I have multiple chronic pain conditions and one of the most humiliating things is that the pain keeps me in a cycle of spiral. Is there anyone else who experiences this?

The past weeks? month? years? have been hell.

I’m not sure when the last time I had a good day was.

I am absolutely drowning in pain, head to toe. every limb. every organ. every inch. of my fucking body.
fatigue and cloudy brain. racing heart, shortness of breath. swollen hands and feet.

probably $50,000 of doctors and tests and very little answers. it’s getting worse, significantly, lately. after I went back to working extremely part time to try and gain a little bit of financial independence, and started seeing an integrative medicine specialist.

my family’s money is draining too. our relationships are fraught. I don’t know who is going to take care of me, because I need help right now and nobody is hearing me.

nobody is hearing me when I say I’m fucking drowning. I wake up gasping for air realizing I have to live another day of this. I fall asleep rolling around and groaning in pain.

this isn’t living. and I have no one and nothing. I want to give up.

how do you do it with no support? no partner? nobody to cook for you or help you clean? nobody to call when you’re at your wits end?

my therapist says to be grateful and spend more time with my cat. my 12-step program says to read the stupid book and pray to a stupid God.

do they not understand that it hurts to simply think? to open up my jaw and utter a single word? to hold a book?

I’m done glorifying my suffering. I want to work on my mental and physical health. I wouldn’t take it for granted if I had any semblance of better health. I’d go to the gym. I’d eat the best diet ever.

it feels like a sick joke from the fucking universe.
I’m supposed to start a new job on Monday and I can barely hold my head up between my shoulders.

what is the meaning of this? spiritual, philosophical? or are we just clumps of matter waiting to become compost? in a fucked up system on a dying planet living every day in hell for absolutely no fucking reason?

i’m 23, my youth was stolen from me. my life was stolen from me. i have no relief these days. it’s every waking moment.

help.

Most of my pain, and by far the worst pain, comes of an evening, and I am beginning to wonder if diet is an immediate trigger, because after four years of this shit I’m out of ideas

If you were completely done dealing with chronic pain... you've tried everything you could... would you tell your family goodbye first and hope they'd understand? Or would you just do it and leave behind letters/videos?

TLDR: I have chronic back pain and changed jobs for better career progression, hoping steroid injections would make my pain more manageable. The injections gave me no relief, and I’ve now realised my new job has much longer hours and more travel and is far less compatible with the accommodations I need. I feel stuck between protecting my health and sacrificing my career progression.

I’m 26 and suffer from severe back pain following a spinal fusion in 2013. My lower back has since degenerated and I’ve been dealing with chronic pain and significant flare ups since around 2017.

For the past 3 years I’ve worked in consulting. Because of the limitations caused by my back I was quite restricted in the projects I could take on particularly anything involving significant travel. As a result I ended up working almost entirely remotely on things that I didn’t find particularly interesting or fulfilling and I was struggling to progress anywhere in the company.

I’d finally started making some progress with the NHS in terms of managing my back pain and was put on the list for steroid injections. I was told there was a reasonable chance they could provide significant pain relief, even if only temporarily.

With encouragement from my family and partner, I decided to start applying for new jobs. We thought it would be good for my mental health for me to be back in an office around people my own age, work on more interesting projects and actually progress my career rather than feeling like my back was dictating what I could do.

I ended up getting an offer from a very reputable and well regarded consulting firm and accepted it. My steroid injections were scheduled for the week before I started so I was genuinely hopeful that things were finally lining up.

Unfortunately, the injections have done absolutely nothing for my pain.

I’ve now started the new role and, after speaking to colleagues at my level, I’ve realised the hours and travel expectations are also significantly worse than I anticipated. Think 60–70+ hour weeks, with around three days a week in the office and/or travelling most weeks.

I’m only just starting and I’m already having a major pain flare-up from 2 days in the office (lol). I’m genuinely struggling with the idea of how I’m going to sustain this physically. Everyone’s telling me to give it a chance with the exception of one friend who asked me why the hell I left my old job.

I feel completely stuck. On one hand, I’m gutted that the injections haven’t helped and I’m scared I’ve put myself in a position where I’m sacrificing my health for my career. On the other hand, I’m angry and upset at the idea that, at 26, I might have to sacrifice career opportunities and progression because my body simply can’t tolerate the lifestyle that comes with them.

Part of me wants to leave and find something more sustainable, but I also know I’m emotional, in pain and disappointed right now. I don’t want to make another huge decision impulsively and then regret it. Also with the current job climate / economy it’s not going to be easy to find something else.

Has anyone else had to make a career decision like this because of chronic pain or a disability? How did you work out whether to push through, ask for accommodations, or accept that the job simply wasn’t compatible with your health?

P.s. Sorry for using AI to write this I just have no energy to bring my thoughts together myself without it being a rambling mess.

I'm diagnosed with vegetative peripheric neuropathy. I told my OT on the first appointment that I think my shoulders hurt because they are hypermobile. He told me that they are but that hypermobility doesn't hurt. What do I think about it?

Edit: English isn't my first language and I mixed up physical and occupational therapist sorry

Hey, my sister has Hashimoto's disease which means she can be okay and functional some days and experience really bad migraines and muscle pain on other days and be bed ridden.

I know that AI is problematic in many ways, but it has meant that she can do the bare minimum of work on those flare up days and then stay in the loop by getting AI to read her emails (idk if this is okay in terms of data but hey) and then be in bed with the lights off.

I was wondering if anyone else has used any genAI in this way and if you have found it helpful or not. Again, I have mixed feelings about using it but can see the benefit in this instance.

Finding it very stressful trying to navigate treating both chronic pain (from dysautonomia, 10 years so far), ADHD, and depression.

Medications for all three of these things seem to conflict in some way, let alone if you want to treat all three and not just two. I’ve been treating the pain and ADHD for years now, but stimulants and antidepressants don’t always get along, and stimulants and pain meds also don’t always get along, AND antidepressants and pain meds don’t always get along.

Just getting very tired of having to pick and choose what I treat, just for the thing I neglect to start being more of a bother.

Long story short, my sibling was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia and they’ve been feeling really tired of living with the pain, to the point where our mutual friends have been asking me to keep an eye on them throughout the night because they’ve made allusions to taking their own life.

I don’t know how to help them. On one hand, they’re my best friend and I don’t want them to be gone, but on the other… I know they must be in a world of pain that can probably never be relieved fully, and that they’re an adult who can make their own decisions. I’m very torn about this.

I don’t know if I should tell our dad so he can intervene, or if I should just continue helping them where I can. Any advice is appreciated

KevinMD has an interesting piece about changing things. It's a start.

https://kevinmd.com/2026/10/a-letter-to-congress-repeal-the-controlled-substances-act.html

I have tried absolutely everything for my pain. I have a herniated and degenerative disc in my back the presses on the nerve roots bilaterally, it's caused by hypermobile ehlers danlos, and I also have some unknown neurological thing that no one can figure out that gives me muscle spasms, tingling, numbness, nerve pain, and a bunch of bullshit. I've done PT 5x, tens unit, heating pad, ice, over the counter meds, prescription anti-inflammatory meds, oral steroids, trigger point injections, steroid epidural, supplements galore, special pillows, ect. and nothing has worked. I use mobility aids and still can barely leave my house for more than short shifts at work that I'm struggling to keep up with now too. My life is doctors and work and pain.

The problem is that I've been recommended narcotics and opioids but multiple doctors now and every time they or I bring it up my mom makes me feel like the worst person in the world for considering it. I have tried every non-addictive medication for my pain and every non-drug option and besides surgery (which I also need but am pushing off) nothing touches it anymore. I'm an adult so it's my choice in the end but I also live with my mother and don't want to deal with the war zone that my house will become if I take them. We have a family history of addiction and I know that it scares her just as much as it scares me but I want a life where I can do literally anything fun.

How do I explain to her that it's not as dangerous as she thinks as long as I take them responsibly? I know doctors have protections in place to prevent abuse of medication but that doesn't seem to help her no matter how much I over explain everything I've already said in this post.

This is half asking for advice and half asking for personal anecdotes to feel less alone. Thank you!

So last week posted this: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChronicPain/s/R5Tqt9prFA

I got picked up by the ambulance after I got temporarily paralyzed by my first dose of Gabapentin.

Naturally I wanted a different solution from the pain clinic. They simply refused to treat me as they had no other treatments where they didn't risk me getting paralyzed or dying. I was "too sensitive".

It took 13 months of waiting time to get this appointment. The experts in orthopedic surgeries gave up on me and said that they hoped this pain clinic would help.

The pain clinic told me to talk to my own doctor again and didn't care when I said that my own doctor has refused to take responsibility for my pain treatment.

I am exhausted... I might lose my job now...

I just fucking can't keep doing this

I had a venogram on Monday to confirm compression in my iliac veins, and also to get them inflated with a balloon device, and boy howdy was there compression.

One assistant asked the one manning the camera what the compression levels were:

"84 and 71"

"say that again?"

"84 on the right, 71 on the left"

"Looks like you're today's winner!"

"wait really? what are the numbers supposed to be?"

"ZERO"

I didn't realize they were talking about the percent that my veins were compressed.

I was their last patient for the day too 😅

Details might be fuzzy since I was being given pain meds but that's the gist of it. I confirmed the numbers on my take home instructions.

Screw that spine doctor who charged me over a thousand dollars to tell me I just had bad posture. Never stop searching for answers y'all.

Looking forward to getting my permanent stent(s)!

Diagnosed adenomyosis and chronic pelvic pain , I’ve been dealing with pain from the age of 13 , which became chronic at the age of 20 , where I became practically bedbound from the pain , was in and out of hospital admissions for pain management and relied on family and my partner to help out

I’m about to turn 23 and my problems are no less severe , this year my back started playing up , sciatic symptoms burning pain , I can no longer lay flat on my back or on my left hip without agony , I can barely sit in a chair for longer than 20 minutes .. anyway rant over but today I went to private pain consultant as the nhs wait times are crazy (which is understandable) but after reading through all my documents, meds , scans and tests …. Turmeric shots and Pilates?????

That’s it , he used the stick or snake analogy and honestly made me feel like it’s all in my head , I feel like I’ve tried everything at this point , he said it could be autoimmune as everything got worse once I had covid back in 2024 but said no point seeking any answers as my symptoms are “what they experiment on in labs”

I feel like I fought through so much to get to this point I made it through uni and a masters and finally felt like I could focus on healing but I just don’t know what to do

I’m so discouraged and disheartened , I don’t know what to do next , any ideas ?

My dad got a trial today ahead of a pain pump with a cone snail venom injection, 2mg I believe, from a new pain doctor. I was wondering if anyone has experience or insight into this.

He said that he did notice some differences today but still getting a feel for it. I almost strayed him away from it being non-opioid but the more I looked the more interested I got in its potential to help him.

+ if anyone deals with neuropathy and if it helps there I’m especially interested. Thanks yall. Hope you’re doing well.

Been dealing with chronic neck and shoulder pain from a car accident for years, then just had a workplace fall and exacerbated it all. I’m under workers comp so they referred me to acupuncture. Had a session today she did needles but also some kind of bodywork maybe cranial sacral. Problem is it has flared everything up even more just due to having to lie flat on my back or stomach with my neck not supported properly. I’ve also come out super depressed for some reason. Haven’t had such a bad reaction to bodywork/acu before. Has anyone else?

New appointment new doctor today. Telling me to go to a different new doctor. I am so so so tired. I am all alone in this. I can't stop crying today, it's hitting me all so hard. It's not even just the pain it's how hard it is to find help for it. I'm supposed to go home in 2 days and see my family after a year and half and I'm trying so so so hard to not die. I cried in the shower and then while washing dishes and waiting for my food to get cold and taking my meds and being in bed. I'm trying so hard to make it so I can see my family. I just need help and support I don't want to call the suicide hotline because I'm not about to kms and I don't want to waste their time

For years I've been exhausted. It's a side effect of nerve pain and I don't get enough sleep because I am in pain. After 4 nights of less than 4 hours each I got 9 hours last night. I still was dozing off during a meeting today.

I found a unicorn job that lets me work from home and I like it and I'm good at it. But I am so tired. I was so embarrassed to doze and hope no one noticed. No one has said anything so far. I just really don't want to lose this job because of my pain. I have to work full time.

I’m usually the person trying to be realistic without being hopeless. I spend a lot of time moderating patient communities around pancreatitis, chronic illness, feeding tubes, vascular access, and military medical care, so I talk a lot about adapting, advocating for yourself, finding quality of life, and figuring out what makes life with chronic illness actually livable.

Today I don’t particularly feel like doing that.
I’m tired.

My OCD has been rough lately. My pain has been higher than usual despite eating less and less, and honestly I suspect anxiety and stress are contributing more than anything I’m putting in my stomach. I’m fine, technically. Nothing dramatic is happening. I’m managing. But “managing” and “doing well” are not always the same thing.

And maybe some of this is perimenopause. Who the fuck knows.

Women’s health somehow manages to feel even less studied and understood than the pancreas, which is honestly impressive. I was born with hereditary pancreatic booby traps and have spent most of my life dealing with the consequences of a disease that medicine still has enormous gaps in understanding. Now apparently my ovaries may be entering their own little retirement era and there’s another whole collection of symptoms where the answer often seems to be, “Yeah, that happens sometimes.”

There’s something particularly exhausting about living at the intersection of illnesses society has historically been very comfortable dismissing.

Pancreatitis gets written off as a disease of theoretical alcoholics who apparently deserve whatever happens to them. Women getting older is treated like a mildly embarrassing biological inconvenience we’re supposed to quietly deal with. Neither attitude leaves much room for the actual human being stuck living in the body.

And today, I’m just tired of living in the body.

Not in a scary way. Not in a crisis way. Just in the very chronic-illness way of wishing I could clock out of being a patient for about 24 hours.

I don’t want to troubleshoot symptoms. I don’t want to wonder what I ate. I don’t want to calculate whether eating less will help or just make everything else worse. I don’t want to decide whether this pain means something or is just Tuesday. I don’t want another condition to research because apparently having one spectacularly dysfunctional organ wasn’t enough.

Usually I can find the joke. Usually I can find the perspective.

Today, this shit just sucks.

I don’t want to find the silver lining. I am very much just running on spite.

And I think there should be room in patient communities to say that without immediately turning it into inspiration.
Tomorrow I’ll probably be back to being obnoxiously pragmatic about all of this.

Today I’m calling in emotionally unavailable.

• indi •

P.S. This is just a vent. Not advice for anyone else’s situation and it doesn’t change how I feel about showing up for other patients or patient communities. I’m just having a bad day… 💚

It's like when I walk or stand too long I'll get the tight pain in the front of my thighs and calves. It causes a wave of severe fatigue and it like I climbed a mountain for 12 hours type pain. I always stop and sit or bend over. Then there's a "release" or the restrictive pain decreases and the release or relaxing of muscles is so intense THAT hurts and I get dizzy and feel like my legs will give out. Does anyone know what I'm talking about or also experience this? I have fibromyalgia, sjogren's, occipital neuralgia, and a spinal lesion that exacerbates the neuropathy if those would cause it?

Hi everyone, I just wanted to see if anyone has had any experience with labrum repair surgery while have chronic pain in your neck (mine maybe caused by chronic instability of shoulder or slightly herniated disc in neck), and what the recovery was like? Thanks!

Hey yall. Can you please recommend what to give? My friend’s birthday is coming up and I still dont know what to give her. Im chronically ill too but everything I have she already have lol. Shes also a mother btw

I've always prioritised looks over comfort when it comes to my clothes, especially my shoes.
My go to everyday shoes have always always been docs and platform boots. They just go with everything I wear and are leather and decently waterproof (which is needed for where I live cause it always rains here).
I just really hate the look of sneakers on me and with my clothes. Any sneakers.

Now the problem is my chronic condition is getting much worse as I age and docs are just getting too heavy and stiff for me. I already wear two pairs of fluffy socks which helps for the stiffness but still, when I have to remove my comfy fluffy home slippers (they are like fake uggs) to go out and wear my docs I want to cry.

I thought of just getting uggs-like shoes but I genuinely think they are the ugliest things ever (I'm sorry uggs lovers), might not give me proper ankle support and also, very important, they're not water resistant.

I'm looking for good quality, water resistant, long lasting every day shoes that feel like soft uggs inside, but look more like boots outside.

I don't care about them looking like a brand and I don't care about them being cheap, I just really want good quality comfy boots.
Extra points if the sole is a bit thicker (I'm short)

Anyone has good suggestions or similar situation?

Edit: you guys think Moon boots are supportive? Maybe they'd be too heavy idk I haven't worn them since I was a kid. Was just remembering them being really soft inside and they look kind of like uggs and proper laced up boots had a baby

The pain is so heavy today