r/ChronicPain 14d ago

Medications If you are mad about 7-OH being potentially becoming a scheduled substance, you need to make a comment on the regulation being proposed. As of right now, there's only 35 comments. A petition will do nothing. Do make a comment at this link to make a difference!

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39 Upvotes

ALL POSTS LINKING TO 7-OH PETITIONS ARE BEING REMOVED BECAUSE THEY ARE USELESS. YOU NEED TO LEAVE A COMMENT ON THE REGULATION!!!!!!!


r/ChronicPain 23d ago

My Pain Chart Megathread! Post your My Pain Charts in here please

7 Upvotes

Share & compare!

Template credit: Drawing by AxchuArt!

Thanks u/Pretty-Craft9794 and u/Nayro13!


r/ChronicPain 1h ago

Imagine there is no war on opioids…

Upvotes

You’re a chronic pain patient. Your PCP/family doctor is okay with giving you as high a dose you need, to get rid of your pain. The pharmacy is cool with it too. There is no picky contract, testing, or pill counts. They trust you to be a responsible adult. You wake up, take a dose of WHATEVER works for you, and you now have zero pain. ZERO. You also have enough doses as you need for a day, plus some extra for flare days.

How different would your life be? Hopefully, if we keep toughing it out, we may get to live to see a world like this.


r/ChronicPain 2h ago

Anyone else's life divided into the before and the after?

36 Upvotes

I find it hard not to think back and feel bitter about what I've lost. Coming to terms with the fact that this is permanent and I can't get my old like back. Feeling guilty about feeling resentful and jealous of people who have mobility and no pain. Feeling frustrated that medical professionals are drawing blanks and have given up trying to help. Any tips on how to deal with this? Or just solidarity. Thanks folks


r/ChronicPain 9h ago

I don't know which, it doesn't come with subtitles

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86 Upvotes

r/ChronicPain 18h ago

Where have I been?

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422 Upvotes

I posted here regularly and recently I get on and view post to feel the community unity. It's been a dark summer, I haven't quit my workouts, or medications but I been in a kind of autopilot? I live but don't necessarily enjoy living I've just been living. There were times when I asked myself "is fighting the pain daily worth it?". Not trying to get dark but being real. I plug one hole and another pops up, "friends" continue to back away until they disappear and pain is the only constant. I just hold on to the thought "maybe if I tough it out I can help someone?" "Maybe someone will smile because of me?". My property taxes were a thing that picked up in the background behind more pressing issues. Before covid I played enough local music to handle the property taxes and a relatively comfortable life but when music came back, there were younger, cheaper and more able bodied bassist willing to work for a few bucks and a burger. But I decided that as long as I'm here I'm gonna keep living and fighting pain, immobility and depression.

I haven't posted because while I never quit, I damn sure wanted to and felt like an imposter.

Thank you guys for always being there to remind me I'm normal ❤️🖤💚


r/ChronicPain 16h ago

Absolute shocking Nightmare. I deserve better.:(

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158 Upvotes

One of my biggest nightmares happened. I am in total shock, confusion, hurt, fear, and devastation. I thought I had a great doctor-patient relationship and I don’t use illegal drugs. They won’t even give me a month of meds so I can look for another dr and I will withdraw hard. The hospital denies me pain medicine when I’m in severe pain and can only give 3 days of medicine. There is no doctor within 40 min who gives medicine or can take me. Will I ever get medicine again since they may ask for records? When I was without pain medicine for a month I was about to háng myself with a rope because the pain was torture. I can’t do this again. What should I do…


r/ChronicPain 23h ago

OldAssNerdWyoming NEEDS OUR HELP

419 Upvotes

Folks, I never ever allow fundraisers here. If I did, we'd be inundated with nothing but fundraisers. This ONE TIME I AM MAKING AN EXCEPTION. u/oldassnerdwyoming has been such a beacon of hope and positivity in our community for ages. He holds the record for most karma accumulated in our community. He never ever asks for anything, but provides us with so much hope and motivation. He even messaged me in modmail NOT ASKING FOR DONATIONS but to tell me he was gonna go away. Fuck that, we're helping him out.

Here is his gofundme, and EVERY DOLLAR HELPS HIM OUT. I'm poor as fuck and already donated, because I have food and a secure roof over my head and soon he won't.

https://gofund.me/6925c50bd

This is a COMMUNITY and we try to help folks when we can how we can. Please, if you can... try to help. If you know any resources in Wyoming that would be able to help him out with the back taxes on his home, that would be a great way to contribute. I hope this helps you out buddy, because we love seeing your smiling face over the years and wanna continue seeing it.


r/ChronicPain 8h ago

Is anyone else afraid to move to a new city because you’re afraid you won’t find a good doctor?

23 Upvotes

r/ChronicPain 4h ago

What’s the difference between these two?

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11 Upvotes

I was prescribed both of these. Seems the white pill must have more binders or fillers. I don’t get it…why add extra BS when it’s only supposed to be a 10 mg oxycodone with nothing else in it. And the narrative has tried to be pushed on us that all generics are no different in quality and potency. Should I be requesting one over the other next month?


r/ChronicPain 5h ago

Inspired

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10 Upvotes

Since I love seeing the smiles through the pain, I thought I’d share one as well. Today sucks but I’m making it. Here’s one with a smile and one that’s actually where I’m at with it today. I guess we sometimes can force a smile for others even when we’re having high pain days. The thing is i know I’m not aware that I have RBF when I’m tired and/or in pain. It takes effort on my part to look happy even if mentally I think I’m content. Thanks for the inspiration to make the effort to try and look nice for others!


r/ChronicPain 15h ago

Joint pain, flushed skin, stomach pain

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54 Upvotes

I am a 20 y/o female. 5’4 and 195 lbs. Diagnosed with POTS at 11 years old. My skin often flushes like this, which I just recently learned is considered a malar rash. My joints also get red and hot sometimes, which feels different from blood pooling with POTS. I will include more images in the comments of my knees flushing vs pooling. My POTS has improved over the years but I have had other issues come up. About two years ago, I started having awful stomach pain that starts randomly. The stomach pain started shortly after starting and stopping oral contraceptive. I feel hungry way more often than I should, and I get shaky, have stomach pain, and feel dizzy during these episodes. However, I am not pre-diabetic, not diabetic, and don’t have low blood sugar when it happens. On top of all this, I get low-grade fevers often and get sick more often than my peers. The low grade fevers tend to come with stress and happen at least once a month. A month ago, I had strep throat and BV, and was promptly treated with antibiotics. I was on doxycycline, amoxicillin, and flagyl all at the same time. The body aches that I had with strep turned into chronic joint and muscle pain only three days into the treatment. This pain has not gone away and I am struggling to care for myself and work. The pain switches from place to place throughout my day. For example, it may be my shoulder and elbow for a few hours, then switch to my knee, thigh, and fingers. This pain is not normal for me at all and started so suddenly. All my labs are normal, I’m negative for rheumatoid arthritis, and Lupus is a low possibility because my ANA is normal. I asked about post-strep reactive arthritis and rheumatic fever, and was told that this only occurs if the strep is left untreated. I just feel completely overwhelmed and I’m looking for guidance anywhere I can get it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


r/ChronicPain 4h ago

Pain

6 Upvotes

The amount of pain I go through.. back pain.. legs.. even my ribs at times. No help from doctors because they all think you’re drug seeking and now addicted to kratom for the past 2 years… not sure what I’m going to do once the ban is complete 😭 it’s the only thing that’s helped me.. until withdrawal sets in and I’m in more pain than I can say. What can help me deal with it? Anyone? 😭 feeling so hopeless


r/ChronicPain 4h ago

I shoulda known! Update from my post the other day...

6 Upvotes

It was an error. Who in their right mind would have thought that an insurance company would make an error? /s

Doctor sent script today. Went on insurance hold. Spent an hour calling the pharmacy and CVS Caremark. For some reason, the pharmacy submitted my regular quantity for 17 days instead of 30. They approved my full 30 day quantity in the email to me for 17 freakin' days! Submit it for 30? Nope. Ask them to fill it for 17 days full amount? Nope.

Instead, they will send me a revised letter with a denial. She was very nice and said I could appeal it. I told her my doctor won't appeal because he doesn't want to be seen as not helping in reducing the opioid epidemic.

Here's what I did not know. She said I could appeal it myself, and provide an explanation for the "medical necessity". Why would my doctor prescribe it if it wasn't medically necessary? Ugh. Well, I'll try it, and I'll let y'all know if I have any success.

Again, I hope that this is received as I intend it, as helpful information for the community. I know I am lucky to have a PM doc. who believes in opioid therapy and understands what we go through. I was referred to him after a failed discectomy and he has done all my injections, RFAs, and my spinal cord stimulator (removed last year for various reasons, but that's another post) since (since 2013 when it started).

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChronicPain/s/bC8xKC2n6G


r/ChronicPain 36m ago

Anyone here who also only relies on weed and no script meds or Tylenol or ibuprofen

Upvotes

I have a really severe case of Classical-like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome type 1, and deal with excruciating bone, muscle, and neuropathy on my skin and often other places

I also have a family history of addiction, a kinda moderate phobia of vomiting, inability to burp and vomit and a gj tube id rather not dislodge while puking

I just wanted to see if anyone has some indica dominant strain recommendation, I can sometime handle 50/50

Forgot to mention sativa makes me genuinely so anxious and paranoid, and I am an experienced stoner ive been smoking for 5 or 6 years now so high potency strains I can handle

I also have some recommendations of my own


r/ChronicPain 28m ago

Chronic pain and customer service (nerve pain)

Upvotes

Does anyone else deal with nerve pain from cervical nerve roots and have to work in customer service?

I am crying ugly right now because it’s so hard to function. My spine fusion I think failed. I see PM&R next week and I know that crying and stress makes pain worse, I just am taking a moment to mourn the person I used to be.

My pain really flared after a 4 hour round-trip car ride on Sunday :( I just need a space to cry, kick, scream, and vent I guess since doing all of those things in real life make nerve pain worse.

I literally had everyone I spoke with questioned me on my competency today. Every person ask me to do my job three times, like call the same person again and again as if the specific surgeon will suddenly pick up the line and schedule to see them as a new patient when they are calling the most general hospital scheduling line and I’ve already told them I’m sending the Doctor a high priority message.

I am loosing my mind talking to people, even asking me to do tasks for them unrelated to the company I work for. Patients asking me how to fill out forms for out of state clinics, or off-the-wall documents 1000% unrelated to my job.

What gives and how do I get people off the phone who keep pressing me for more and more and more info? My nerve pain is screaming at me from the inside out. I can hardly hold the weight of my arm and head anymore and I want to collapse on the floor.

How do I deal with even socializing while in severe pain? Sorry for rambling on to reddit


r/ChronicPain 4h ago

#save7oh rally happening now!

4 Upvotes

r/ChronicPain 1h ago

Save 7oh

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Upvotes

r/ChronicPain 7h ago

genuine question: what are you supposed to do if doctors won't believe you?

5 Upvotes

mostly undiagnosed/untreated chronic pain of 7(?) years, I've seen 5 doctors in the past six-ish years, and 4/5 straight up disregarded any concerns I had. The fifth was the best ("working" diagnosis of hypermobilty spectrum disorder) but she still wouldn't entertain the idea of running any tests/referring me to a rheumatologist or geneticist. She has also since stopped practicing.

My symptoms are continuing to get worse, and I genuinely don't know what to do if the next primary care doctor I see doesn't believe me. I feel like I've exhausted every over-the-counter treatment option (KT tape, compression garments/sleeves, various braces from the pharmacy, a Body Braid, BioFreeze, icing/heated compresses), Advil/Tylenol don't make any dent in the pain, and I cannot access any other forms of treatment without a prescription or referral from a medical professional.

Do I just have to wait until I physically can't function for a doctor to take me seriously?? Urgent Care/ER?? Apply to see if the Mayo Clinic will take me as a patient??


r/ChronicPain 2h ago

Age perception

2 Upvotes

For the younger members of this community — mid 20s to 40s — did you find it difficult to get taken seriously when your symptoms didn't fit the expected profile? Clean bloodwork, no diabetes, no autoimmune issues, but real and debilitating nerve pain from prolonged desk work. I spent a long time feeling like I was imagining it because the tests kept coming back normal. Anyone else experience this?


r/ChronicPain 5h ago

medication allergies list in doctor portal?

3 Upvotes

this may be a very obvious question but: i don’t have any actual medication allergies so i haven’t put any in my doctors portal. but there are some medications i can’t take because of the risk of severe interactions with meds im currently taking. i’ve already had instances where ER doctors in the same hospital system will give me medications that have serious risks with my current meds (luckily didn’t have any complications though).

should i put those meds in my allergies list? i wasn’t sure because they’re not technically allergies.


r/ChronicPain 8h ago

What do you wish existed for patients with chronic illnesses (or their caregivers)?

4 Upvotes

Hi everyone!
I’m a pediatric oncology resident, and one thing I’ve noticed is that many patients and families leave appointments with far more questions than answers - not because their doctors don’t care, but because it’s incredibly difficult to process so much information while you’re scared or overwhelmed.
That got me thinking about an idea, and I’d love to hear your thoughts before I spend time building anything.
I’m imagining a platform for people living with chronic illnesses (and their caregivers) that could combine:
reliable, easy-to-understand information;
guidance on what to expect throughout the journey;
practical advice from people with similar experiences;
a supportive community. Due to the specifics of my work, I work with children and would like to hear the thoughts of older patients
One idea I’m especially curious about is making medical information easier to understand through storytelling, visual explanations, or analogies inspired by things people already enjoy (fantasy, sci-fi, games, comics, etc.). Not to make light of serious illnesses, but to make complex concepts feel less overwhelming.
This wouldn’t replace doctors or provide medical advice - it would simply help people better understand what’s happening and feel a little less alone.
Rather than asking “Would you use this?”, I’d love to know:
What was the hardest thing to understand after you (or your child) were diagnosed?
What do you wish someone had explained better?
Is there a resource you wish existed but haven’t found?
What would make a platform like this genuinely useful - or make you avoid it?
I’m not promoting anything - I don’t have a product. I’m simply trying to understand whether this is a real problem worth solving.
Thank you so much for reading, and I’d really appreciate any honest feedback.


r/ChronicPain 8h ago

Doctor hell

4 Upvotes

I'm 16 and have had chronic pain since like 15 or 14 genuinely forgot atp but I'm just tierd, my chronic pain is mild I can mostly function and on high pain days crutches help me get out the house but I recently saw a doctor to up or change my medication (I'm on codien) and he said the next step is likely morphine (or something like it) and I'm just pissed off. No hate to my doctor but my codeine dosnt work in the slightest a hot water bottle dose more than that dose and iv just been told to take codien 4 a day, ibuprofen 8 a day and as much rub on pain gel as I need (plus phiso and hot water bottles as needed) but it just feel like a joke I have absolutely no hope this will help but the next step feel so extreme. I don't want to be 16 years old either addicted to my meds or a zombie because of them but I'm tierd of being tired and in pain any advice would be grate. They also said I could be put on anti depressants but because my pain dosnt sound like nerve pain it's unlikely they'd work

Also my pain is undiagnosed, they don't know the cause and just wrote it as joint as muscle pain caused by joint hyper extension but i might try to be tested for hyper mobile elsdanlos but I don't know if they'll test me due to it being realy expensive to do


r/ChronicPain 21h ago

Update on Nerve Pain (Yesterdays Post)

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32 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I wanted to thank you all for providing me with your feedback and advice. Perhaps this happened all for you, but this experience is quite unnerving (no pun intended.) I’ve never experienced something so persistent as this nerve pain.

Attached is a photo which imo clearly shows the right foot is far more red. In person it is also a lot warmer and has more swelling.

I’m going to press for a neurologist appointment as I fear it may be CRPS which many of you suggested.

I also tried the patches last night and while they did sting when I had them on, after I took them off there were notable improvements.

Still struggling through the night, however significantly less last night.

Not meaning to ‘flood’ the subreddit - wanted to post my appreciation to all of you who have such valuable feedback.

Kind regards,
Ollie


r/ChronicPain 1h ago

Lumbar nerve, help needed

Upvotes

Hello. I’m writing on here to ask for advice. Around 7 weeks ago I went to an NHS muscularsketal doctor about my problem.

Since then, my lower back pain has gone. I have a small mark on my lower back where it feels like a nerve is compressed. I’ve had times where the mark hurts, and times where it doesn’t hurt. My right leg has been in and out of tingling/ numbness for weeks now. Mainly in my lower leg and foot

Take a look at my doctors notes:

Lumbar flexion approximately 90% with lower back discomfort; -
Full range lumbar extension with tightness; -
Full lateral flexion left and right; -
Sensation intact to light touch throughout L+R lower limb; -
Big toe dorsiflexion strong bilaterally; -
Ankle dorsiflexion and plantarflexion strong bilaterally; - Knee extension against resistance normal; -
Lower limb eflexes present and normal; ;
Assessment:; - Likely lumbar nerve compression, probable disc bulge causing nerve root impingement;

I’ve tried as many stretches & movements as possible, kept walking a fair bit, haven’t worked out at all (that’s how I did it), been to an osteopath, everything!

I just seem to be taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back every week. I need this to go, I can’t get rid of it and it’s making me go insane

I can still function normally, but I can’t return to vigorous training or feel like I’m moving forward because the small nerve like burn in my back alongside the tingles in my leg persists

If anyone can help, it’d be massively appreciated. Thanks