Greetings to all.
I have had chronic pain for years and have found a couple of things that help relieve the pain and also the stress that comes along with it, which of course makes it worse. Feverfew is awesome for back pain, joint pain relief, headaches and neck pain. Get a good one at a health food store..take it faithfully and you will feel better, mental and physically...and it can be taken with other prescription meds. Takes usually at least a couple of days to start acting but believe me you will tell a difference within a week. Also vitamin B complex with at least 50mg of b6 will do wonders for you. B6 is a natural diuretic and it will stop you from killing people when you are pms-ing or menopausing. Take it everyday...B complex is one of the best things to take for stress also and will help calm those nerve ends down. <;o) For those of you who had the add children with hyper activity or have it yourself....Melissa Supreme at most health food stores will work wonders in that area too...not too tasty...but try a few drops under your tongue with grape juice or other strong tasting juice...gag..and then enjoy the rest of your day. Non-alcohol form also available for children. One last one and probably my favorite, is PURE lavender essential oil...put a few drops in a vaporizer and watch your whole household calm down and it also kills airborne bacteria...and if you can't sleep this will do it. I run mine all winter, well and summer too, at night. Put some in some water in a mister and spray on pillows, covers, over your children....hahaha...wherever to calm things down and kill germs.

Hi lil*lulu!

Some excellent advice to those who can tolerate different types of vitamins and such. My mother swears by feverfew for avoiding colds and stuff. Didn't have any clue it could be used for joint pain as well. Another thing I tried (didn't work for me very well but might be just the thing for someone else) is Coral Calcium. Some of my hubby's co-workers just love it and say it's worked wonders for them. No such luck for me, but hey, it just might help someone else. :<)

Angela

My daughter has chronic pain and it has been constant. The Doctor's recommended so much pain medicine she did research before taking and decide not to. She was told by a Dr. to take some vitamin supplements. She is now taking Omega III-for inflammation, Cal-Mag-for the nerves and Formula IV- a multi-vitamin and she is getting better. These vitamins are on my ebay store.

Hi Turtlehawk7

Acupuncture would be okay, if I could get insurance to pay for it. That is about the worst trouble, getting insurance to pay for anything they don't consider routine. That is what I am battling right now to get the SCS implanted. The doc did suggest that and magnets as well, but since we're income limited, we have to do treatments the insurance will help with. Am still battling to get my SS claim settled as well. Has anyone else been trying to get that? It's been well over a year now and still fighting. Hopefully that will be settled one way or another soon.

Any suggestions to help fight pain are more than welcome, at least for me as I am tired of dealing with it.

Angela

Hey Paulette,

Yes, they already turned me down twice and have an attorney now. Applied orginally Oct 2002 so been a long wait. Almost through the waiting period for the hearing now so just waiting on a date now. Hopefully will be approved this time. Doesn't help with my doc though, just changed primary docs because last one would ask at one visit if I was working or not then reply, great, you shouldn't work, then next visit he'd be all over me about why I wasn't working. Couldn't make up his mind. This new doc doesn't even want me to attempt to try going back to being a cashier/stock person. Said it's way too much for my back. She's not even sure at this point if I could go back to data entry work as I'd have to have so many breaks during the day to stretch and make myself comfortable (anyone know of an employer who'd let me key from the floor? lol). The main reason they keep turning me down is my age (I'm almost 38) and they say I should be able to handle lifting up to 50 pounds and standing on my feet 8 hours a day. (I wish!) Anyway, hopefully, it's almost over and I can worry about other things for a change instead of how to supplement my hubby's income and can concentrate on how to get myself better and taking care of the kids and the house and all the other stuff I haven't been able to do fully since all this first started.

Enough of my rants for now....sorry to go on and on, been a long day and have a cold on top of everything else.

Y'all have as good a day as you can make it!

Angela

Dear Judith
On your free time,search "Kombucha" on the inter net.
I am a senior (73) and tried alot of helpful advise
but owning a Kombucha,may not answer all your question,but it will a great benefit to your over all health.Us you know,where there is one misfunction in our body,there are many more connected.
Take care of your whole body and life style.
Wishing you a new and healthy start
Anneliese

That I do Paulette, I cherish my hubby greatly since he's been so great throughout all this. Before the back problems started, I battled female problems off and on for several years before the doc (and the insurance company) finally decided it was time for a hysterectomy. Besides having my kids & finally marrying the man of my dreams (it took him 4 years to convince me that it was the right thing to do), that was the BEST thing I've ever done! lol

I've decided not to even attempt to try to go back to work right now. It's just too difficult to look after myself each day and now I have a mother who needs looking after as well (not quite sure how I'm even going to try to attempt this one yet) to even have the energy left over for a job. I used to love the job I had but managed to lose it because of a darned broken tooth, of all things. ARghhhhh....it's just been one heck of a week and I'll be glad when this one is over with! lol

Y'all take care!

Angela

Hi Rocken01,

Just what does that do? Does it help with pain or is it just an overall feel-good kind of product? I looked at the site but didn't see what kind of benefits it would have besides helping with energy. Maybe I missed it.

Thanks!
Angela

Hi Angela,
I just wanted you to know that I am still here and I hope that you are doing O.K. Since I last wrote I found out that my surgeon had put in jaw implants that were not approved by the FDA. He also gave me radiation treatments,medication to remove calcium from my bones and never did follow-ups. I passed out in my doctors office today because I was in so much pain.He had to cut into my jaw because he thought that it was inflaimed due to fluids,but it was the titanium post coming out instead. It had broken through my skin. He put me on extra strong medication that is working better then taking 12 vicodin I had been taking that was not working anyway. I feel a little better now. I talked to a lawyer today and he is going to send me to another lawyer that represented the other person that my doctor did this to. I am very angry that my surgeon could do this to anyone(especially me)!
Anyway I guess it was my time to RANT!! Sorry it has been a very rough week. I am sure that next week will get better.
Somewhere along the way I lost your Email,so I decided to come here to let it all out.
Sorry everyone and I hope that your week has been better.
Paulette

Hi Judy,
I too have fibromyalgia and that is usually a result from the chronic pain. There are also support groups out there for fibromyalgia. If you can get your husband to go to one he will see that you are not crazy. My now ex-husband went with me and though I think that he had believed me before,he was really shocked to find out that alot of those people had the exact symptoms. I always forget things and that is what he had the hardest time believing,but when that was one of the problems that most people were talking about,he was convinced that I was truly going through it. I think that there should be more support groups for the spouses of people with chronic pain and there would be less divorces. It is almost as hard for the spouse to deal with. The grumpiness is a result of the pain,the medication,and the stress that you are going through. When you find out that your life has to change due to having a illness it is very hard. Do not try to keep it in because when your stress does finally come out it will be way worse. The people who are the closest to you always get it the worst because you trust them the most and they are in the line of fire. Try not feel guilty,because that only brings on more stress. It usually does not take as long as they say it will for disability to make their decision. Hang in there and if you have any questions about fibromyalgia just ask,I have had it since I was a child,have written a book about dealing with it(has not been published yet)and maybe I can give you some info.
Hope you feel better soon,
Paulette

Hi Angela and everyone,
I finally got some of my info from the hospital,but it turns out that they were just as involved as the doctor and I had no idea. By the time that I had received my paperwork they had let the doctor go through it and he had taken out 4 surgeries and had added more paperwork. One of the documents said that I was despondent before I had my surgery. If that is true then why would he go ahead and give me the surgery anyway. I think that he only hurt himself with that one! He also put in a page that said alot of bad things about me. There was a page in there that was supposed to have been written by a Social Worker a few hours after I had just had an 8 hour surgery. It said that I was sitting up in the bed(a hard thing to do after having 2 ribs removed)and that I had basically told her my life story(with my jaws wired shut and my head the size of a basetball). It said that I was using my health issues to gain attention because I did not want to deal with my emotional abuse(who abused me I do not know). It also said that I was 31(I was 32),that my husband had filed for bankrupsy(5 years prior and before I knew him),that I was getting money from my books that I had written(I had not written them yet and they were never published)and alot of other mean and very hurtful things. That surgery had taken place in 1995 and he started to date it 20 and then realized that he had made a mistake and then stopped. My new doctor is telling me not to take this personally,but it is hard when I am being personally attacked.
Anyway sorry about that,but I needed to get it out it is making me feel sick!
I am sure that by the time this is all over he will feel the sting anyway and that will be enough for me.

Thanks for everything and I will write you soon Angela.
Everybody take care and do not give up,I beleive it will all get better for all of us good people!!
Paulette

Thanks Angela,
It is so nice to have someone like you who can truly understand.
I did not mean that I have gained weight. I have actually gone down to 95 lbs. It is getting really hard to eat because the medicine(antibiotics) that I am on are making me so sick! If I do try to eat anything(like the bannana that I thought would be soft)it pushes out the post and my wound opens up. My new doctor is afraid to send me to a surgeon until he is exactly sure of what is going on. He saw all of the paperwork and said "see this is was makes me angry. You have all of these objects inside of your head and if a surgeon sees this he is just going to want to operate again. I think that you have already had too many surgeries and I do not want you to have to have any more. When I wrote 40 on your paperwork to another doctor,I had to write yes 4-0 or they would not beleive me". I understand that he is worried about me having more surgeries,but I do not really see another alternative. The implants are going to have to come out and soon,or they will come out on there own. I looked up others who have had this surgery and I was shocked at what I had read. Some of the patients implants just came all of the way out before they could get help,most doctors did not beleive them whwn they had told them that they were in pain and worst of all many had committed suicide. I hope that when this is all over I can start a support group that helps people who are going through this. Is is like living in hell and it is way worse when even your own relatives do not believe you! I have no dought that both my attorney and my doctor blieve that I am going to win this case,because they are treating me like gold. When I first went to the doctor before he knew that I was one of the studt patients,he would not even give me samples of medicine,because he said that he did not have enough and now he has 20 years worth and says don't worry about it I can get you all that you need. Suddenly everyone wants to help me and they are sooo nice! I just cannot wait until this is all over and I can get on with my life.
Anyway, there I go again. I reallt hope that you are doing O.k and I think about you alot. Someone as kind as you desearves to feel great. Oh and by the way,where is the hubby store where you got your very nice one. If I get some money I would really love to go and purchase me one! My old one now wants me back of course,but maybe I can make a trade-in for a new one at that store.
Take care and stay well!
Paulette