides meds? This month is 25 years for me, L-4, L-5, S-1. Left foot is numb and hurts 24/7 from nerve damage. Inoperable. Ran out of options years ago. Been in the "Live with it" stage for years. Distractions help, good movie, boobies, etc...What about you?

try eliminating almost all carbs and sugars. Take fish oil, boswelia, hyaluronic acid and alpha lipoic acid, B12 seems to help with nerve pain. Walk a lot and try and keep moving and stretching and stay hydrated. Worth a try

Don't have answers but sorry to hear about that. One of my BIL's is in the same boat. Every joint in his body looks painful to even look at (RA).

Have you tried CBD/THC?

Thanks ribka, I'm familiar with those suggestions, I have a bit of a sweet tooth so cutting out sugar has been hard for me. I have celiacs, so I don't do grains.

duck911: Thanks for the suggestion but high potency CBD has been zero help and THC is illegal in Idaho so that's not an option.

Been going thru the same for the last 43 years, haven't found anything that really helps. Mine is L3,L4,L5,SI, and have arthritis in with the bad discs. I've been told the same as you that I've just got to live with it or get it all fused and I don't want any part of that, already have C3,4 and 5 fused.

I've had the L4-L5 pain for 3 yrs now, been living with it taking OTC pain killers up to a couple months ago and I tried CBD for a while and it was about as effective as OTC pain killers. I started the steroid shots 2 months ago which just help a little. Planning on surgery to fuse the vertebrae in January. Why is your inoperable? Have you had 2nd opinions?

L4, L5, maybe S1 arthritic stenosis and bulging discs. Shots for those every now and again. Was thinking of signing up for another when The Corona hit. Decided to wait a bit more.

Moderate to severe arthritis at the base of both thumbs, in my hands and some in my feet too. Kidney issues preclude the use of Advil and stronger NSAIDs. 2000mg of turmeric every day, 3 pills of the Costco glucosamine with MSM, 2000mg of vitamin C, and regular exercise keep the pain down to a dull roar most days. When it gets a bit worse, a couple of Tylenol Extra Strength. Much worse and I have some "pills", but too many and they make me want to sit on the couch all day.

Didn't necessarily think the turmeric would work well, but a friend suggested it and then one of my kidney specialists, from Harvard Med School, said their studies are showing there seems to be something to it. Maybe it's all in my mind, but I seem to be able to do more before the pain gets bad.

Was in my mid- late 50's when I woke one morning to the realization there would be no more pain free days. Oh well, I'm still kickin'.

Having the knee replaced after a few years of living with it bone on bone arthritis sure made life about 75% better though. Big help, that.

Good luck with it.

I ordered this. Heard good feedback

https://teeter.com/product/dex-ii/

Stretching, yoga and movement, healthy low carb ( have to commit every day) really does help with pain. The worst thing you can do is remain sedentary and eat crappy processed food

Going on 10 years... first my knee went out then lost my balance because I was to vain to use a cane and fell and hurt my back.... back pain makes knee pain seem easy. The first orthopedic surgeon I saw when coming to grips with loss of ability to get around like I want to said, "Don't let the pain define who you are..." I thought about slugging him . Easy for him to say.... Turns out it was pretty good orthopedic psychiatry.

I have had some success ignoring it.... try to focus on stuff I still can do.... some days are better than others and I try to make the best of those.... Swimming has done more for pain management than anything else.... up until COVID hit and the pool closed.... that has sucked.

I had developed a group of "pool buddies" that I talked to hanging out in the whirl pool. It is good for me to visit with others who have some kind of medical thing going on but understand you can't just take a pill and be all better. Diet exercise and attitude are 3 things we do have some control over. I miss my pool buddies.

My guess is that there are several of us here getting a bit long in the tooth and dealing with pain/mobility issues. I'd much prefer to talk about dealing with there "challenges" soaking in a turbo charged whirl pool... but thanks for starting this thread.

Platelet-rich-plasma. Helped me avoid spinal fusion. Still have to watch what I do, but I'm not in pain any more. Worth looking into at the very least.

Also, improvements with stem cell treatment in recent years.

As Bill Clinton said, "I feel your pain".
Unlike him, I really did.
I'm sorry to hear about your challenges.
Injury or diabetic neuropathy?

I had Serious back injuries all the way down. Totally healed now and full range of motion restored, thank God.

Aside from opiates it's best to keep the anti inflammatory meds in the system. Once you've experienced opiates ain't nothing else going to help.

g

Lyrica / Cymbalta combination therapy

And radio frequency nerve ablation

fluoroscopic guided spinal epidural

Have had the third suggestion a few times.

They suggested when that quits helping to go to number two suggestion.

I'm not a fan of the side effects of #1 components, so I may just go for CBD, or something "along those lines" (It's legal here but dangerous for me)

Have had 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc opinions, surgeons say the same thing, they can take the pressure off the nerve but the damage is done and will still hurt so why bother. Have tried multiple shots, no help. Good luck with your situation.

Lyrica and opioids help me maybe 20%-25%, RFNA pretest was a fail, epidurals (multiples) were no help.

I aint never flew outta no window or nothin

Stared a wall for a couple hours, several times, but only because I ran out of playdough to eat

Hate to hear that

I recently had a knee done, RF was less than hyped expectations, help about 50% of pain had.

I'm betting there weren't any catboxes around.


Hopefully.

Only old guys eat tootsie rolls

Was that the dangerous part ?

🤣🤮