Imagine you wake up one day and start to notice tingling and numbness in your toes. Worried, you see the doctor in case it’s a symptom of Diabetes. As the tests mount, the numbness turns to nerve pain. Your sleep patterns start to be severely impacted. You have trouble getting through your workday because you didn’t get to sleep till 4am and had to be up at 6:30am. Over time, you can’t seem to control your legs, your balance becomes so poor you can’t close your eyes in the shower for fear of falling. In a panic, you realize you are losing the use of your legs.

You run the gamut of tests, twice! You try any treatment you can think of – massage, naturopathy, psychotherapy, cold laser, acupuncture, cortisone shots, hot packs, cold packs, anti-depressants! 

Over 4 years, you plead with your doctor to send you to a neurologist, which he refuses. In desperation, you finally change doctors only to find she spends more time away than at work. The neurologist appointment finally happens. By this time, your sick leave has run out, the insurance company is on you to get a final diagnosis to approve your long term disability claim and the neurologist thinks it’s all in your head!

Defeated, your only option is to resign from your job. The only thing you know for sure is that you are in the Cycle of Chronic Pain.

Read the rest of the story here.