Living with Chronic Pain Part 1

I was always athletic from a very young age so having a few aches and pains was no big deal and I thought it all came with the territory of being athletic and pushing myself to extremes to be the best I could be at Cheerleading , Softball and even powder puff football(yes powder puff football) so when I was 18 and felt pain in my neck after a fall from A cheer competition, I figured I just landed the wrong-way and ignored the pain for the next 10 years , yes I said it , the next 10 years. Over the next 10 years I lived with chronic pain in my neck and upper back , at one point my lower back started feeling pain and it radiated down my legs(I will get into that with the 2^nd part of my Blog). I finally saw a Neurologist who thought cortisone injections may work for me. I had my first one done at 28 years old. Now I’m going to back- up a few years, My dad was Diagnosed with CMT when he was 40. CMT stands for Charcoal Marie Tooth Disease don’t let the name fool you. It has nothing to do with your teeth.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is one of the most common inherited neurological disorders, affecting approximately 1 in 2,500 people in the United States. The disease is named for the three physicians who first identified it in 1886 – Jean-Martin Charcot and Pierre Marie in Paris, France, and Howard Henry Tooth in Cambridge, England. CMT, also known as hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy (HMSN) or peroneal muscular atrophy, comprises a group of disorders that affect peripheral nerves. The peripheral nerves lie outside the brain and spinal cord and supply the muscles and sensory organs in the limbs. Disorders that affect the peripheral nerves are called peripheral neuropathies.

I did not want to complain about my neck pain since I watched my dad struggle with his disease and I never heard him complain about the pain that I knew he was in, so who was I to complain about my chronic neck pain? I watched my dad’s body deteriorate year after year and somehow he still managed to push forward each day. I decided to do the same and just live with the pain which was a big mistake, as you will find out later in my blog the ups and downs I went through because I kept putting off seeing a Doctor for my chronic pain.

When I was 28 I finally saw an orthopedic surgeon and he informed me at that time I would need surgery at C-5-C-7 due to the cervical injury I sustained back in college or we could try epidural injections. At that time surgery was not part of my life plan nor was getting epidural injections. I put it off a few more years until I saw a neurologist when the neck pain I felt over the years moved into my head.  The neurologist recommended I start getting cortisone injections. Don’t get me wrong I looked up the pros and the cons of these injections and figured the pros outweighed the cons. I received a series of 3 within a few months and felt about 50% better, I thought to myself I feel better than I did before so these must be working.

 I went through the next 3 years receiving cortisone injections so the pain wouldn’t interfere with my life and I could carry on a productive life, boy was I wrong. When the pain increased I had no choice but to go back and see the orthopedic surgeon who informed me that if I would have had the surgery 3 years ago I wouldn’t be in this bad of a condition. Leading up to my first surgery in 2014 I had a series of epidural injections which were a life saver , I was able to participate in life again on my terms and get back to being me and enjoying the life I born to live. If I would of listened back then, I would have not had to go through surgery and get a fusion with a cage from C-5-C7 twice. Yes that’s right; I had 2 cervical (neck) fusions.

In the 2nd part of my blog I will get into all my symptoms and day to day life living with pain before my Epidural Injections and Surgery.