The worst was shingles (Had it in 5 nerve roots - usually only have it in one) pain for 6 months… that changes where 10 is on the scale. If you ever get shingles don’t delay going to the doctor as they give you an antiviral that you have to take nearly immediately for it to do any good. I was delayed as they though the pain (rash had not yet come out) was due to my chemo port, a weekend was involved, and by the time everyone realized it was not that (eg rash started to appear) I missed the window. Also get the shingles vaccination if you are old enough and had chicken pox. You. Do. Not. Want. To. Get. Shingles. Ever.
For those who don’t know chicken pox is a version of a herpes virus and it goes dormant and can come back as shingles. Which is nasty. Vaccination is recommended for immunocompromised individuals or 50 and over.
Some important parts
“If you’ve ever had chickenpox, you can get shingles.”
“More than 99% of Americans born before 1980 had chickenpox, even if they don’t remember it.”
Also the chickenpoc vaccine because if the virus never comes home to roost it can’t come back. Wasn’t available for millennials but Gen Z won’t have to worry if they never got it. Everyone got chicken pox in the 80s/early 90s
@dptalia@Kidsandliz My father had nerve pain for many months after Shingles and my husband had short but very painful Shingles. I am due for the second Shingles vaccine.
@callow@dptalia Yes that pain is agonizing. In my case once a second I also had a shooting pain go up the side of my neck and along my head. Had to work not to flinch. Even the light touch of one strand of my hair, a light breeze, wearing a shirt… (which I had to do being female) was agonizing.
@Kidsandliz I am weird and my shingles wasn’t painful. Two spots, and it took a while for them to figure it out. Apparently I fainted from the spinal tap, though.
Nerve pain that starts In my neck, goes down through my left shoulder and wraps around the muscle by my breast and also down my left arm. I get pins and needles in my arm and warm shooting burning pain in my breast. I also wake up with my left arm completely asleep and it takes hours to wake up. My right side is getting worse bc I over compensate with it so much bc my left side always hurts and is weeker.
I get something similar and it’s usually a pinched bundle of nerves around my shoulder that… Takes an uncomfortable amount of effort to solve (deep massage and painkillers), followed by repeated reprimands to have a better daily physical routine (morning stretches, less slouching, less lying on the side, evening stretching, regular lengthy sleep).
@Kidsandliz@pakopako@unksol
I’ve done and seen it all. Had lots of surgeries, I actually have an outpatient one next week where they cauterize the never in my neck to help with the pain but the nerves grow back so fast it only last 3-4 months at best. Having to wear a bra is my downfall, that’s what exaggerates a lot of my pain. I paid for 2 or 3 years of massages 3 times a week (until money ran out) and at the very end the massage therapist said they were just getting to a place were they weren’t digging knots out everytime (which was always very painful). I can’t see a chiropractor bc I have pins and needles in my neck and the dr who did the surgery said not to bc he’s had pts that have had chiropractors move them out of place. So yeah, pain killers, stretches, watching how I sit, sleep, living on a heating pad, trigger point injections, epidurals, and cauterizing my nerves every six months and only wearing a bra when needed is how I live. It’s tons of fun. Then I get told to suck up too as if I don’t suck it up enough.
My left foot. A bit over 30 years ago I fell off a roof and busted up my heel (there is still a metal plate and 5 screws in it). Significant pain while recovering (I was wearing a boot and walking with crutches for almost 4 months), and ongoing pain on-and off since. After all the years, the past few days it has been consistently on - so much so that I will see my doctor soon to get it checked out.
@macromeh sounds like you got it worse/that sucks.
I slipped on ice walking out of work in 2010. Having specifically called the morning maintenance crew 2 hours before I left work because I knew that entrance was dangerous for tenants about to come in because I had walked it multiple times. In boots. Salt the whole thing. They did not.
And my ankle basically did a 180 from what I recall. Ankle broke and had to be screwed back together. Fibia kind of shattered further up from the ligament pulling on it. The X-ray was interesting. I think they put a cord or something in to replace that. No metal plate but some days I can feel the screws as a dull pain.
@macromeh just to clarify I don’t think either of ours would be applicable to this since it’s just. Basic metal in the body. Structural stuff. But there are reasons to be concerned about SOME implanted devices
My right knee is bone on bone. I’ve tried cortisone and that gel they inject, and neither one worked. I can’t have replacement surgery until I lose 50 lbs. Physical therapy takes it down a point on the pain scale, but it hurts whenever there’s any weight on it, and I can feel the bones moving against each other.
Ignore the obesity in the links, I get that for my height/body weight. Was just checking joint replacement weight issues so that’s what’s going to pop up.
Bone on bone/chronic pain… eh Id want a second opinion if they are saying no.
@unksol The surgeon would do the surgery tomorrow if he could. It’s the insurance company that’s the holdup. They won’t cover it unless a patient’s BMI is 40 or below. I don’t know how they expect a person to lose weight if they can’t exercise. Oh, and they don’t cover the new drugs like Ozempic just for weight loss, according to my primary care provider’s office. The whole thing just sucks.
@lisagd yea… Insurance companies are… Well shit. When your healthcare is for profit/shareholders and no one cares… Not the best system.
Youd expect them to pay for Ozempic or something but they’ll only do it if it gets them out of worse bills later and they make poor decisions anyway. Hence the need for regulation… But everyone is allergic to that.
@unksol You would think the insurance companies would rather pay to help someone lose weight now to prevent more expensive issues later, but what do I know?
My primary care provider referred me to Core Life, which is a weight-loss center. The nurse practitioners there have apparently figured out how to finagle the insurance companies into paying for weight-loss drugs like Wegovy, so there’s still hope.
@lisagd but that would help you lose weight, and if you lose weight they have to pay for the knee surgery. Which costs them more money. I wouldn’t put it past a bean counter.
Could also be the fact that it’s still off label use last I heard. But if your doctor will prescribe it they should have no say in it
My semi-colon when I eat really fibrous things like asparagus. After they split me open and removed my most-of-me, it seems I’ve got a hair pin turn in there somewhere that does not like it if I don’t chew my food enough. It’s excruciatingly painful until the blockage clears. Like, walk out of a meeting painful. On the other side of the coin, I still can’t feel my toes so I guess I can’t complain about foot pain. Silver lining, I suppose
@capnjb it’s most common pain. Not most intense pain. I really hope that was a one off. If that’s a recurring pain… You probably “win”. That sounds awful
@unksol Nope, not joking about that. My pancreas was failing, my gallbladder had stopped working and my liver was being a jerk. They teamed up and beat the crap out of my colon. Literally. Yeah… I went to the ER with what I thought was a hernia and had my first ultrasound. Turns out I wasn’t pregnant. The doctor immediately came in the room and said “We’re going into surgery… NOW!” My colon had ruptured, and I had gone septic inside. I was probably less than 24 hours from being no longer able to buy IRKs. I woke up in the ICU about 6 weeks later after living what felt like more than a year in my head while I was in an induced coma. I went in at 185 pounds and woke up at 125 pounds. I was fed through my neck, then my nose and had several tubes going in and out of my body. I couldn’t walk or talk or swallow… but yeah… nurses are my favorite lifeform these days I did a big post about it when I goated… I can probably track that down if you’d like some back story. I am an open book. And since I had my ostomy reversal, I am no longer an open colon That’s a bad joke, but yeah… nothing can embarrass be any more I’m actually coming up near three years since I went to the ER. And if I never told you my story or showed you the jigsaw puzzle that is my chest, you’d never know that I once needed a walker to get from the couch to the bathroom 15 feet away. I’m back to a healthy weight. I can run. I can lift heavy things. And I feel very guilty about my recovery. So there’s that too. I’ll probably be processing that for a bit. And I used too many words, so I’m going to wander off now
@capnjb@chienfou I do remember those posts/read them at the time. And I think that does make semi-colon a joke? If a dark one lol. But I forgot who/the details. That was some awful shit
The pain of loss, the pain of parting with a loved one, the pain of thinking about the inevitable aging, the pain of a sick society…
These types of pain are hurt the most. I don’t know why, but I feel totally healthy, but in contrast, I feel emotional pain especially strongly.
These burdens feel like pebbles constantly lodged in my throat. Sometimes they make it hard to swallow the beauty of life, the fleeting moments of joy. It’s a strange paradox - feeling so alive emotionally, yet weighed down by the impermanence of it all. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe feeling the pain so acutely makes us appreciate the good times even more intensely. Perhaps it pushes us to connect with loved ones deeper, to savor each sunrise before the inevitable sunset. It’s a heavy burden, this emotional sensitivity, but maybe it also holds the key to living a truly meaningful life.
Lazy coworkers.
@yakkoTDI
Depends on the weather.
Growing old has at least one benefit in knowing the weather pattern.
shoulder
Existential.
Significant other
Heart Break!
/youtube mother-in-law
Elbow and shoulder
PITA - metaphorically
I am a woman so I have back pain for several days at least once a month.
The first three, mostly. Then there’s just walking into sharp corners randomly.
Arthritis in my left hand.
Cleaning
/giphy Your mom.
Occasional plantar fasciitis makes any other aches and pains insignificant.
@callow I get it. 3 foot surgeries later…
The worst was shingles (Had it in 5 nerve roots - usually only have it in one) pain for 6 months… that changes where 10 is on the scale. If you ever get shingles don’t delay going to the doctor as they give you an antiviral that you have to take nearly immediately for it to do any good. I was delayed as they though the pain (rash had not yet come out) was due to my chemo port, a weekend was involved, and by the time everyone realized it was not that (eg rash started to appear) I missed the window. Also get the shingles vaccination if you are old enough and had chicken pox. You. Do. Not. Want. To. Get. Shingles. Ever.
@Kidsandliz
https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/vaccination.html
For those who don’t know chicken pox is a version of a herpes virus and it goes dormant and can come back as shingles. Which is nasty. Vaccination is recommended for immunocompromised individuals or 50 and over.
@Kidsandliz meant to link the main page too…
https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/
Some important parts
“If you’ve ever had chickenpox, you can get shingles.”
“More than 99% of Americans born before 1980 had chickenpox, even if they don’t remember it.”
Also the chickenpoc vaccine because if the virus never comes home to roost it can’t come back. Wasn’t available for millennials but Gen Z won’t have to worry if they never got it. Everyone got chicken pox in the 80s/early 90s
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/varicella/public/index.html
@Kidsandliz The only thing worse than the shingles vaccine is shingles itself. Get the vaccine people!
@dptalia @Kidsandliz My father had nerve pain for many months after Shingles and my husband had short but very painful Shingles. I am due for the second Shingles vaccine.
@callow @dptalia Yes that pain is agonizing. In my case once a second I also had a shooting pain go up the side of my neck and along my head. Had to work not to flinch. Even the light touch of one strand of my hair, a light breeze, wearing a shirt… (which I had to do being female) was agonizing.
@Kidsandliz I am weird and my shingles wasn’t painful. Two spots, and it took a while for them to figure it out. Apparently I fainted from the spinal tap, though.
The best kind of pain… A similar sign helped me get through the Amsterdam marathon.
@earl_danger
Nerve pain that starts In my neck, goes down through my left shoulder and wraps around the muscle by my breast and also down my left arm. I get pins and needles in my arm and warm shooting burning pain in my breast. I also wake up with my left arm completely asleep and it takes hours to wake up. My right side is getting worse bc I over compensate with it so much bc my left side always hurts and is weeker.
@Star2236 sounds like you should see a doctor for that?
@Star2236 @unksol or a chiropractor?
@Kidsandliz @Star2236 @unksol nah, physical therapist.
I get something similar and it’s usually a pinched bundle of nerves around my shoulder that… Takes an uncomfortable amount of effort to solve (deep massage and painkillers), followed by repeated reprimands to have a better daily physical routine (morning stretches, less slouching, less lying on the side, evening stretching, regular lengthy sleep).
@Kidsandliz @pakopako @unksol
I’ve done and seen it all. Had lots of surgeries, I actually have an outpatient one next week where they cauterize the never in my neck to help with the pain but the nerves grow back so fast it only last 3-4 months at best. Having to wear a bra is my downfall, that’s what exaggerates a lot of my pain. I paid for 2 or 3 years of massages 3 times a week (until money ran out) and at the very end the massage therapist said they were just getting to a place were they weren’t digging knots out everytime (which was always very painful). I can’t see a chiropractor bc I have pins and needles in my neck and the dr who did the surgery said not to bc he’s had pts that have had chiropractors move them out of place. So yeah, pain killers, stretches, watching how I sit, sleep, living on a heating pad, trigger point injections, epidurals, and cauterizing my nerves every six months and only wearing a bra when needed is how I live. It’s tons of fun. Then I get told to suck up too as if I don’t suck it up enough.
@Kidsandliz @pakopako @Star2236 well. That obviously sucks. Sorry that happened. I guess sometimes the human body just decides to do a jackass…
My left foot. A bit over 30 years ago I fell off a roof and busted up my heel (there is still a metal plate and 5 screws in it). Significant pain while recovering (I was wearing a boot and walking with crutches for almost 4 months), and ongoing pain on-and off since. After all the years, the past few days it has been consistently on - so much so that I will see my doctor soon to get it checked out.
@macromeh sounds like you got it worse/that sucks.
I slipped on ice walking out of work in 2010. Having specifically called the morning maintenance crew 2 hours before I left work because I knew that entrance was dangerous for tenants about to come in because I had walked it multiple times. In boots. Salt the whole thing. They did not.
And my ankle basically did a 180 from what I recall. Ankle broke and had to be screwed back together. Fibia kind of shattered further up from the ligament pulling on it. The X-ray was interesting. I think they put a cord or something in to replace that. No metal plate but some days I can feel the screws as a dull pain.
@macromeh just to clarify I don’t think either of ours would be applicable to this since it’s just. Basic metal in the body. Structural stuff. But there are reasons to be concerned about SOME implanted devices
/youtube Last week tonight medical devices
Ankle, getting PT now for it
My right knee is bone on bone. I’ve tried cortisone and that gel they inject, and neither one worked. I can’t have replacement surgery until I lose 50 lbs. Physical therapy takes it down a point on the pain scale, but it hurts whenever there’s any weight on it, and I can feel the bones moving against each other.
@lisagd are they following the current research?
Ignore the obesity in the links, I get that for my height/body weight. Was just checking joint replacement weight issues so that’s what’s going to pop up.
Bone on bone/chronic pain… eh Id want a second opinion if they are saying no.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/orthopedic-surgery/news/obesity-and-total-joint-arthroplasty/mac-20537669
https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/obesity-should-not-rule-out-knee-replacement-surgery/
@unksol The surgeon would do the surgery tomorrow if he could. It’s the insurance company that’s the holdup. They won’t cover it unless a patient’s BMI is 40 or below. I don’t know how they expect a person to lose weight if they can’t exercise. Oh, and they don’t cover the new drugs like Ozempic just for weight loss, according to my primary care provider’s office. The whole thing just sucks.
@lisagd yea… Insurance companies are… Well shit. When your healthcare is for profit/shareholders and no one cares… Not the best system.
Youd expect them to pay for Ozempic or something but they’ll only do it if it gets them out of worse bills later and they make poor decisions anyway. Hence the need for regulation… But everyone is allergic to that.
IDK. Sorry. I agree that absolutely sucks
@unksol You would think the insurance companies would rather pay to help someone lose weight now to prevent more expensive issues later, but what do I know?
My primary care provider referred me to Core Life, which is a weight-loss center. The nurse practitioners there have apparently figured out how to finagle the insurance companies into paying for weight-loss drugs like Wegovy, so there’s still hope.
@lisagd but that would help you lose weight, and if you lose weight they have to pay for the knee surgery. Which costs them more money. I wouldn’t put it past a bean counter.
Could also be the fact that it’s still off label use last I heard. But if your doctor will prescribe it they should have no say in it
Hand pain from an industrial accident. 6 surgeries and a prosthetic knuckle in addition to arthritis.
The good news is you get used to it most of the time.
Getting my left knee replaced this summer. Hopefully I’ll be able to complain about pain somewhere else next year!
@dptalia id lean toward an FDA approved vs FDA cleared replacement if you have the option
@unksol Ooo, good point!
@dptalia same as above which may be. Eh. I would not substitute a comedy program for research on medical devices.
But metal on metal hips had problems. Idk about on metal on mental knees etc. Idk. I’d be cautious/ask questions
/youtube Last week tonight medical devices
My semi-colon when I eat really fibrous things like asparagus. After they split me open and removed my most-of-me, it seems I’ve got a hair pin turn in there somewhere that does not like it if I don’t chew my food enough. It’s excruciatingly painful until the blockage clears. Like, walk out of a meeting painful. On the other side of the coin, I still can’t feel my toes so I guess I can’t complain about foot pain. Silver lining, I suppose
@capnjb I’m 50% you’re making a joke about
/image human digestive tract
But if you weren’t. That would be awful. Wondering what medical condition that would be?
@capnjb it’s most common pain. Not most intense pain. I really hope that was a one off. If that’s a recurring pain… You probably “win”. That sounds awful
@unksol Nope, not joking about that. My pancreas was failing, my gallbladder had stopped working and my liver was being a jerk. They teamed up and beat the crap out of my colon. Literally. Yeah… I went to the ER with what I thought was a hernia and had my first ultrasound. Turns out I wasn’t pregnant. The doctor immediately came in the room and said “We’re going into surgery… NOW!” My colon had ruptured, and I had gone septic inside. I was probably less than 24 hours from being no longer able to buy IRKs. I woke up in the ICU about 6 weeks later after living what felt like more than a year in my head while I was in an induced coma. I went in at 185 pounds and woke up at 125 pounds. I was fed through my neck, then my nose and had several tubes going in and out of my body. I couldn’t walk or talk or swallow… but yeah… nurses are my favorite lifeform these days
I did a big post about it when I goated… I can probably track that down if you’d like some back story. I am an open book. And since I had my ostomy reversal, I am no longer an open colon 
That’s a bad joke, but yeah… nothing can embarrass be any more 
I’m actually coming up near three years since I went to the ER. And if I never told you my story or showed you the jigsaw puzzle that is my chest, you’d never know that I once needed a walker to get from the couch to the bathroom 15 feet away. I’m back to a healthy weight. I can run. I can lift heavy things. And I feel very guilty about my recovery. So there’s that too. I’ll probably be processing that for a bit. And I used too many words, so I’m going to wander off now 
@capnjb @unksol
Yeah, you are officially a “semi-colon” right?
@chienfou @unksol Heck yeah! No going back now
I’m just glad that the ostomy reversal was an option. All jokes aside, that was not a fun 9 months.
@capnjb @chienfou I do remember those posts/read them at the time. And I think that does make semi-colon a joke? If a dark one lol. But I forgot who/the details. That was some awful shit
@capnjb @unksol
goes back to the days of his goating…
(spontaneous) Frozen Shoulder X 2
Neuropathy, both feet, both legs.
Idiots.
Though physically, I’ve got hypertension and chronic weariness. So regular bouts of cramps, fatigue, and migraines. Oh, and tooth pain.
The pain of loss, the pain of parting with a loved one, the pain of thinking about the inevitable aging, the pain of a sick society…
These types of pain are hurt the most. I don’t know why, but I feel totally healthy, but in contrast, I feel emotional pain especially strongly.
These burdens feel like pebbles constantly lodged in my throat. Sometimes they make it hard to swallow the beauty of life, the fleeting moments of joy. It’s a strange paradox - feeling so alive emotionally, yet weighed down by the impermanence of it all. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe feeling the pain so acutely makes us appreciate the good times even more intensely. Perhaps it pushes us to connect with loved ones deeper, to savor each sunrise before the inevitable sunset. It’s a heavy burden, this emotional sensitivity, but maybe it also holds the key to living a truly meaningful life.
All kinds of stuff!