How do you deal with health issues?

This topic was created in the Gemini forum by BaBy-GrL414 on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 and has 12 replies.
The last year has been an extreme mental challenge for me. I have had one medical problem after the next, i turned 34 last year and it seems my body has gone to hell. I have always been an athletic and a very powerful woman. I had pnuemonia twice last year, caught a stomach virus and was throwing up for 5 months.... thyroid problems, and now i am going to have to have back surgery due to Degenerative Disc Disease. I feel like i'm at a breaking point. I dont' know how much more i can handle mentally. I have been slipping further and further into a depression and having a difficult time pulling myself out of it. i swear i need to be taken out back and shot to be put out of my misery. My whole quality of life seems to be slipping through my fingers. how do you guys handle these kind of issues that are out of your control...on any degree???? UGH...
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BaBy-grl have you by chance read....You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay? If not, I would highly suggest you take a look at it - just may change your life Winking
Hope you are feeling better soon!
*I just experienced going thru a tornado....whoosh, that was one heck of a wind storm!
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Thanks guys for your responses!
HI E-GEM!!!! smile I found out yesterday they do not want to do the surgery yet. I have to endure this and get cortezone shots first. UGH... Those are great ideas and i'm going to see what i can get myself into to force me to be social again. My man is doing all he can to keep my spirits up..poor guy. But your right, if i change too much and become something i'm not, i could push him right out the door too...
Freebird, i'm going to pick that book up. I'm up for anything at this point.
I've experienced a tornado and that is nothing pretty and uber scary. Did you experience alot of damage? I hope not Sad
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I understand how you feel baby-grl. I'm now 38, but my health started to decline when I was around your age. I've always had physical ailments, headaches, neck and shoulder pain, etc. But at around 33/34, it all got much worse. I now found out that I have two fused cervical vertebrae, that are also reversed. This means that the top of the vertebrae are supposed to be narrow and the bottom wide, and mine is the opposite. This could be squeezing on my spinal column, giving me excruciating pain throughout my whole body. My doctor and I think that I have a combination of disorders, the messed up vertebrae, and Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is like the volume of your central nervous system is turned up. I experience pain more extremely than others and I'm extremely sensitive to everything, smells, sounds, touch, etc. It also comes with extremely painful menstrual cycles, severe allergies and rashes, and a whole host of other symptoms.
Chronic pain and/or any chronic illness can bring about depression. If it weren't for my little girl, I would have seriously considered suicide. It's not easy to cope with chronic illness. I recommend taking up hobbies that will help take your mind off of your problems. I myself like to play games on Club Pogo (I can give you a free pass to play on their site). The mental stimulation helps take my mind off of things. You may also want to ask your doctor for some type of anti-anxiety or anti-depressant. The only one I've found that helps me without doping me up is Xanax.
I'm fortunate to live in California where I can get medical MJ. It is the only drug that helps my pain and doesn't have the side effects that the other prescription painkillers do. It also doesn't hurt that it makes me feel pretty damn happy when I'm on it Winking Some may question or judge the use of medical marijuana, but those people don't have to live in my shoes.
Good luck with your surgery and your health. If you need anyone to talk to feel free to talk to me. I've been dealing w/ the chronic pain for so long now, that I know how mentally exhausting it is. Some days I really have to stop myself from crying all day. Like today for example Winking I went swimming yesterday (only swam 4 laps) and now my arms feel like they are gonna fall off.
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When I am ill, I think only one thought .. 'this is just how it is at the moment'.
When I think simply 'this is how I feel, there is nothing and no-one that is responsible' - I feel nothing. I simply wait for the illness to pass.
When I am healhty, I look for ways to improve the situation that I am in.
Any other thought leads only to feelings of frustration, anger or a general feeling that life is unfair. None of these help and actually, serve to make me feel worse.

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GneissSchist - Thaks for sharing your story with me, i really appreciate it. I don't know about getting a legal prescription but i do smoke. I'm worried about getting hooked on the OXY's they have me on, so i only take them just before i go to bed, hoping to get more than 3 hours of sleep. When i'm not working i smoke, and that helps sometimes. I don't think here in WI we can get it legally lol I am a gamer and that does distract me when i can play. I can't sit for long periods of time. My next visit i'm going to ask about depression drugs to help me. I'm not having a pity party or anything like that... it's kinda a feeling of defeat. i don't know, i can normally control feelings and thoughts pretty well, but this is something new... different..
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Oh E-Gem, i'm sorry to hear that about your b/f's brother's g/f. That is crazy, she is so young!!! My situation is nothing like that.. makes me feel like, damn girl.. suck that shit up!! I hope they can help her.... did they catch it early enough?
And your right, i'm Ms. Independant and this has turned my world upside down having to rely on someone to help with just about everything. I know that's the root of most of my problems.
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Hello BG!
I wondered what happened to you, nice to see you're back smile
Health problems back to back, I'm so sorry. Don't even think about a breaking-point. Negative thoughts tend to make things worse. Focus on the fact that you are getting better or at least recovering.
I totally understand the thyroid problem, I have it too. Well, I should say I'm getting treated for it. It's bee almost ... five years since my goiter was burned out with radioactivity iodine treatment. It's a long story, but I totally understand what you are going through when it comes to that, so we can talk more later, yes Winking
Coming to vent is the best thing you can do, I'm sure you feel better just by doing that.
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Awe thanks Cappy! Ya venting always helps... along with feedback and reminders to keep my head up always helps too.... i just wanna sleep for oh say 4 hours with out waking up in pain... is that too much to ask for? am i being greedy??? lmao smile
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That's so true emeraldgem. I have state sponsored health care. It's difficult to use it though. As I have to drive about 60 miles away to the only hospital I can use. That is where I have to go for all my testing. With the cost of gas here in California, like I can afford to be going there for all the testing I need done.
Sorry to hear about your friends cancer. Hope they will be able to treat it. I just went to the hospital for chest x-rays to see if I have a mass. Now I have to wait two weeks to see my doctor. Hopefully, it's just a tender spot created because of my Fibromyalgia.
One thing that irks me about cancer treatment, is that there are possible cures that are being ignored. It is a know fact that injecting several active compounds from marijuana into tumors, has shrunk tumor size and prolonged life in lab rats with cancer. The medical marijuana doctor I see, believes that the government is purposely hindering marijuana research because of all it's magical healing properties.
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Baby-grl
Yea, I also take Vicodin. I try not to take them as they give me mood swings. At least the MJ keeps me happy Winking Hopefully someday your state will at least allow medical MJ. My doctor believes MJ should be decriminalized. It's a very effective pain management drug, that has few negative side effects. Whereas, oxycontin, vicodin, etc are all derived from opium. It's almost like legal heroin.
It's ok to have a "pity party" for yourself. I've been dealing w/ my pain issues for over 20 years, but it's gotten much worse in the last 3 years. I know what effect constant pain or health issues does to your mental state. I started getting more physically active about a year ago. Everyday I use my MJ, go for a 1 1/2 mile walk with my tunes blaring. That has helped with my mental state, and has helped me feel better about myself. I wish I could say it improved my pain issues, but those have only gotten worse.
It also helped to talk to others with Fibro and similar issues on message boards. It's good to talk about it with others who can truly sympathize with your issues. I went through a period where my b/f and his family didn't believe I really had these problems. I even have had a doctor at the hospital tell me basically that I was fat and that was why I was in pain. He told me that Fibromyalgia "doesn't exist." I told him I could show him scientific research showing that it does exist. I was so pissed at that doctor. It's hard enough feeling constant pain. It doesn't make it easier if people think you're making it up or "it's all in your head."
My illness has taught me to try to be less judgemental of others. If you can't experience another's situation, it's best not to judge them on their actions. Some may think it's horrible that a mother would use MJ. Until you are in one's shoes, you cannot say what you would or wouldn't do.
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My Ex's mom has Fibro, so i have seen that first hand and the pain that poor woman goes through, and deals with is insane. I'm understanding her much better theses days.
it's amazing what our bodies are and can do be to us. Doctors are so hit or miss. I'm fortunate to have great insurance and a great doctor. But, what i'm finding is that with backs, they don't play around. And you are forced to wait a long period of time prior to even becoming a candidate for surgery, and with good reason. It's just hard to rationalize the reason when you hurt so much. They tell me i have to wait until the pain reaches my feet. it's like its no where near my feet and i'm hurting so bad. I can't imagine it reaching my feet. I already have messed up feet!! lol
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