please give me a ring ! .i am sorry that your having to wait but may is not too long away and from my experiences i would not get too excited about pain clinics .some a very good but many not ..maybe a good TENS could help while and after your appointment .and as for pain killers can you get your doctor to put on something else?? sorry i have nothing to offer
tony

I do not know your history sorry, or whether you have had previous back surgery or how long you've had chronic back pain for?

Have you ever had tests that confirm exactly what is causing your back pain? If not, can you request further investigations to find out?

You mention that you go to the gym and "make it up" - I would advise caution here as you could be doing more harm than good. Don't let anyone ever tell you that "no pain is no gain"! This is not true when back pain is concerned.

Can you ask to be referred for another professional opinion to try and find out where the source of your back pain is coming from, and therefore, see what options are available to resolve it?

as to what your actual medical condition is.
Have you had diagnostic tests and if so, what have been their results?
Have you had surgery? If so what kind?
What kind of medications are you on?

A couple of other things.

You mention that your pain medications do not help.
Pain medications alone are not going to eliminate your pain and many times they just take an edge off. Many patients require a total package of various types of medication, approved exercise programs, other conservative treatments, a healthy diet plan, etc

Doctors are not going to write prescriptions for stronger pain medications because the patient is in pain. The dosage provided would have to be based on what the doctor concluded after any clinical examination. You would be totally surprised as to how much a doctor can get out of 5 minute exam.

What has been your doctor's reason for not providing any higher dosage?

- Exercise. As Sue pointed out, you can not just make up your exercises as you go. Without an approved exercise program you could be doing more harm than good. For all you know you could be shooting yourself in the foot every time you go to the gym and do your own exercises.

Those are some very very strong words. Hard to imagine a professional making such statements. There are so many folks out there that have been dealing with serious chronic pain for years, 10, 20 or more. Yet they still find ways to enjoy a fruitful and productive life.

First step is not to focus on what you can not do, but instead put the energy in figuring out what you still can do and more.

God I wish I HAD your Whatever that is! I just can't ever get past the focus on what I cannot do! How do you do that? What's the secret? Everytime I groom my black stallion and he's dancing and prancing, I think about how I'll never, ever ride him again and I just cry like a baby. I will never take him alone for the day up to the mountain, on a sunny trail with squirrels yacking at ya, the sun on your back, the deep smell of pine and him, the smell of him and the leather and the feel of that motion and connection and how much we both love it so damn much! HOW do you get past that - please tell me because it's killing me everyday... I just cannot!

I think its just all these years dealing with it.
I do mean it when I have said, to me and I know for others, the key is to
Stop dealing with the things you can no longer do
and
Start thinking about all the things you can do now!

Now, those are words, perhaps simple words but not always an easy thing to do.

I also tried to separate the Pain from the Actions. The Pain, through many different techniques (aroma, music, relaxation therapy for some) I started to control. The Actions were somewhat harder.

I had to give up playing the various sports I loved (Softball and IceHockey), mainly because I realized my body just didnt do what it was suppose to do anymore. Sort of like an aging professional. Knowing when to bow out before they start to embarrass themselves. I turned to coaching.
I did that at boys and girls levels from ages 6 to 16 in baseball,softball,basketball,ice hockey and soccer. It was my outlet and allowed me to stay with what I loved.

Now, for someone like yourself, I know its harder. Especially when your passion goes far beyond just riding horses. Its being with them, its you and them bonding together.

We had a member on the old site, he was a horse back rider. Loved his horses, rode all the time. After back surgery, he tried, but found out it was too painful to do. He refused to let this stop him. He did more horse walking, rode his horse at a very gentle pace and got involved with some levels of horse training. So, while he couldnt do what he did before, he could still be with the horses he loved.

Marion, you just took on an life event that was probable as difficult or more difficult. And you succeeded. So, I have no doubt that you can do it here too.

I think we should all move in to Rons house so we can get a grip on this pain,

I am looking for at least 1 post where Ron is complaining, Cant find 1.

I consider myself a positive person for the most part, But years of pain i even lose it every now and again,

Maybe some of the positive will rub off on us if we move in with him, Lol. Git-ir-done

sounding like a major kiss up, i have to once again agree with ron on this issue. 10 years of chronic pain due to 4 back surgeries where i cannot walk more than 100 yards without stopping form pain. you get the message. one needs to accept the pain and put it on the back burner instead of it controlling your life. yes it is there, yes it affects my quality of life, yes, i can't do a lot of things i used to but yet i work full time, visit friends, travel, and i would like again to go to hawaii. it does not affect my life and it is like an irritating friend. it is there but i choose to ignore it. yes i take meds but they only take the edge off. i wake up every night with leg pain but i will still go to work. one can't stay at home and feel sorry for onesself. one must do the things that we can do and learn to ignore the bad things.
jon