I (25F) was diagnosed at 19 with DDD with a large driving force of it suspected of being my physically abusive boyfriend at the time, but I do remember a few times when I was 12 or 13 where I had this intense feeling that I needed to crack my back but I couldn't for a few days but it resolved on its own eventually.
Interestingly enough, my ex had something similar for a short period after one of the accidents (back pain bad enough to put him on the floor in pain).
For the first year or two I had a spasm every few months. My muscle relaxers stopped working on the last few spasms and I was on the floor for 2-4 hours before it would subside. I started going to the gym to strengthen my back and smoking medical marijuana and it helped a lot.
During this time, I had minor issues with attendence at work but nothing crazy and I had a 60 hour set work week remote for a year or so and only missed 3 days that year.
Now, 5 years later, I am Struggling. I take 1-4 days off a month with FMLA because I wake up with nerve pain and/or back pain and the medical marijuana, Aleve, and Meloxicam aren't helping much anymore, more like a minor dull but the pain is very much there. I haven't had many active spasms to put me on the floor and make it hard to breathe lately, but I take preventative care Very seriously now and I try to take time off when I start to feel the white hot pain or the dull ache becoming sharper and mounting in intensity to get it taken care of before I spasm. May be TMI here but my period back pain will make it almost impossible to get out of pain as well for that week and the stiffness from trying to stay in the one position that is slightly better never ends it feels like. Although my DDD is mid thoracic per my primary, I am having intense nerve pain on my right side (right hip radiating down and making me wake up from sleep, and a knot under my right ear that sends white hot shooting pain down my neck when I turn my head too quick or too far to one side - this white hot pain lasts at least a minute and aches deeply in the knot the whole time).
My manager started trying to interfere with my FMLA leave, got that resolved with an HR complaint, but now I feel like my pain is even worse everyday and my anxiety keeps getting worse the more I go in and see the manager and him gossiping with all the other managers (thinking it's about me - I know that's irrational and I try very hard not to feed it, but it doesn't help when I do catch them gossiping about me and I used to sit behind them so I know the things they talk about and how they talk about employees). I can't afford physical therapy but my sister is a message therapist and she does massage/cupping/heat and cold therapy for me but I can't afford it as often as would really help.
To expand on the environment at work as well, I work in insurance claims and the turnover at that office is 63%, the caseload is unreasonable, the managers are micromanagey, and it is Very difficult to meet your metrics unless you are multitasking every second of the 8 hour work day and using overtime. There is also a huge focus on extreme butt kissing for the clients so just being formal and not joking around/emoting very obviously in a positive way, they ding you for customer service even if you were helpful and did everything you had to. When I am in pain, it is hard for me to fake this as I am an introvert and very logical and I've been compared to a European woman (?) in the way I am not super bubbly and overtly cheerful all the time. Luckily I got a promotion but I am not sure how much worse/better the next level up will be.
I have a ton of anxiety with work as well because of that HR issue and now me taking more time which makes me worry they will start threatening termination again for using the FMLA too much. My FMLA paperwork was accepted for 1-4 days per month, but they really don't like it when I have to do that.
My reality check is, from other people who have this issue, is this normal to have this level of pain that keeps you from work 1-4 days a month when you only use an NSAID and medical marijuana for coping or does this seem excessive? I struggle with chronic anxiety, depression, and maybe PTSD from that past abusive relationship, sexual assault as a young minor, and some other traumas early in my life. I am worried that these mental issues are making me feel like my pain is a lot worse than it is and I don't want to lose my job if I just need to accept that this level of pain will always be there and I need to learn to work through it and it might improve with further therapy for the mental health issues.
Other than this reality check, if you guys agree that this environment would have this effect for someone with DDD, do you have any recommendations for low stress jobs that pay $20+ that work out better with your DDD? Remote very highly preferred but not required.
