As a long time sufferer of back and neck pain, I can tell you first hand about the debilitating effects of chronic lower back pain and muscle spasms.
Fortunately for me, my pain symptoms are usually related to stress and lack of exercise (good muscle development and flexibility through exercise or yoga really helps decrease these symptoms), not because of injury or a degenerative disc or spine disease. In that sense I’m very lucky.
But the pain is no less real.
Last summer, I woke up in the middle of the night in so much pain that I had to drive to the emergency room. And after a 2 hour wait (it was 2 a.m.), several ice packs and 9 cc of morphine later I was promptly put out of my misery.
Actually, I felt pretty good with all that morphine pumping through my system – so good in fact, I wanted to drive home and get some much needed sleep. FYI: 9 cc’s of morphine is equal to 9 shots of tequila (or so I’ve been told).
But once I made my reckless intentions known to the hospital staff, a security guard was assigned to me and kind enough to re-direct my attention to CNN playing on the hospital waiting room TV and share some quality time with me (he was actually holding me hostage until someone could drive me home – I felt so good – no more pain and a lot of morphine – I didn’t mind). He twice had to stop me from leaving the waiting room.
Yep, I was under the influence, glad he was there to say “just say NO Mr. Rowe.” Of course, I was thinking clearly and quickly agreed with him.
Finally, my ride showed up, drove me home and I slept for the next 12 hours. No more pain, but only short term fix.
After my late night ER visit, I scheduled an appointment with my chiropractor who explained that the muscles in my back had tightened up and began to spasm at a much greater intensity than I ever experienced before. Hence the need for the emergency room visit and pain killers. But, I know from experience the pain will return if I allow stress to build up.
In retrospect, I can look back and pinpoint the huge amount of stress that I was putting myself under at the time that triggered the event.
My usual back pain treatment is a chiropractic adjustment and massage. Usually, one or two visits are all that it takes to get me feeling good again. Once again, I feel very lucky that more is NOT required.
Recently, I have had two clients recount their stories of back and neck pain, and each of them pinpointed their pain to the stress that they were under – financial stress.
In fact one client told me his pain started and increased in intensity as he began “negotiating” with his mortgage company in an attempt to modify his loan. He was losing sleep and he was experiencing a low level/low grade back and neck pain.
In another situation, it was the constant harassing phone calls from our friendly domestic terrorist organizations – the collection agencies, that caused another bankruptcy client to finally contact me in disgust over her situation, including the out of control collection agencies. She previously had a high credit score, but recently encountered a triggering event (loss of income) and was tormented (and guilt ridden) about not being able to pay her bills.
She called, cajoled and attempted to negotiate with her creditors, but they were unrelenting – they wanted their money now. One creditor suggested she miss a couple of mortgage payments to pay their bill off – this was suggested in a friendly manner and my client considered it for a time, but saw through the scam – pay off a high interest credit card (yes, she did owe the money, and she wanted to pay), but the “helpful” suggestion would have led to the default on her mortgage, and possibly the loss of her house.
So what is the diagnosis: eliminate the financial stress, you eliminate the pain caused by that stress.
Financial stress can only be solved by increasing income (paying off debt and current obligations) or decreasing or eliminating debt (spending less, debt negotition or bankruptcy).
If the first option is not available to you, and in my consultations we look at all options before we consider filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy most credit card debt, medical bills and unsecured debt is eliminated immediately.
If we file Chapter 13 bankruptcy, we first examine your finances to ensure you have enough income to pay for living expenses and repay the court ordered amount to your creditors.
Ignoring the symptoms and the underlying problem only leads to more stress and pain. If your sick of the pain (physical or emotional) or can’t think straight enough to figure a way out on your own, financial pain management is the place to start.
Disclaimer
Fresno-Bankruptcy-Lawfirm.com is owned by the Law Offices of Jeffery D. Rowe. We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Federal Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code). If you would like to discuss your situation in further detail, please call our Fresno offices at: (559) 228-1500 or our Merced office at: (209) 722-3700 to schedule a consultation.
