Most of you know that I am struggling with a painful neck injury, and all of the legal hassles that go with it.
 I about freaked out on Friday.  I momentarily forgot that I had a medical test scheduled, and ate my normal Pop Tart breakfast.  That stopped the med. tests for the day.  Betweem the pain, stress, and frustration, I about lost it to the point of seriously considering putting a permanent end to it.  The constant pain is literally driving me crazy.  I am building a tolerance to narcotics, so they are no longer effective.  Now I'm on Fentanyl, Elavil, and Paxil, as well as the anti inflammatory drugs.  Even the pain clinic seems to be of little help.
 I have a lot to live for, but this constant pain sawing on my nerves has to stop.  I need help guys.  I plan on seeing the sun come up tomorrow, so the ultimate end is on hold, at least for the time being.  Even getting an appointment with a surgeon is a major pain in the ass.

dude, that sucks. hope all turns out well. my mother has arthuritis (sp?) and she is in condstant pain, so i kinda know whare you are comeing from. hang in there man, look at it this way, it cant get too much worse, so it can only get better.

keep the faith.

Don't do that.  

Constant, debilitating pain can really be an asskicker.  

You're going to make it, man.

QS

My everyday aches and pains are minor compared to yours.  But, when I get to the point that you are, I start thinking about all of the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen who have been wasting away in VA Hospitals since the days of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. As painful and grating as it may be, it is nothing compared to what others have and will continue to endure until their time comes.  You are able to move about and tend to your own affairs.  Move on out and find an alternative treatment and something to occupy yourself so that you don't dwell on the pain.  Don't even think about checking out.  

I injured my neck once in a motocross wreck and I couldn't get out of bed for a couple of weeks, but it got better after that. I can't imagine it going on for longer than what it did though, as in your case.

Don't give in though, it'll all turn out ok in the end. If you need someone to talk to then shoot me an email or IM and I'll call you on my dime. Always good to talk to a fellow shooter anyways.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you injury occur?

 Two head-on auto accidents in 3 years. Neither of which were my fault.

I would immediately seek out a new pain specialist.  My wife and I are fortunate to live near Boston and several major hospitals and clinics.  What they are able to do these days is amazing.  Few things can be a source of such chronic pain as the back and neck.  Persue a new pain clinic.  If you are married or have someone close to you let them get involved.  Sometimes people will work on someones behalf harder and more forcefully than they will on their own.  In fact there are groups that act as intercessors for patients.  Best to you  bybon  

Em...
You have a fantastic wife & son, don't leave them to struggle on thier own...
Mary & Gabe will be lost without your leadership...

Find a new Doctor, get off the drugs...
Drugs have a way of clouding good judgement...

Get the needed surgery...

End of problem...

Friend of mine, Joe B. had a severe work related neck injury...
He suffered for several months until his surgery...
He finally had the surgery, and is  so much happier now that the pain is gone...

Crazy thinking is a permanent solution to a temporary problem...

For what it's worth...

Last summer I had a knee injury...
I called the hospital ER, and asked what I could do to get it squared away...
They said they would have to see me to prescribe medicine & figure out what's wrong...  

While on the phone, the nurse STRONGLY suggested I come in, even if they couldn't do anything...
She said the orthopedic surgeon could do surgery very soon if I came as a referral from the ER...
Otherwise, I'd have to wait 6+ months before I'd even get looked at by the knee doc...

My knee injury occurred on a Monday eve, Went to ER that night, called Orthopedic Surgeon on Tuesday AM...
Surgeon scheduled an MRI for  Thursday, Actual surgery was the next Wednesday...

If I hadn't gone to the ER, I might still be standing on one leg, waiting for surgery...


Moral of my story is:

Go to the nearest Hospital, check in at the Emergency dept...

Tell them of your neck history, and tell them how the pain now is unbearable...

They should be able to get you the much needed surgery ASAP !!!  

Oh yeah, did I mention...
GET OFF THE DRUGS !!!

Call me !!!

You have my # !!!


(This is a serious topic, so I won't ask you for your guns) [:D]


PS...
Don't forget, we have the "polar bear shoot" coming up...

Dude, I know EXACTLY what you're going through.
1999, September. The Sciatic pain had gotten so bad, Percocets, Darvocets, the hot tub as hot as possible, and gallons of bourbon, scotch or vodka and I still could not stop the intense burning pain.....on 9/29/99 I got fired, my mother had a stroke and I had just scheduled surgery 4 weeks away.....

My family is the only reason I'm still alive.

My bride rescheduled the surgery 10/7 by begging and pleading with the surgeon, my mother was able to speak enough to cry with me over losing my job and to tell me she would be okay (she is, though she has short term memory issues), and my son needed me so badly to make it through the next year. He moved in with me in March of 2000, when I was out of work, and still struggling to recover from the surgery, my bride knew he needed a change and in he moved.

Dragracer was right man with all he said

I will say this "This to will pass"

We'll pray for you man!

I've got a herniated disk in my lower back that at times can cause pain so intense it will take your breath away.  So I know, at least in a limited way, how you feel.

Don't do it.  Please don't.   Your family needs you.

Listen to what Dragracer_Art said and then follow through with his advise and go to the emergency room and be insist that you get help right now.  Go now!  Don't worry about the insurance or how much it will cost, we can work that out later.



Have you left for the ER yet?

What Paul said.

If you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you.

Btt^^^

This needs to stay on the front page...

don't.. do anything like that!  i know how it is , i can pick up a washing machine move it by myself one day and bend over to pick up a paper-clip the next-time and throw my back out. the syatic nerve hurts so bad i can't hardly walk up right,can't even use the clutch on my pick-up.   walk around with a grimmace on my face hurts to even laugh... but it allways gets better if you just cowboy-up..  even if there is another life after this one, who's to say you will get to claim it if you waste this one..   my hearts out to you...  hope you get to feeling  better...

I am not in pain as I type this but I have been, so I understand a little of what you mean... not a lot just a little.  Think of the small  wonderfull things in life that are important. When I realy hurt I think of all I have not done with my son. Things his mom can't teach him. Things only I can...pat

Have you tried some alternative therapies such as Acupuncture?  Some folks I know swear by it.  You don't have anything to lose by trying...find a good Acupuncturist if you can.  There is a lot to Eastern Medicine that Western Medicine could learn from.  It's an option that you may not have considered.

I hope you get better soon.

Pasp,

I know how you are feeling, I was there many times.

22Nov99 I was working as a mechanic at a local shop. A car came in that needed a test drive. While on the test drive the car stalled on a rather large busy road. A police officer pulls up a few minutes later, offering to block traffic so we can push the disabled car out of the road.

The cop blocks traffic, and traffic had come to a stop. The owner and myself started pushing the car to the shoulder across four lanes. As we reach the 4th lane almost to the shoulder. A pizza driver comes speeding, veers around the stopped traffic and the police officer. ALMOST hitting him. We see him at the last moment possible. The pizza driver t-bones the passenger side of the car, while I was on the drivers side, sending me [b]flying[/b].

Now the start of almost a two year stress and depression streak. Scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst, I was a 50!

Fast forwad... I had no broken bones that showed up on the x-rays at the ER. I was diagnosed with a bruised back, bruised hip, and a sprained ankle by the jackboot Er doc.

Since this happened at work, it was a workers comp claim.

I was sent to a "paid" comp doctor who did nothing but pump me full of Vicadin/Oxycontin/Percoset/Every drug you can think of and none of it worked.

I had serious ankle pain, serious back pain, and numbness-tingling in my legs and feet. If I sat on a hard surface for more then 15 minutes everything would go numb with more back pain.

After a month of this I had an MRI, the radiologist said it was just a "bulging" disc. My "payed" comp doc never looked at the MRI results herself, she just took the guys word for it.

Fast forward 6 months of pain, crap, missed comp payments, yada yada.

I am drained in everyway possible. Mentally, finacially, health. Was ready for it all to end. I begged and pleaded for Comp to send me to a doc that wasn't on their payroll and they finally let me pick my own after threatning legal action.

I make an appointment with another doctor, he tells me to bring my MRI films with me. When I check them out of the hospital. I notice that were never checked out before. Thats how I learned my doc never looked at them. Finally comes the day with the new doc. He takes one look at them and says I have a [b]shattered[/b] L4-L5 disc and needed surgery right away. The surgery was supposed to be the "fix-it-all".
I had a discomectomy of my L4-L5 disc. Thats the 2nd disc up from your tailbone.

The surgery flopped it. It helped with the leg stuff, and only slightly with the back pain.

Fast forward another 8 months of Spine care therapy and work hardening. The little "payed" therapist company said I was 100% and ready for fulltime, no restriction work. I tried working for 4 days and had to stop. Because I stopped without docs approval, workers comp terminated my comp paychecks.
Comp thought I was faking my pain after everything I had went through.

Next page.
After requesting another examination by another company. Comp agreed and sent me to a high-tech national company. They put me through 3 day testing. They gave me a "Waddel" test. I passed with a score of 0(best you can do). Instead of using weights to see my ability. They used weight sets that were computer operated, and I was attached to a heart monitor to examine. I was told to stop while doing the different weights at the point where it started to hurt. After 3 days of testing. All the test showed I was in the same zone +5/-5 pounds. All of this was computer recorded which I could not see until the final day when they gave their recomendations to my ability.

Their recomendations were lifting/bending/reaching/climbing. Every thing they could restrict they did. And the doctor agreed to it all and wrote me up a disability paper.

While in the background of all this. Was a large lawsuit against the Pizza company and driver. I won my lawsuit in June00. After that workers comp settled with me. Together I got a large amount for me to start a new life with.

I still have back pain everyday. Some times worse then others. I deal with it though and won't let it tear me down anymore. I do stuff I should not do, and I pay for it for days or weeks after, but I am living my life to the fullest I can now.

If you want somebody to talk to pasp. feel free to email me or call me anytime. Just email me for my number.

Regards

-Kc

Ps. wow that was a lot of typing.

First, get off of the drugs.

Clouds your mind, judgement, ....

DO NOT drink alcohol with the drugs you mentioned. Makes things much worse.

Been there.

Get a new doctor and a new start. You have WAY too much to live for.

Hey, we need guys like you here in PA.

One day at a time, paspecops.
Hang with us bro...

 It is truly humbling to realize that so many ppl care.  I don't know what to say except 'thanks' to all of you.
 i have been bogged down with this for 3 years, and sometimes it gets to me.  I have begun the search for a new doc. Ops