Struggling with Chronic Pain [Rant]

Mary

My struggle with Chronic Pain began 5 years ago while I was still a competitive figure skater. At 14, you shouldn't really be having any unexplained pain. Doctors say that the causes of pain are usually as a result of injury. My shoulders began to hurt very intensely all of a sudden. It hurt to lift my arms or even do my basic jumps and spins. I was progressing, and giving up my 10 year figure skating career didn't feel like an option to me. I still had levels to gain, I still had jumps to nail, spins to nail.. milestones to reach. I had reached my limit. The pain was getting to be too much. I quit all of my competitive skating. I stuck around to do some Holiday shows, and some Showcase programs (showcase is where you are typically playing a character, and are judged on character rather than just plain technical elements. it's the fun side of figure skating ). I would maybe practice 2 times a month vs 5 days a week. Even school began to be tough on me, going into High School was tough; more books, more work. Freshman and Sophomore year were a BUST. The pain would bother me so much that I just couldn't do work sometimes, but I didn't feel like people would believe me. I stayed quiet except from my friends and family. I decided to see a Doctor, and I was essentially told that there should be no reason for it. My pain changed after that- it became not constant anymore, more like flare ups. But during those flare ups, it was the worst pain I'd ever imagined. Junior and Senior Year I did Cheerleading. Now hah- guess what? Shoulder pain came back Junior year and had to minimize activity during practice, AKA I was pretty much cut out of routines and main stunts. Senior Year went differently. I didn't have a major flare up until the end of cheer season, YAY! My only problem was spraining my ankle, which was easy peasy compared to the shoulder pain, besides hobbling around on crutches. My next step, see a Doctor again! By this time I had switched to a Female Doctor (hallelujah, switched freshman year), and she was AMAZING. She ordered an MRI for my shoulders, and referred me to an amazing Orthopedist. My MRI was disappointing to say the least. Nothing really showed except mild bursitis. This didn't make sense. My orthopedist tried several different things to locate the pain, and finally we decided it would be best to inject me with some Cortisone injections into my biceps tendon, and to refer me to the Rheumatology department.. This helped the pain a bit. We tried 2 more times with the injections (over a period of 2-4months) , and the pain still hadn't gone away. The pain went to my hips as well, and is getting progressively worse. Rheumatology ordered blood tests for Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus and other Joint-affecting auto-immune diseases. Tests came negative. All was normal. There is a small chance of having negative blood tests, and positive fluid withdrawals. Keeping an eye on that. I decided to try a chiropractor, it helped back pain, but my shoulder pain was as bad as it always had been. My orthopedist referred me to a Shoulder specialist orthopedic doctor in her office, specializing in people my age. You want to know what he had to say? There's nothing we can do- same thing the doctors said before. No definite cause of pain. Possible fibromyalgia, but I'm too young. "Go see a pain management specialist to get on pain medications to tolerate the pain". I took that answer and refused. There HAS to be a REASON for the pain. Luckily my Father's insurance and his job provided me with the "Best Doctors" service, who gave me essentially a 4th opinion. Their insight was amazing . I got amazing advice. It took from Late January to Late March, but I took it. They suggested to go to a neurologist. I went to my doctor and got a referral for an EMG test with a neurologist. My appointment is May 2nd. If something is wrong with my nerves, they will be able to tell me soon after the test. I'm just hoping they find something, or that they can determine the cause of my pain.. I want to know what in the world is causing this pain. I'm only 19..

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