Might be easier around here to see who DOESN'T have back pain.
I have degenerative disc disease, fought with it in my mid (thoracic) spine, from the age of 20, moved up to my neck (cervical) by the time I was 28, then down to the lower (lumbar) spine 10 years later. I fought with it while driving a truck till I was 46 when they told me if I kept up I'd be paralyzed and disabled me.
Fought with the whole package, top to bottom the last 15 years (only 10 disabled). Regular pain management appointments every 30 days (trigger point and nerve blocks), ESI appointments sometimes twice a year (they'll only do an epidural every 9+ months), cervical surgery (my right hand had gone numb, especially the pinky and ring finger which would allow me to stick a needle in in and not feel it) then finally (after at least a dozen lumbar epidurals (have had 8~10 thoracic epidurals) I *FINALLY* got them to work on L5 in April, but they wouldn't touch the original problem(s). Those are S1 & S2 and are friggin INSANE!
Pain meds are a way of life, and you actually learn to "manage" them. I don't have an addictive personality, never have.... and have worked hard to manage the pain.
Some people can't do it, (taking the meds that is). My little brother (
11 years younger)
was (
past tense, as in he's no longer alive) one of them. He always, ALWAYS would abuse anything he could get his hands on. You drink a beer with dinner, he'd drink 6 just to say he could. You go 420 and he'd go till he passed out, or RAN out whichever came first. When my Mother started on the very same meds I've been taking the last 12 years with terminal cancer (her not me) he started taking hers. Doctor says take 3 diluadid a day, he'd grind them up and snort (or shoot) them. Use a fentanyl patch for 72 hours for chronic pain, he'd bust them open and eat (or shoot) them. The good Lord has a sense of humor though as he ended up with massive sepsis, all his organs got infected and shut down. It wasn't caused by ANYBODY but him. Sounds cold I know, but it is what it is. Some people don't want help, he was one of them.
I said all that to say this; Many out there tend to think that just because someone takes pain meds that they are some sort of evil person, or weak, or a "user", or even worse.... an "abuser". I'd say that if you know someone like that, talk to them, TALK TO THEM! Talk to the people that think everyone is a junkie, and talk to the people that ARE needing help and in over their head(s). For those that suffer with chronic pain, finding the right pain management doctor is crucial to living a decent, productive life. Look up a physiatrist in your area, not just a run of the mill pain doctor that's pumping out pills.
Mine saved my life!
Living with, and managing pain is about how
you learn to deal with it, not how
it deals with you. It does NOT have to define you. (
Yet you'll find others around you trying to define you every darned day if you let them.)
Mine is from RS Medical, (2 of them) and they run $995!
They are fantastic!
(
Now only to get them to request another one as soon as the insurance company will pay for it. 
Lost the newest one that fit the best at my last CT scan and haven't seen it since April.)
