Chronic Pain Is Beginning to Affect My Mood
And it’s time to get over it
I think my body has hurt almost my whole life but I never let it bother me much. I still worked full-time and pushed through the pain.
When I was nine I fell off the deck of a swimming pool and hurt my left leg. When I was thirteen I fell out of a door where the steps had been removed and tore ligaments in my left ankle. When I was sixteen I hurt my lower back in an accident and couldn’t walk for three weeks. And when I was eighteen, I got whiplash in a car accident and tore three discs in my neck. Over the years, all of these things caused aches and pain and muscle spasms.
I feel like most people would have applied for disability at that point, but not me. I was able to work, especially since I was always a secretary or an office assistant. I sat at a desk in a comfortable chair and did paperwork, computer work, and answered telephones. Although, paperwork, computer work, and talking on the phone always made my neck hurt.
I am beginning to follow after my mother and am also getting arthritis in my hands which affects my typing and writing.
Then — a series of leg injuries, including three broken bones and multiple surgeries, have left me with constant pain and a significant limp. Walking is now a struggle. When I do walk…
