I don’t want to die, but I can’t live like this. A year ago I had a head injury. It was just a mild concussion, and I was expected to make a full recovery. Then, the unthinkable happened: before I recovered, I got another concussion, and a neck injury. This set off a cascade of unfortunate events that have taken almost every aspect of my life away from me. I can’t work, can’t sleep, can barely walk, can’t sit for more than a few minutes due to pain, and feel like I am slowly losing control over my arms and legs. Over time, things have gotten worse, rather than better, so now every day is more difficult than the last. The saddest part for me, is that a few months ago, I started to make a partial recovery. I got to the point where I wasn’t in constant agony, was able to walk a mile or more, and was able to drive a car. It seems as though nothing has gone right since the injury, however. About a month ago, I re-injured both my head and my neck (on separate occasions), due to accidents caused by other people who weren’t being careful around me. Now, things are worse than they’ve ever been. Even when they were improving, they weren’t great by any means. I haven’t been able to take a real shower or bath in over a year, due to extreme sensitivity to hot and cold, and even the slightest bump or jolt would send my nervous system into shock. I tried to focus on the areas where I was improving, in the hopes that everything would get better eventually. All the while, I seemed to be getting continually less coordinated. I’ve been to several neurologists. One suggested that I might have Parkinson’s disease, but the others I saw disagreed. The fact that it seems to be getting progressively worse, a year out from the injury seems to suggest some kind of neurological disorder at this point. I’m just not sure what, and it’s so hard to get doctors to listen. At present, I spend a lot of time in bed, because doing much else is too difficult. Even if I could regain just a little of the life I had, I wouldn’t consider ending it. I keep trying to hang on, hoping that I might eventually get better, or that some doctor will figure out what’s going on. It gets harder and harder every day though. I really don’t want to hurt my family or loved ones, and honestly this is the main reason I haven’t killed myself yet. I feel as though my situation is like being trapped in an airplane that I know will eventually crash. Do I end it now, while it’s still up in the air, or do I wait for the impact to kill me? I keep hanging on, hoping that by some miracle things will get better, but at this point, I’m not even sure if that’s realistic. Today I thought about buying a gun, but I’m too weak to make it to the store (less than a mile from my house). I tried to push myself to walk to the corner of the block, but my legs gave out before I reached the corner of my block, and I was violently ill for the rest of the night. I suppose if I’m determined enough, I might be able to make it, but at that point things would be so bad there would be no turning back. Do I wait it out at home, or do I muster the last strength I have so I have the option to end it if it gets too bad? Has anyone ever made it through something where there were no good options?
6 comments
I have been in your position in a different way. I took a massive od on tylenol when I was 16 and following that have had chronic GI problems since. 5 years of horrible pain and suffering. The first few years I saw dr after dr and non of them could help. Days without eating took a massive toll on my body and outlook. I fell into an even deeper depression and just gave up on life for quite a long time. To be completely honest with you what helps me the most with my pain in cannabis. But more specifically than that I was searching for answers and I came across CBD. I would say it is worth researching and looking into CBD, and seeing if it has the potential to help you. I spent so much time going to dr’s but non of them could help me at all, so I had to find a way to help myself. I wish you luck.
Also about CBD, it has to be from cannabis. I have tried CBD from hemp and it doesn’t work very well.
This may be a long shot, but I once read an article about a passionate bodybuilder who injured himself doing an exercise. He started regularly blacking out and generally just experiencing enough anguish that, over the years, he became suicidal.
Nobody could figure out what was wrong with him, and he eventually turned to tai chi for help. This was the first thing that really worked for him. Years later, he found out he had a slipped disk in his neck.
His name is Torben Bremann, if you google him, you can find contact details. I am not sure if that would help.
Otherwise, I would just encourage you to not give up: even though you are struggling right now, with persistence, hopefully you can find out what is wrong and how to fix it.
Take care and hugs 🙂
^Tai Chi is a great suggestion. I forgot to say meditation can be an extremely useful tool as well.
Having had with my own brushes with illness and minor injury, I can say that few people truly realize how your body can turn against you and become a source of extreme pain/suffering and displeasure.
I’m not suggesting this to you, but if I was in you position and there was no hope of living a reasonably normal life again, I’d opt for euthanasia-I’m sure they could classify you as a terminally ill person to get you approved.
Sometimes we just have to accept a great life is not in the cards for some of us. Think of those poor souls who randomly get hit by a car or get injured/killed by other horrible means every day. If there are doctors who can provide you with drugs/therapy that can heal you, great. Otherwise you’d be in limbo and as mentioned I personally couldn’t live like that.
Thanks for the comments. I’ll look into CBD, but I don’t have a good diagnosis. If it can help heal the nervous system then it’s worth a shot. I like the idea of Tai Chi, but I have a hard time with movement right now. Exercise was the only thing that ever helped in the past though. Now that I can’t walk very far, I need to find another way to stay active, so maybe Tai Chi could help. As far as euthanasia, I’ve looked into it. I’m all about having some level of quality of life in order for staying around to be worth it. That’s why I’m trying to find a diagnosis. If I have something that will get worse over time, then I would definitely end it right now. If there’s a chance I’ll improve, then maybe it’s worth putting up with all this. Maybe. Unfortunately most neurological conditions don’t meet the legal criteria to be considered terminal illnesses. Euthanasia is only legal if you can show that you only have 6 months to live. At least here. If I were to travel to Switzerland or the Netherlands, I would only have to show that I have unbearable suffering. Of course, if I were well enough to travel to Europe, I might just change my mind…