After 4 years of waiting...I have been approved for SSDI!!

[Flatulo]

47. I have tried pot a few times, but unfortunately I don't like the effect it has on me.

It makes my heart race and my paranoia spike. I've been told I'm wound too tight for pot, and I guess I can't argue with that. Funnily enough, my brother and sister are quite enamored of it, and since my brother lives in Colorado, he can now partake at will.

I have so much nerve impingement on both the spinal cord and the left side radicular nerves that I am in a pretty high level of pain more or less constantly. My foramen are so narrowed by disk compression and arthritis that spinal fusion, the usual treatment, is not recommended because it would have a low chance of success. I take controlled release morphine 2X daily, which gets the pain down to a 2 or a 3, but if I lift even a gallon of milk my back will often go into spasm, which if you've ever experienced it, is excruciating almost beyond belief. There aren't enough drugs in the world to knock out a good muscle spasm.

I get cortico-steroidal injections every three months or so at the Worcester, MA Pain Management Center. The shots also help a lot, but they just don't last very long. The procedure involves sticking a half-dozen long needles right into your back and injecting medicine in. It's not nearly as much fun as it sounds.

I now walk with a cane, and can only go a few blocks, but I am valiantly keeping moving. I can't sit up or stand for more than 30 minutes or so without my back going into spasm from the nerves getting irritated. I can swim, and do so every night.

I've been to one of the top orthopedic surgeons in Boston at the Beth Israel Spine Center, Dr. Kevin McGuire. He's telling me to hang on a few more years and wait for spinal implants to become a) more widely available and b) covered by insurance. But even then, I have so much arthritis that there will always be pain from the stenosis. Until then, I try to keep moving by doing light housework and grocery shopping/cooking. I also swim every night, which helps with the pain.

Regarding my SSDI award, the award letter usually has a paragraph somewhere in the middle where they grade your disability as 1) likely to improve, 2) may improve, and 3) will not improve. Each category has a review period associated with it. I was placed into category 3 and told that there will not be a review due to the severity of the impairment. They may also factor in my age, which is 57. Normally the review period for category 3 is 5 to 7 years, which would put me well into the eligibility age for retirement benefits anyway.

Thanks for the pot suggestion though. I may try it yet again. Massachusetts has decriminalized possession, so there's no legal impediment, and we just approved medical pot by referendum. I just need to find the right recipe.

Thanks for the concern, and I wish Mr. D the best of luck with his pain. It really sucks the life out of you. It's a real challenge to not snap at people when the pain is real bad.