Reclaiming My Life: My Fight for Health, Wellness, and Freedom from Chronic Pain

Well… where do I even begin? I guess we have to take it back to when it all started. I was just a young woman, only 18 years old, when my body decided it was going to age decades ahead of schedule and start throwing medical plot twists at me like a bad soap opera.

I went through years of testing. Appointment after appointment, scan after scan. It became my second job, except I wasn’t getting paid and there was no vacation time. Each year seemed to add a new diagnosis to the ever‑growing collection. The testing lasted over a decade, but frustratingly, it never led to any real solutions for most of the problems we uncovered.

By the end of it, my medical bingo card looked something like this: a syrinx in my spine, lipomas in my back, multilevel degenerative spondylosis, spina bifida, military neck, cysts under my ribs, uterine fibroids, slightly elevated cholesterol, an enlarged fatty liver, underactive thyroid, alopecia, tinnitus, vertigo, and TMJ issues. Bingo! Except instead of winning money, you win… pain.

At the time, the only thing I felt I could treat was my thyroid, but when I first tried thyroid medication, I gained weight…and since I already struggled with my weight, that felt like a cosmic joke except I wasn’t laughing. 

Soooo…I stopped taking it, thinking I could just tough it out. Spoiler: I could not, and eventually, I gave up trying and let nature take its course. Fair warning…do not try this at home. Nature doesn’t play by the rules!

Anyway…a few years ago, I decided I was done letting my health control me. I went all‑in on a health journey and lost 60 pounds, getting down to 220. I felt like I was finally on my way back.

And then life hit me with a steel‑toe boot to the face.

I went through loss after loss. I lost friends and family to suicide, overdoses, shootings, and health issues. I walked away from relationships when our goals no longer aligned. I moved and lived between cities…and then the worst thing of all happened!  My dad got sick and I mean really sick and honestly life just became unbearable.

Somewhere in all that chaos, I stopped caring about myself. My health journey evaporated. I stopped exercising, stopped eating well, and avoided the scale because I knew I’d hate the number.

Then came April 16, 2025. I finally stepped on the scale. I weighed in at 296.2 pounds.

That was my breaking point. I realized I was slowly killing myself without ever consciously thinking about suicide. I was letting stress, grief, and pain dictate my future. That was the day I decided to take my life back.

So the first thing I did was I made an appointment with my doctor to talk about weight loss treatment options. We’d talked about it before, but I’d always been too stubborn to take medication. This time, I’d done my research. I asked about Wegovy, and he thought it would be a good fit.

Getting it, of course, was a whole other quest. Paperwork, approvals, waiting games, etc... While I waited, I started making small changes to my eating and daily movement. The basics you need to tackle before you even think about the gym.

On July 25, 2025, I took my first shot of Wegovy. It’s still too soon to see major changes, but I’m hopeful. 

At the same time, I knew I had to do something about my back pain if I wanted to move again. 

Originally, I had asked my family doctor to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon for my back. He said he’d put in the referral, so when I finally got the call for an appointment, I thought we were finally getting somewhere.

Except… when I got there, the orthopedic surgeon thought I was there for my fractured wrist. Turns out he assumed the referral was for that, not my back. After a bit of back‑and‑forth, he realized I was already being followed for my wrist, so we switched gears and started talking about my back instead.

By sheer coincidence, it worked out in my favour. He ended up referring me to the chronic pain clinic, which, from what I understand, was supposed to have happened a while ago. I’m still not entirely sure if my family doctor had actually submitted the referral, but either way, it finally got done…and that my friends is how we got to today’s appointment.

So now let’s talk about the big day…

The check‑in was easy enough. Just the usual doctor info and emergency contact numbers. But then out came a surprise twist: a urine sample. I still have no idea what that has to do with my back pain but I nailed it without spilling and that’s going in my “small wins” column.

After the sample was handed in I went upstairs to meet my initial assessor. She poked, prodded, bent me into shapes I didn’t know I could make (all of them terrible), and tested my “flexibility” (spoiler: there was none). We went through my entire pain history…every diagnosis and every way my chronic pain has stolen pieces of my life.

I was honest… I told her that some days, my back pain is a dull pressure, like an annoying airplane neighbour pressing their reclining seat into your knees. Other days, it’s like being stabbed repeatedly with a giant knife. On the worst days, it feels like someone is twisting and ripping the syrinx and lipomas right out of my back. The swelling some days is also horrible and visibly present and other days even putting on leggings can turn into a strategic operation. 

After explaining my entire life story I finally met the doctor. She was warm, sharp, and actually listened. We talked through a full menu of treatment options. She offered me a range of treatment options from medications like pregabalin, gabapentin, nabilone, butrans patches, nortriptyline, cymbalta, diclofenac, and celebrex to injections specific for muscle or joints. She even offered me infusions if nothing else works.

By the end of the appointment, I was sent home with a list of possible treatments and was told to think them over, call her back with my decision, and ask any questions I have. I left feeling something I haven’t felt in years: relief.

Now I’m home, curled up burrito‑style with my heating pad. I’m sore, I’m tired, but for the first time in a long time, I’m hopeful. This isn’t going to be a quick fix, but it’s a start. And right now, a start is exactly what I need.