what it feels like: living with a type of arthritis normally found in seniors

what is facet joint syndrome?

facet joints are located at each vertebral level of the spine, one on each side, according to orthopedics and sports medicine at the mayo clinic . these joints help the spine to be flexible, to turn and bend.

in fact, because the pain doesn’t follow a nerve root pattern, it’s called referred pain , since the brain can’t figure out the source of it. people often have to turn their whole body to look to the left or right, and have difficulty standing up straight or getting out of a chair.

it’s usually diagnosed by x-ray, ct scan, mri or by injecting an anesthetic and anti-inflammatory into the joint. if there’s immediate relief, it’s likely facet joint syndrome. its prevalence is difficult to determine because, according to arthritis society canada , the condition can be a cause of lower back pain, which is very common, so it’s not recorded.

living with facet joint syndrome

she says her pain meds were on the high end — 900 mg of gabapentin three times a day when it’s generally not recommended to exceed 1800 mg per day. “i didn’t really have a lot of sense of self so i decided to pull it back quite a ton,” she says. “i also have to take hydromorphone and morphine in certain situations but generally i try to keep it a little more holistic these days [by using] natural anti-inflammatories.

the other side of the mountain with facet joint syndrome

she has participated in some fundraising events with arthritis society canada, and collaborated with them on a video of her life, illustrating what it means to be young and arthritic, to have spent so much time in hospitals and medical trials. she’s also been involved in the society’s “ fire ball ” galas and fashion shows to raise money and awareness and to change the narrative around what arthritic pain looks like.

it was that loss of autonomy over her body that she says is one of the hardest aspects of her condition. always active, not just as a skier but as an avid mountain biker, kayaker, and backpacker, she says she had to give up so much of it because of the debilitating pain she’s lived with every day. but, last winter, she took up sit-skiing with the whistler adaptive sports program and says she regained much of the autonomy she’d lost. “it made me feel like i had a little more control over what was going on.”