Those Of You Who Have To Work Through The Pain....

[SpcDearman]

Can anyone that is currently working through the pain of your service connected injury help me find ways to manage pain. i really hate to put this out there but i am at a point to where if I dont manage it I WILL be involuntarily looking for different employment.

I wake up at 5:00 am every morning with both shoulders locked up. I take about 100 mg's of ibuprophen (I refuse to take tramadol at 6:00 am) to attempt to alleviate the pain. I attempt to use my artic thunder (ok i got that from Tropic Thunder) cream about 10 times a day to maintain but its starting to not take affect as quickly and intensely. I maintain a work cubicle and do have to type quite a bit which does add strain to my traps. After about 6 hours, i literally have to type two sentences and relax for 5 minutes and then continue.

I am not rich. I have never been able to afford health coverage. I have dealt with the pain for 15 years but it is becoming quite unbearable.

I just want to be able to take care of my family by working until the VA sees fit to award me. If i cannot sit here then I cannot take care of my family.

[ks1k]

I just stumbled on this thread. I do not frequent this forum often (enough).

I agree with the poster that suggested Pain Management. There are so many things that can be done to manage pain. You may have to try a number of them before finding one that will work for you. What works for one person does not necessarily work for others.

I have been service connected for low back pain for 20 years or so. I tried many different prescribed and non prescribed methods. The opiates and other pain killers scare the crap our of me. I got hooked on opiates while on active duty. Never again.

The thing that has worked best for me is acupuncture. I have had the same VA acupuncturist in Connecticut for many years now and dread the thought of the day when he retires.

I now live in Central Florida in the winter and the VA has no acupuncturists that I know of. I have had to deal with Fee Basis to get the necessary and proven treatment. The Fee Basis people are very difficult to deal with and I have had to involve the VAMC Director and my Congress person to get acupuncture treatment approved via fee basis and see a local acupuncturist.

The Fee Basis problem became a bit easier when the Pain Management department became involved last year.

Try everything that you can and hopefully something will work for you.

[SpcDearman]

Guys thanks for all of the advice. I honestly did not expect to receive this type of support from people that I dont even know. Kinda breaks me up a bit. Then the pain brings me back. i try to use humor to maintain my sanity. i honestly cannot believe that i made it out of the army with an honorable discharge with my injuries. i have worked for so long that i know i need to have the come to jesus meeting with myself on possibly not being able to work anymore even if I do not get the rating that i deserve. We will let the process go for now. Wish me luck.