I’m a 28 year old with osteoarthritis and I’m starting up this blog to discuss my condition and how I deal with chronic pain. Hopefully this will help me deal and get all my problems out and hopefully if there is anyone else out there fighting to figure out what’s wrong, or trying to deal with chronic pain, maybe I can help them a little and maybe they can help me some.
Right so, lets start from the start, I hear its a very good place to start....
In 2006 I moved to South Korea for a year TEFL teaching I’d just finished college and I didn’t really know what to be doing with myself. Pretty soon after I arrived my back pain that had been steadily getting worse over the last few years of college got much much worse. I put it down to a rubbish bed and sitting on the floor all the time, fortunately my Dad had taken out a good health insurance policy for me and I was covered to go to a Chiropractor, so I did that for the year I was there. He told me my posture was awful and that I needed to stand up straight, he would make the pain go away for a day or two sometimes and make it worse other times, but it never helped for very long.
I only stayed there for a year, and when I got back to Ireland, I hoped with a decent bed (I had been sleeping on 3 mattresses on top of each other) and sitting in chairs that it would get better, it didn’t. So I tried another Chiropractor, he made matters worse, he had a strange bed that the middle would fall out of and jolt your back and my entire lower back ended up swollen! He suggested ice packs and I would have them strapped to me in work; at the time I was working in a cinema so on my feet a lot, and sweeping and cleaning so relatively manual work. I didn’t go back to him and at this stage given how long this had been going on I decided to go to my GP, he found some tenderness and sent me for X-ray and blood test, both of which showed nothing, he suggested an acupuncturist, again put it down to stress and posture, telling me to sit/stand up straight, not listening when I told them that was physically painful and exhausting.
I had some success with acupuncture; well with the second person I tried, I also had cupping and massage and by back was disgusting looking for weeks, I was given all sorts of tiny pills and heat was recommended this time, so cold packs were replaced with hot packs. It did get a little better, but it was expensive, I finished the course recommended, and the effects lasted about 6 months by which time I had moved up to Dublin and I couldn’t afford to go back, especially if it wasn’t going to last.
The issue got worse again, I tried Physio, he hooked me up to some machines walked away and charged me €60 or so for the privilege. I had a physical therapist suggested to me, so I tried him, again with the stress and the posture and what was supposed to be a few visits turning into once a week or fortnight for about 6 months, until I pretty much ran out of money again and realised that I left him feeling good but by the time I got home I was in bits again, the exercises he gave me helped a little but not hugely. He did mention I had flat feet but only in passing. At the time I was working in an office with a well paying job, sound boss, nice people and they did everything they could to help, I got a decent chair and back rests, a head set for the phone, I was allowed to just get up and walk around. Even still over the 10 months or so I was there I spent hours in the bathroom crying my eyes out from the pain. I had Tiger balm, bio freeze ibuprofen etc, you named it I tried it but No luck. I decided I couldn’t do an office job, and I hate that my back decided that for me, don’t get me wrong I don’t particularly like office life, the lights, the air conditioning, etc but it sucks to not have the option.
In August 2009 I moved to North Wales with my boyfriend, I started a teacher training course, within a week I was in hospital after he tickled me (seriously) and I put my back out! Difene tablets for a week or so, I could hardly move. I got myself a new GP and I went to her about it, at this stage I had been trying to do something for about 4 years to no avail, she told me “what do you expect me to do that your last doctor couldn’t?” fantastic bloody attitude. I tried an osteopath, she was lovely she tried but then told me there was nothing she could do for me. I had a year of hot water bottles and baths, coming home from school and having to lie down for an hour because it hurt too much to do anything.
I went back to Ireland for a few weeks the next summer and put my back out again, could barely get out of bed, difene again. I tried a physio that specialises in feet and she gave me insoles for my shoes said that I was very flat footed and my pelvis rolled inwards, maybe this was the cause of the pain. I could only fit the insoles in 2 pairs of shoes both too casual for work, so they got worn sometimes but not for long, I tried shoe shopping and would just get frustrated. When I came back to Wales we moved to Cardiff, things were getting really bad at this stage, I couldn’t go to a film in the cinema without being in serious pain by halfway through, I was bailing on nights out, I went to friends houses with my hot water bottle in hand.
Finally I lucked out! My new GP (Dr Morgan) is amazing! NHS rules meant she had to send me for an X-Ray and blood tests again, they came back fine and I got put on an MRI waiting list. The MRI finally showed something up. I have osteophytes in my neck, from what I can gather this is tiny little spurs of extra bone and they are pressing on my nerves, hence the pain. I also have a disc bulging in my lower back, which causes some pain but more of a dull constant rather than the sharp pain from my neck. The NHS has been amazing, I’ve gotten physio, I go once every 2 weeks or so, I’ve gotten good painkillers, pick me up, shake and I rattle, I’ve gotten insoles made from the podiatrist and these ones actually fit in some shoes, and I’ve just had facet joint injections in my neck which will hopefully help. Although wow it hurt!
I’m still having to deal obviously, I have a hot water bottle at my back as I type and my computer is all set up in a way that allows me to sit here, and I just can’t hold any one position for very long. But I know I’m not crazy! When I found out in March what was wrong, I was relieved! To know that I wasn’t just moaning was such a relief, to be actually able to say this is the problem, now how do I deal with it. Of course I was bummed to find out there was no easy answer and that I’m stuck with it for life. There is lots of things I still don’t know, I’m on a million waiting lists for doctors and physios and I have lots of questions, but I’m not crazy and I’m sticking to that! That’s my silver lining!
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