Sylvie, from Lincolnshire, tells how Connect Health’s Pain Management Programme (PMP) has helped her enjoy life again.
The service has been amazing. The best thing ever. Pain is an invisible illness and PMP has really benefitted me; I really want to share that with other people.
My pain journey started in 2012.
I have three children and used to run a ten bedroom guesthouse on my own, so my days were very busy. One day I fell at work; the chair gave way from underneath me, I hit my head on the cooker and damaged my spine on the floor. I went to A&E in Lincoln but at the time wasn’t sent for any scans.
I was sent home in extreme pain and on morphine. I felt completely exhausted, but I carried on running the guesthouse and bringing up my children. I had various treatments including physiotherapy, acupuncture, hydro pool and heat therapy. In 2013 I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia and arthritis.
It took nearly a year to be sent for a scan which revealed six compressed discs in my back.
I needed an urgent operation, and was referred to hospital in Nottingham, but unfortunately the surgery was cancelled four times over the course of almost a year. I decided to speak with my original consultant, and I was rushed to hospital in Sheffield for surgery.
I was told that my spinal cord was being crushed and I was lucky not to have been paralysed from the neck down.
The first surgery was a success and the relief was amazing; it took my headaches away. Within six months I had a second surgery which revealed a cyst on my sciatic nerve. Removing it left me with permanent sciatica, and I needed injections into my spine which left me with a lot of pain.
I had so much pain I was suicidal.
I’ve tried all sorts of medications, but nothing was working and I was in constant pain. I lived online to try to find something to help me.
Then I was referred to the Connect Health PMP.
They recommended I come off morphine (in a controlled manner), which I was worried about but I felt so much more human once I did. I realise now that I was so dosed up before; I don’t know how I managed to cope. I was also given an exercise programme, and over time I began to feel a lot better.
Coming off opioids was the best thing ever.
The longer I was on morphine the more side effects I was having. My body started to react to it; I was having more pain including gallbladder problems. It was just horrendous.
The people who run the course were amazing.
The course was so engaging and they made us feel listened to. It motivated you to try new things. I initially thought it wouldn’t be for me, but it was such as wonderful experience.
I have a mixture of health issues to cope with.
I’d lost nine stone after having bariatric surgery, but unfortunately I’ve put over seven stone back on through the side effects of medication. I also have Type 2 diabetes, and am light sensitive. I’m also on medication for high blood pressure, cholesterol and because my body doesn’t absorb calcium.
My pain now is manageable. When I look back, I was constantly in tears.
I was actually becoming a recluse which isn’t like me. Because of the pain, I didn’t want to go out and needed to lie down all the time. Going on the PMP course while I was coming off the opioids meant I was surrounded by people going through the same thing and I didn’t feel alone.
It’s given me the boost I needed to start taking back control of my life.
I’d felt like pain had ruined my life for so long. I’m 8,000 miles away from my family and it’s been very difficult for my sons, seeing me in pain for so long and not being able to do so many things with them. But I’m slowly getting things back on track. I want to try and be more mobile and do more walking, but I’m so tired all the time. I just do a little each day.
I’ve also had counselling and my mental health has improved.
When you live in pain you become very down but I’ve started feeling better and engaging in more things. I love animals and used to foster them but had to give it up because of my health. Three weeks ago I took on an emergency foster puppy, and it’s been a huge boost mentally and physically. I’ve been socialising her at the park. I have to lie down afterwards, but it’s great to be doing what I love again and it’s helping me lose weight.
Connect Health make you feel you’re not the only person going through this.
I’m continuing to build on everything I’m doing. I would really love to be able to support other people who are going through problems with pain, and look forward to what the future now brings for me.
Download Sylvie’s full story here
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