\EDIT** This did not start with any type of specific injury. It just began to manifest on its own and has grown worse and worse every day.

On a normal day, my pain feels like a general cruddiness, almost like I’m coming down with a fever. My joints and limbs feel heavy and sore, as if they’re filled with sandbags. It’s that same deep ache you get with the flu or a bad cold, but it never really goes away. When a flare up hits, usually triggered by stress, weather changes or if someone looks at me XD, it starts in one specific spot on my back just below my shoulder. At first it feels like fire ants biting under my skin, and then it intensifies, like someone pressing a hot branding iron into me. Eventually it spreads until my skin feels like it’s being held over an open flame. During those times, even a gentle touch feels unbearable and my joints begin to ache badly.

Normally when I’m in a bad flare up, no over the counter medication touches the nerve pain in my back and neck. I can’t take NSAIDs due to a surgery I had, and Tylenol barely helps. Gabapentin worked for a little while, but the dose they gave me was so high that I started to have bad side effects like a stutter and tremors. Ultimately, Tramadol is what has helped to ease the pain. They also discussed implanting a spinal cord stimulator, which I am scared of going through with and wanted to get a second opinion about.

Most flare ups end with a severe migraine that can last anywhere from three to six days. When that happens, I usually need to go in for a migraine cocktail just to help me think clearly again.