Interview CP47

Age at interview: 51

Age at diagnosis: 39

Brief Outline:

Neck and shoulder pain since 1992. Irritable bowel syndrome 1988. Treatment: Pain clinic. Current Medication: meloxicam (Mobic). Antiinflammatory drugs.

Pain disturbs her during the night and if she doesn't get enough sleep the pain will be bad the...

Do you find that your pain varies at all?

Yes, it varies. Yes, I mentioned this earlier like today, maybe it's my best day, I feel that I don't have a headache. Every three, four days, once a week at least, I get very, very bad headache, which will last like twenty four hours until I take the heavy medication, it will not go.  

Then, if I feel sleepy like at night and I don't go to sleep at that time, then I develop headache and it will continue the whole day. So I have to sleep like eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock, if I keep awake for one hour extra, for some interest I have, then I get the headache, yes.

Does the pain often disturb your sleep?

Of course, especially at night, I feel it more. When I lie down, I have to sleep on my right side, the shoulders gives me very bad pain. So I try different types of positions and the pillow and try to adjust myself until I sleep and I sleep with pain sometimes.

Do you ever have to get up in the night because of the pain?

Oh yes, yes. Two times like, sometimes, even if I go to sleep late, I wake up early morning. Like last night I took a sleeping pill, two milligrams, I slept about two o'clock after midnight, after I rubbed the ointment and things. I went to sleep at one, I couldn't, then I got up from bed about two o'clock, I took the medication, I did the requirement and I took the sleeping pill, ibuprofen also, and I went to sleep. Then I wake up at six o'clock because the pain again started.

Had to stop making traditional pastry and dough because it involves too much shoulder work and...

When cooking, I avoid cutting big things, hard things. I go for easy food. I was making some traditional food like, which needs lots of shoulder work and hand, like dough pastry and other stuff, I'm not doing this anymore. 

Sometimes I get them ready made, although they've not very good, as I used to make them, I stopped because of the pain. Cleaning, sometimes I see that things need to be cleaned but I can't. Sometimes I force myself, although I have the pain, and I do the job, I do the cleaning and afterwards it goes worse I mean and I have to take the painkiller. Sometimes I request my children to do the things for me.

Doesn't want to burden her family, who are in another country, with her problems because they...

I also think about my,  what's left from my family, they're back in my country, they also complain from pain. So whenever they call me 'How are you?'.  'I'm all right' I say 'I'm all right', I don't want to complain and increase the worry, their worry about me more.  

So 'I'm all right' I say 'I'm okay'.  'How is your health?'.  I say 'I'm okay'.  I don't say 'I'm not well' or 'I have headache' or this or that because like today I have headache, tomorrow I'll be better. Why should I make them worry and think about me.  

They're already thinking about me and about my loss and so I just don't complain to them at all. Yeah. I know they have, they have enough there and they don't need more. But I just don't say to them. But close friends here, of course, know what I suffered.