Question:
I would like to hear from anyone who has suffered from any type of chronic pain
associated with a depressed state. I have had eye pain for the last 9 months
and have been tested by various specialists, who have found no physical basis
for the discomfort. I have always had problems with anxiety and my therapist
is thinking now that the pain may be part of a manifestation of a depressed
state. I have had a very rough year or more and would like to know of anyone
else who has had a similar experience. Going from specialist to specialist and
having them test you to death and basically find nothing has only added to my
stress. Each time the pain starts up, I become more upset and the cycle seems
to perpetuate. If yohave had this type of problem, how was it dealt with. I
kept believing that the discomfort was causing me to be depressed, but I am now
thinking that the depression may actually be the root of the discomfort.
Answer:
Over a year ago I had a surgery called ulnar nerve submuscular
transposition. This helped the intense pain. (it felt like my funny bone
had been it hard 24 hours a day for over five months). The surgery
stopped that pain but a different kind of pain continues to this day.
There is permenant damage. My doctor ( not the one who treated my arm)
believes that this injury caused the depression to get the point of my
not being able to handle omy own. The doctors have been baffled as to
why my arm continues to have pain and not work for certain things. It
just came out this Feb. that the surgeon cut every tendon around the
elbow to move the nerve. This is why my arm is not working correctly and
the pain. It can take another one to five years to heal. The meds for
pain were increasing the depression also. I am not on pain meds anymore
and just do things as I am able. Try not to bring others down with me.
And use exercises, herbs and vitamens to help the pain. And of course
adjust one's lifestyle. 4 years ago I had a back injury (middle back strain/tear). I went to physical
therapy for a while and it helped, the insurance quit paying so I started taking
Soma (muscle relaxant) and xanax for 3 years. Then I moved and had trouble
finding a good doc and I decided to try getting off the meds. That was a
mistake. My back pain got much worse. I found a decent doc who said "let's
rule out any physical cause first." They found a couple minor things wrong,
but nothing that hsould have been causing the pain I had. Finally I asked the
doc to refer to to a "pain management clinic". They gave me steroid shots
in my back which helped a lot and they refer to therapy as a matter of course,
because dealing with chronic pain, whether real or psychosomatic, requires
you to deal with it in your head as well as with meds. At the therapy they
ran some tests and discovered I was an extremely anxious, nervous person and
they put me on some meds which are helping and my back pain is about 10% of what
it used to be.
I know how frustrating it is for every test to be negative. I had a colonoscopy
and was very disappointed that nothing serious was found!
Anyway, see if you get get a referral to a pdoc or pain clinic.
