Living with Chronic Pain: Feeling Misunderstood

I'm sorry y'all have to go through all this pain, I take pain meds asking with gabapentin..I also found a gel that works wonders for temporary relief of the pain, it really works and a lot of prayers. If crazy I thought I was the only one not being able to get out of my bed... there's so much I'd lie to do with my grandkids, but here I am not being able to and it really sucks.

I relate to all of this so much. I hate that y’all feel this too. I hope relief comes🙏🏻 I don’t want sympathy just understanding from those close to me. When my family/friends ask me how I feel and Now I’ve started saying I’ll let you know when I have a good day. I don’t know how to handle that because I feel like they don’t understand “chronic” and I want to be there but either I literally can’t or the toll it would take for me to push thru would be too great of a price or I did my damn best to set myself up to have a good day but it didn’t work-I’m not able to control my body like I used to be. My sister actually had a huge herniated disc in her low back- came on really fast and within a month and a half from pain onset she had surgery and fixed it. She was moving better than me and in less pain the day after surgery. I was so happy for her she didn’t have to struggle that long. After that she told me she was sorry for being irritated when I would say I’m not up for something. That felt validating. Until the rest of my family pushed me to get 3rd and 4th options to try to get surgery (my back isn’t operable- degenerative disc disease too much is effected to actually operate). I know they try to help but it just makes me feel like I’m not trying to heal hard enough when my condition is chronic and the point is to manage, and I am constantly doing my best and seeking out what could help me. I’m grateful for my family/friends and feel guilty when things upset me when their intentions are to help. Actually helping someone in chronic pain looks much different than they’re used to. I do see it as my responsibility to teach them what helps and hurts, because they have no idea what it’s really like to not be able to have it “fixed” and have it control your life in a soul sucking way. Otherwise I fear I’ll just be resentful and I don’t want that on top of all of this.

Hard to be happy in pain. I was quick to anger and irritable all the time before i found my pain dr. My family blamed my psych issues and ignored my pain till my dr said i legit wasnt making it up suddenly they are like hows your pain? When im no nonsense and like get to the point. I lay in bed most day so sitting up on the phone hurts my lower back (havent seen my pain dr since before pandemic oct 2019) im dealing with anxiety issues before ill be able to take metro and get up to see my dr. I get lidocaine injections(8) in my back ever 2½ month before pandemic.

I feel like this ALL THE TIME!! 🤗