Friday 14 September 2012

From appointment, to assesment, to treatment....6 weeks

15 years ago I suffered an injury at work, I now live with chronic pain in my neck, lower arm and fingers.

It doesn't prevent me from doing anything, it just hurts. I struggle with tin openers and writing and sitting for any length of time, esp driving, but I can manage it, it just hurts.

We moved to South Africa 19 months ago and almost overnight the pain stopped. I'm not working, I'm not doing 100s miles of driving weekly, I can't continue with my studies. The hot weather here also helped.

I was still experiencing pain if I did anything on a loop, but the pain stopped inbetween.

The last few months I've realised the pain is back. I know it sounds silly, but when you live with pain constantly it is possible not to notice it unless it gets worse. My threshold is probably higher than most.

More migraines, the feeling someone is putting pressure on the back of my neck, disturbed sleep and off I went to the Doctors a few months back. I was prescribed Gabapebtin. I refused to take it. In the past I'd suffered side effects. I was irritable, constipated, constantly searching for food and lost my sex drive. I started to exercise more and that helped.

The biggest trigger for my neck pain and migraines is stress. Couple with everyday tasks, writing, hoovering, cooking and baking (I have a guy who does my ironing) So back to the Doctors 5 weeks ago with a variety of issues (inc depression) and today I had my appointment with the pain clinic.

I went armed with a file of treatments and procedures. I accept my pain, I live with my pain, I just want a little help from time to time.

So I was booked in for day surgery, can't remeber what the procedure is called but it involves injection along my spine, from the base of my head to C8. I couldn't make the first appointment in 5 days time as hubby is away so it is rebooked for the following week on the 26th.

I'm so impressed, I know we are paying for it, via the med aid (waiting to find out if med aid will cover the cost) if not we'll have to dig deep. The only issue I had was completing the admissions forms as they wanted to know our car registration numbers...why? and a UK residential address and person to contact in an emergency.

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