[Adrienne]

True there's a clear depression/pain connection but a person in constant pain would have to be insane NOT to be depressed. I can't believe you have to pass a fruitcake test for surgery.

I think of the pain like vacuum. I can be drawn away to something positive in the outside world but the minute it's neutral, BAMMM, back I go. So there is a correlation to mood. The enticement outward to happiness and the pain play against each other.
The sanity-saver on this for me is that if I'm semi-reclined or lying the pain goes down to zero. I have control over it.
Walking is another story, unfortunately.

My husband is a physician and we're tied in with the local med community. But I think if not for that, if not for our friends saying, "She's really not a crock", I would have been given some meds and told to go home. My MRI's were perfect, the nerves with plenty of wide open spaces, but they kept looking and finally found the large tear on the discogram.

Now if anyone asks...I'm not depressed. Not at all La la la. I was thinking of trying an anti-depressant but maybe I won't now; it's probably bad packaging.
Thanks for the tips, ladies.

Adrienne