Advice on ddd etc and finishing work

Colinf1

Good afternoon everyone I hope you are all managing covid as well as other things, I am 64 and am a manager who mainly works from a desk, I have had ddd for 4 years but for the past 2 years following a fall my pain is now constant instead of flaring up, I have been diagnosed with ddd, bulging discs and facet spurs, dont sleep well, struggle to concentrate and sitting and standing is very painful, I believe my fall has worsened my pain but cannot prove it and would appreciate any advice on I'll health severence medicals, I dont believe I will be able to do any meaningful work again, all advice gratefully recieved, I do have some days when I can get around but my pain meds make me quite groggy,

Rgds

Chris_R

Hi @Colinf1

Welcome to the online community its great you have found us

You say that you are in a lot of pain with all your diagnoses of ddd,bulging discs and fact spurs,and you feel groggy on your meds at times.and you would like some advice on how to improve your situation

Here are a few links that will hopefully .help you

Managing your pain | Treatments and self-help (versusarthritis.org)

Sleep | Improving your sleep when you have arthritis (versusarthritis.org)

Please keep in touch and tell us how you are getting on,also chat on our forums everyone understands what you are going through as we all have pain of some sort

All the best Christine

Jona

Hi Colinf1,

Oh my goodness I know exactly how you feel I’ve just taken ill health retirement and found out today that it’s been accepted glad but with trepidation

I felt worse sitting at my desk was worse when I stood up the pain is indescribable as you know and the medication does make you groggy have you asked your gp for a referral to the pain clinic they can help you with things like tens machines and medication and some gentle exercises although I do know the waiting list is long did you have an X-ray after your fall? You could speak to the gp about that too I use a stick now in fact I was given 2 but arthritis in my hands doesn’t make it easy

I also use heat and cold wraps I find standing for too long so painful hard to get comfy in any position too

you can ask work to refer you for ill health retirement then it goes to occupational health I had 3 medicals and they were not unpleasant at all a letter from your gp helps also there was a £30 cost for me but worth it

I hope you keep as well as you can and I’m sure the lovely people here will offer you sound advice MOWW is very good with work related advice

Take care

Jona 😊😊😊

Colinf1

Thank you that is very helpful, unfortunately I didnt get an x ray as the medics were more interested in checking for a heart problem that I didnt have and the increased pain came on over some weeks, waiting for new MRI results,again many thanks

Mike1

If you have a pension with your employer you may be able to get it paid immediately if you are retired on medical grounds. Also check any pensions you may have with previous employers.

Jona

I know what you mean medics seem to look at quantity of life rather than quality your mri should show any damage

there are other benefits you can claim also like ESA and PIP again they all seem to take a long time but if you check out www.gov.uk they have advice on those and pensions etc

But I would ask your gp for an urgent referral to pain clinic you need some pain relief firstly there’s lots of meds out there

I hope they get you the help you need soon keep letting us know how you are and take care

Jona 😊