Chronic Pain

[marelloy]

I have been suffering with pain for 28 years. I have been to every kind of specialist you can think of and taken every test and pill there is for the symptoms I have. It all started after my pregnancy with my second child. I had a feeling of discomfort in my chest and it was difficult to breath. Several years later I ended up in Stanford hospital at 110 lbs not able to keep food in my body. My body was rejecting any food that I tried to eat or drink. Stanford Hospital ran a colitis test and other gastrointestinal tests and found nothing. After about a week in the hospital my body was slowly recovering by taking medication to slow down my bowel. I was very weak. My family physician told me that I needed to start exercising to regain my strength. I started walking; when one day I felt a horrible pain in my chest making it even more difficult to breath. I saw many doctors about my symptoms and all I heard was take these pills or it is all in your head. The medications made my symptoms worse. Some medications they put me on were, muscle relaxers, asthma inhalers, and anxiety meds. I have tried needle therapy, cupping, body detoxing, pressure point therapy, and the dreaded Tens Machine. The Tens Machine sent electrical impulses through my chest area to try and relax my muscles I was told ( they use this machine on athletes that have muscle injuries ). Ever since I have used this machine on my chest the pain is unbearable. It feels like there is an elephant on my chest that won't get off, I can't sleep, my gastrointestinal tract causes me discomfort, and my heart is enlarged. My body shakes while I sit quietly like my heart is beating really hard against my chest wanting to get out. When my chest feels tight ( like someone has me in a tight bear hug ) I have to get up and walk around and then I can feel the tightness release some but never all the way. Exercise helps a little. If I sit too long my chest gets too tight and I feel like I am going to faint because I can't breath. Sometimes when my chest muscles release an uncontrollable belch or passing of gas happens. It is difficult for me to talk because my chest gets tight and it is hard to breath. A new symptom that has began in the past 5 years is that my eyes burn. I have no idea who to go to or how to find a way to live a normal life. Due to this illness I have missed out on a lot in my children's lives. Please help! I am in pain every day, all day and night.

[ivoryone]

Wow, I am soooo sorry you have suffered so and the doctors are amiss as to what to do with you. As for Stanford (they're over rated) have you tried other physicians or hospitals? It's interesting that when you talk about it your chest gets tighter. So, it's the nerves and probably like the docs said some asthma thing. I do not mean to belittle your pain or situation. One thing that bothers me is that there were 984 views on your story and no one wrote a thing. what is up with that? This is what made me want to respond to you. Keep looking for a good doctor, maybe one who specializes in asthma, or a neurologist or internal medicine. I wish you the best in your search and your life. I hope that you can find some relief I know what it's like to be the odd one out and not have a definitive diagnosis.

At 37 everything was fine until I had an injury when I twisted the wrong way one day and that was when my L4 kept going out of place. The muscles would pull it right back out shortly after seeing chiropractors. I saw everyone and had every test and every pain relieving treatment for the back pain. Finally, I had back surgery #1 - got nerve damage to my Right upper arm - couldn't use it for two years. I still have issues with it. the back surgery never worked either. Then I had back surg. #2 and that helped but then after a year the pedicale screw came out and then back surgery #3 in Dec. put me pack into pain nightmare. On top of that have peripheral neuropathy from rhabdomylysis. My life pretty much sucks big time. I have lost my job, my social life and almost all of my friends and have little in the way of support.

I am glad you have your family with you and this website. I wonder how you are doing now. Is your tummy back to normal? What about your chest tightness - I wonder about chemicals (like house hold or PcBs (which is a fire retardant) I hope I helped you. You are welcome to respond.