ILX, What's Our Pain Level Today?

Just for people who have some pain stuff. chronic pain came into my life circa 2008-9 with some repetitive stress stuff which evened out a little over time and also as I grew older I increased my capacity for just goin "welp, guess this hurts now" without freaking out. over the years there's been more hand/wrist/back stuff including a completely bizarre "oops, coughed too hard" thing last fall that tweaked my back and had me unable to stand up straight for several months, which was funny it its way because my job involves a lot of standing up straight. (I did find that, at work, after an hour or so upright and moving I'd be much looser; then when I got home from work I got a new PT who's great and we've worked out most of the back stuff over the past year.) I also have dual achilles tendinitis which sucks so bad because I was running for distance before this and now I'm lucky if I can do a slow 5k 2-3x/month. But today's thing is a Mystery Foot Ailment -- and it's not the foot I completely fucked up when I slipped on an old stair in upstate NY last month and kneeplanted on the street in front of God and everybody! It's the other foot, very acute and constant pain seemingly unrelated to the achilles which is at about 4/10 24/7 -- this is along the interior arch and is at "fucking yowch" 6/10. I'm stretching and taking conscientious amounts of NSAIDs and maybe applying a little heat.

Who's with me? Who's in pain?

Played two hours of tennis yesterday, so my ongoing hip/leg issues are about a 7/10, but I should be fine tomorrow.

6/10 in the feet after a bar shift — Crocs have helped, though I hate the way they look. Pain subsides to stiffness after I get home, and I generally feel ok the next morning.

yes I also have a crocs allergy. mornings are so hilarious for me, walking around all stooped over

My insoles have been doing well by me … 4 hours standing on concrete floor on Halloween, my feet did great. … My knees are acting up now, and it’s genetic… so I was expecting it around now.

Trying to get more range of movement back in my neck, constant low-level aching and stooping, tried a Mictimony practitioner and she sorted my much smaller back issues out completely but not the neck, I think I need something a bit more robust.

My wife has a pair of bone coloured crocs with ghibli themed charms and it kinda works for her :)

bookmarking

I pull the heating pad into bed before I have to get up and walk around, and it helps a lot! I heat treat all the sore/cramped/stiff places like my lower back and hips/quads. Bit fan of the heating pad.

well, whatever's going on with this foot is not getting better -- really resentful that I might have to go see a doctor over it, just because my experience with doctors and pain, in middle age, has largely been "what can you do? take some ibuprofen!" and I don't want any painkillers at all -- I have some but I avoid them, I'm kind of in a straight edgeish moment right now -- and plus, I have OTHER health appts (ongoing dental stuff), having to carve out space to get the "who knows? ibuprofen!" treatment is a grim prospect. and yet, as I said before, fuckin' ouch for real

Right Achilles tendonitis 5/10 today which is nice - I was expecting worse due to being on my feet at work a lot on Friday. Right knee (from what turned out to be a hamstring injury) has dropped recently from 8/10 to 3/10 with persistent PT for a year and recently added stretches.

gratefully bookmarked for future advice, love to all

In 2018, I herniated a disc in my neck using kettlebells (I am dumb). I had numbness in a couple of fingers and terrible nerve pain to the point where my entire neck and shoulder would be on fire just walking from my office to my car. PT and drugs did nothing. After a few months I got control of the acute neck pain by getting an injection, but I have continued to have shoulder pain and tightness in my neck. It's manageable; the worst aspect is it interferes a bit with my sleep (can mostly only sleep on one side). It also sucks that basically any core or upper body exercises now cause the pain to become unmanageable. Been back to the doctor for various x-rays and MRIs and they can't really find anything definitive and PT basically makes it worse. Kind of resigned to it at this point.

I find the chronic-ness of chronic pain almost operates outside of numbers. The number gets amplified by the psychic toll of having to push through the pain all the time.

damn pbkr that’s rough. hope you can find a way through it. same for all you other pain-addled ilx0rs

The number gets amplified by the psychic toll of having to push through the pain all the time.

This is so very, very true. All the nice parts with patience and kindness and tolerance get scraped away and what's left is my easy frustration and intolerance. People with chronic pain who are still patient and kind have BEEN THROUGH IT and have attained a higher state imo.

So rough...may the pain ease for all