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What Kind of Pain do you Experience?

Messages
72
Pain.

Many of us have it in some form or another, and sometimes it gets beyond discouraging. That's why I thought it might be a nice idea to compare our pain, to see who experiences what and how we can all relate to each other. To know that someone else understands your pain can be of great encouragement! I'll list a few questions here about pain and then I'll answer them too.

1. What kind of pain do you experience? (Searing pain, dull aches etc.)
2. Where do you experience your pain? (Back, neck, all over etc.)
3. On a scale of one to ten (one being the best, ten being the worst), how would you describe your pain on a daily basis?
4. How do you treat your pain?


Here are my answers...

1. My pain varies from day to day. More often than not, the pain is relatively manageable (Praise God!) and I can go about my day. However, as the days progress, I am finding that the more I do, the worse the pain can become. Sometimes it gets to the point where I cannot move too well, and have to stay in bed.

2. Almost daily now, I get pain in my hips. It sometimes is so bad that I move like the tin man without his oil! There has only been one incident where the pain was to the point where I shook, it hurt so much. Thank God, I have yet to experience another day like that. On occasion, I get pain in my neck and shoulders.

3. Hip pain can vary from a 5 to a 10 (10 was that one bad day). Neck and shoulder pain can vary from 2 to 6.

4. For my hips and back, I go the old fashioned route and use a heating pad. For my neck and shoulders, I don't do much for that, since it doesn't happen too often.
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
1. dull/burning/throbbing
2. back/neck and legs (over exertion).
3. 1 to 3, had a flare up 2+ years ago and was at 0 to 10. Had blood infusion of lidocaine, knocked pain down 2 to 3 nothches!
4. Over the counter (OTC) when needed, which is rather rare these days. I also did a lot of trigger point injections and Physical Therapy this year.

GG

PS I also recently bought a Theracane, which seems to be helping alot along with lots of stretching! I was getting massages frequently, but the muscles seemed to still stay tight.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
I found it interesting to read that Lidocaine lessened ggingues pain. I had Lidocaine at dentist one time and that was aweful.. I had an extremely painful reaction to that anethestic as they gave me the Lidocaine which is mixed with adrenaline (like being drilled, very sharp pain.. where the injection of it had gone into for 2-3 days). The pain from where it had gone in was far was then the areas in which Id had my 4 wisdom teeth removed. I also got severe neuro issues from that too. (some ME specialists actually say ME patients should avoid that drug).

...

I used to get extreme pain with the ME but will only talk about the types of pain I tend to get now.

burning pain.. eg when I over work my muscles.. eg my calves, they will really start to burn (like extreme lactic buildup), the more I push it the more the pain scale goes up. (i also find it gets to point where Im unable to move the muscle well.. its like I start to paralyse with it.. like energy completely burnt out).

aching pain .. that happens when Ive over done things and happens as an after effect to physical things. Ache can be also all over and not just in muscles (similar to aching like as if one had flu)... often thou aching legs or aching arms (depending what Ive been using).

Menstrational cramping.. this can be very severe and be going right throu my abdomen, radiating into my back and down the front of my calves to my knees. I have near passed out or passed out due to this (not sure but i think I may of actually blacked out one day due to this).

Headaches.. throbbing pain.. (i dont nowdays get these all throu my head like I used to..used to get them like behind my eyes.. but rather nowdays usualy just in third eye area or in my temples).
or pressure pain (like head is being pushed out and about to explode).

sore pain-throat
 

ukxmrv

Senior Member
Messages
4,413
Location
London
I have several different types of pain

1. All over post exertional aches in my muscles if I have had any exercise that uses multi muscles

2. Muscle aches in one area from "over use" of the muscles there. I get pain in my hands and wrists for example if I read heavy books.

3. Sinus pain when I have infections there (feels like broken glass in my sinus area if I wash it out). Otherwise a painful ache.

4. Endometriosis pain

5. Fibromyalgia tender points - these are intensily painful (i.e. burns) when touched in specfic places

6. All over tenderness and aches when I have flu like symptoms (often)

7. Sore throats and glands. Infections in my throat. Glands can be painful and lumpy.

8. Pain in my spine and radiating down my legs particularly at night in bed (and always after a car journey or sitting on a hard chair or office chair for a longish period of time)

9. Pain from slow stomach emptying and stomach bugs

10. A nerve pain that feels as if someone is sawing through the nerves in my back and down my legs. This is a hard one to describe and painkillers make no dent in it. My suspicion is that it is virally related as it occurs often before, after or during a bad attack of other viral symptoms.

All of these vary from day to day and month to month. Treatment also varies from drugs (painkilers, Lyrica) to supplements like magnesium/potasium and trigger point therapy with needles.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
Messages
5,524
Location
U.K
My 2 most troubling types of pain have been a nasty all over flu like ache, more or less daily but fluctuates throughout the day. And secondly intense eye pain. This comes and goes but lasts for days at a time then gone for weeks or more. It is either behind my eye or in my eyebrow and is usually accompanied by a droopy eye on the other side.
Other than that i get general aching pain in neck shoulders back, but im not at all on the fibro side of things so pain has always been bearable (apart from the eye)
Recently i have a lot of stomach pain and never ending stomach bugs.

All the best, Justy.
 

fla

Senior Member
Messages
234
Location
Montreal, Canada
Headaches of 9/10 intensity treated mostly with OTC (which does nothing or makes them 8/10 if lucky) since the prescribed stuff I have has too many side effects. Headaches before getting M.E. were 3/10 for comparison.
 

dancer

Senior Member
Messages
298
Location
Midwest, USA
Many of the things already described...but one of the main constant pain/discomfort things is the feeling I used to get when having a very high fever... a sort of scratchy "inside the spine and skull" feeling of pressure, ache...I don't even know how to describe it well. And yet, I'm NOT running a fever. So confusing. Sometimes I wonder if my body COULD mount a normal immune response with a high fever, if it would knock back the "whatever" that is causing this.
 

hurtingallthetimet

Senior Member
Messages
612
i am in pain 24/7 7 days a week with fatigue...like most some days are a little better than others but i never feel good anymore..

its burning deep sharp throbbing shooting pain..soreness in rubs and chest bones...deep deep pain in bones....hurt all over...between my shoulders hurt really bad..but i have alot of back problems wiht siatica nerve problems so that caues alot of pain and numbness down leg..

exhuastion so much worse after doing anything...i have to take pain and anxiety medications...these illness are terrible...i sometimes wonder how long i will live like this...as bad as i hurt and as much fatigue that i have now i just dont understand how when im much older i will be able to tolerate it all....maybe more reseach will be done and a cure will be found...
 
Messages
72
Headaches of 9/10 intensity treated mostly with OTC (which does nothing or makes them 8/10 if lucky) since the prescribed stuff I have has too many side effects. Headaches before getting M.E. were 3/10 for comparison.

This was definitely one of greatest shifts in pain that I had when I got CFS. Normally, my headaches were minimal, but when I became ill, they shifted to more intense migraines. So I can definitely relate to this.

*****

I find it interesting that you all talk about having a pain when you have a fever. My average body temperature is 99.7-99.9, which is considered a low grade fever. Normally, my pain doesn't work like that (the way you all describe) but it's interesting to hear.

Also, how about chest pain? Does anyone experience that? When I first started off, that was a big issue (and still sort of is). It was a dull ache in my chest, which still occurs, I would say, twice to three times a week. But sometimes it's a sharp pain. The doctors have told me my heart is normal, and looks fine, but I always question their assumption with such chest pain.
 

fla

Senior Member
Messages
234
Location
Montreal, Canada
Yes I get chest pain too which my cardiologist said is muscle pain not structural. If I rest aggressively for days the pain goes away so he must be right.