Chronic Pain
I am close to one year into my unknown chronic pain condition. It started in my wrists, and spread to all of the joints in my body - at it's worst, I can even feel it in the joints of my skull. It never really goes away. I went through a lot of tests last year...x-rays of the joints and multiple blood tests...and the only thing the doctors can tell me 100% is that it's not lupus (it's never lupus LOL). There is no swelling to my joints and no physical restriction to movement; the pain does not lessen or get worse when I move.
The primary thing that helps and allows for me to remain productive and working, is medicinal usage of cannabis. After going through all the testing, my doc wrote me a medical recommendation. I have a pocket vaporizer that looks like an e-cig that contains CO2 purified hash oil. The vap allows me to "sip" and control the amount I consume, which allows me to control the pain and NOT get high. Smoking does not always help - at times the pain is so severe that smoking only takes the edge off. The pain is most often the worst where it started - the wrists and fingers, and when it's REALLY bad I have found that wearing sweatbands on my wrists and tight leather gloves will lessen the pain. I don't know if it's the additional heat or the pressure that helps, only that it has helped me to sleep several times when the pain level has been quite severe.
In addition to the physical pain, there is the mental aspect of this. Dealing with constant pain of varying degrees wears one down mentally. Thankfully I have family, friends and desire to beat this to keep me going. Is it easy? No. Will I give up? Never.
Right now I am a contract worker with a fairly crappy health plan, so going in for another round of tests is not an option. I will hopefully be converting to FTE in a couple of months, and the health plan here is pretty sweet so I will most likely get things started after I get on the new insurance.
The primary thing that helps and allows for me to remain productive and working, is medicinal usage of cannabis. After going through all the testing, my doc wrote me a medical recommendation. I have a pocket vaporizer that looks like an e-cig that contains CO2 purified hash oil. The vap allows me to "sip" and control the amount I consume, which allows me to control the pain and NOT get high. Smoking does not always help - at times the pain is so severe that smoking only takes the edge off. The pain is most often the worst where it started - the wrists and fingers, and when it's REALLY bad I have found that wearing sweatbands on my wrists and tight leather gloves will lessen the pain. I don't know if it's the additional heat or the pressure that helps, only that it has helped me to sleep several times when the pain level has been quite severe.
In addition to the physical pain, there is the mental aspect of this. Dealing with constant pain of varying degrees wears one down mentally. Thankfully I have family, friends and desire to beat this to keep me going. Is it easy? No. Will I give up? Never.
Right now I am a contract worker with a fairly crappy health plan, so going in for another round of tests is not an option. I will hopefully be converting to FTE in a couple of months, and the health plan here is pretty sweet so I will most likely get things started after I get on the new insurance.