Living with chronic pain with an old ankle injury

[Deborah2009]

Hi, Debbie here. I'm new here so i do not know much about this site. I broke 4 bones in my ankle and a complete break on the lower part of the tibia at the same time 20 years ago.(I fell on ice) I have been in constant pain 24/7 since the accident occurred. I don't sleep at night much, (that is its' own nightmare). I did see an ankle specialist a year ago. I discussed how much pain i was in and the Dr. suggested he fuse the ankle bones with surgery. He said i won't be able to move the ankle at all, but the pain will be gone. Frankly, there is no guarantee this would be the answer. Real pain killers help me, but i do not want to be addicted to them. Please don't tell me to try advil or tylenol, that simply is a joke. I think i have some kind of nerve damage too. Any suggestions to living with my nightmare? thank you in advance.

[Tuckamore]

Hi Debbie,

Sorry that I am tardy in my Welcome to you. I am sorry to hear about your long standing chronic pain.

None of us like to take narcotics, it's just a fact of life for most of us. As said earlier if you are in pain and use narcotics as prescribed to control it your chances of addiction is slim. I suggest that you ask for better pain management. If it is nerve damage a drug such as Nick suggested, Neurontin (gabapentin) may ease the nerve pain. It's certainly worth a try.

My best friend suffered years with a badly repaired broken ankle. Just 18 months ago she had it fused. It is stiff, swells with heat or too much use and still has some pain but she claims it is significantly better that it was for those 18 years.

Whatever you do be assertive and get some type of medical help for your pain, rather it be surgery, the right medications or both. Life is much too short to be miserable.
Please let us know how you are doing and good luck to you.
Take Care, Tuck

[nick30]

i should mention you can get much stronger anti-inflammitories from your dr and your dr might also consider something like gabapentin if he thinks your pain is nerve pain.

[nick30]

if you think you have nerve damage then there are meds that can help with that. but if you've been living with this pain for 20 years then i think taking narcotics would be the wrong move.

Nick.

[JHuxlet]

Hi

I have only been using this site for a couple of weeks but have found it and the people on it, to be good and helpful. If you search the archives you'll find disscussions on alternative options to meds.

I have ankle problems too,(check my profile if you want more info) not the same as you but have had replacement ankles and bone fusions vocied as a possible options at some point in a few years. I am young so my surgeon wants to use these as last resorts. If you have a false ankle in and it fails then bone fusion is the next step. The main issue with fusion as far as I am concerned is that it is irreversable and permenant.

I have done some reaserch about fusions and for some people I think they are an amazing thing to stop pain, on the down side if you want to be active then it becomes very, very limiting because as you said you'll have little or no movement once it is done.

Personally I am trying to hold out as long as possible with the hope that in a few more years stem cell research will have progressed enough to offer possible solutions.

Don't know if you have looked but googling 'ankle bone fusions' will give some good hits, including follow up studies on patients who have had these kinds of procedures a few years down the line.

[ChronicPain1]

Dependence will result from opiate use, but with no prior history of substance abuse, and if you're taking them as prescribed for the pain it almost never happens.