Hello all. I guess I'm here like the rest of you, at my wits end. I think the programme asks for a personal story, so here goes.
I'm an aging athlete, 50 in May. Current status is very injured, depressed, and suicidal. I have been very lucky, I've been athletic all my life, and never had anything more serious than a cold. Two and a half years ago, my relationship of 11 years abruptly came to an end, when my partner wanted to leave. At the time, I was being to experience neck pain, which I was attributing to a minor car crash I had had a few months previous. Anyway, we split up, and I started the process of finding out what was wrong with my back. I paid to see a specialist, paid for the MRI, and it all came back clear?? Anyway, the specialist decided that it was a whip lash injury, and completed proliferation therapy on my neck. There was some relief, but it didn't last very long. A few months later, I started getting swelling in my knees. I thought it was tendinitis, but it turned out that the cartilage behind my knee caps had degraded. I've had debridement surgery, and stem cells in one knee to try and regrow the cartilage. I'm now 6 weeks post op. However, I now have tennis and golfers elbow in both elbows, and a rotator cuff issue. None of which seems amenable to treatment. The tennis elbow I've now had for 6 months. I haven't ridden my bike, in 12 months, can no longer run, and work is now becoming increasingly difficult. I've had my two dogs pass away in this period to. For me, movement was my life, my pass time, and my work. I now feel that if I can't move, there is little point in being here. I have no family, and now I'm in pain everyday with my back, neck and elbows. I've seen lots of different professionals, and spent a lot of money, time and hope. So here we go.
I'm an aging athlete, 50 in May. Current status is very injured, depressed, and suicidal. I have been very lucky, I've been athletic all my life, and never had anything more serious than a cold. Two and a half years ago, my relationship of 11 years abruptly came to an end, when my partner wanted to leave. At the time, I was being to experience neck pain, which I was attributing to a minor car crash I had had a few months previous. Anyway, we split up, and I started the process of finding out what was wrong with my back. I paid to see a specialist, paid for the MRI, and it all came back clear?? Anyway, the specialist decided that it was a whip lash injury, and completed proliferation therapy on my neck. There was some relief, but it didn't last very long. A few months later, I started getting swelling in my knees. I thought it was tendinitis, but it turned out that the cartilage behind my knee caps had degraded. I've had debridement surgery, and stem cells in one knee to try and regrow the cartilage. I'm now 6 weeks post op. However, I now have tennis and golfers elbow in both elbows, and a rotator cuff issue. None of which seems amenable to treatment. The tennis elbow I've now had for 6 months. I haven't ridden my bike, in 12 months, can no longer run, and work is now becoming increasingly difficult. I've had my two dogs pass away in this period to. For me, movement was my life, my pass time, and my work. I now feel that if I can't move, there is little point in being here. I have no family, and now I'm in pain everyday with my back, neck and elbows. I've seen lots of different professionals, and spent a lot of money, time and hope. So here we go.
