Dealing with Chronic pain..?

It all started way back around 2009. I was doing my Shooto training which is a MixedMartialArts sport and my guess is that at some point during one of the sparring matches I didn't punch right... because the next morning I could barely move my hand.

I went to the doctor to have it checked out and he told me that I bruised my metacarpals in my hand. That's a bummer! But giving it proper rest would do the trick.

A year later I still could barely lift anything up with my right hand. The pain had increased by going up in my lower arm mostly. I received a referral to a physiotherapist and whatever we tried... we were unable to take the pain away from my lower arm while the same pain slowly started to appear in my left arm as well. (and my upper back/shoulders/neck were also starting to hurt quite good but we didn't make the connection then).

After a while I went back to the doctor because the pain only started to get worse. I was referred to a sports doctor and went to another round of diagnosis. I have a few points in my lower arm and my elbow which are EXTREMELY sensitive. When you put your finger on it and press lightly you'll have me under complete control because the pain level will go through the roof. Ultrasounds didn't give anything conclusive but a pressure measurement of my lower arm did. Apparently the pressure was way too high and when putting in some tension it rises quickly while the decline in pressure after the tension is minimal.

It looked like I was finally looking at some sort of a solution. An operation where they would slice open the fascia would relieve the pressure. That was 2 years ago. I went for 2 surgeries that month because I also had damaged cartilage in my right knee. Sadly the operation for my arm didn't help the problem so I had to continue looking for the cause.

I ended up at a clinic that specializes in hand/wrist/arm problems and it turned out that the pain in my arm was not caused by tension of the muscle but was also triggered when I bend my wrist. I received Carpal Tunnel-syndrome and had to undergo yet another surgery. While doing the surgery the surgeon found out that my wrist had a severe inflammation. He removed that tissue as well and a few weeks after the surgery all seemed better. Until the pain slowly started to come back.

And now... the pain in my arms are still here, but my wrists are also hurting now. My neck is really killing me... moving my head hurts. My shoulder blades are joining in on the fun. On the upper side of my right hip it also doesn't feel right causing me pain with certain movements, my knee(s) hurt and since a few days now my feet are also very painful making it difficult to walk sometimes.

While I used to have hope that I could get rid of the pain has slowly faded away and I'm afraid of having this kind of pain for the rest of my life. And I can't say that I didn't try to get rid of it. I make sure that I'm eating properly. I have enough exercise during the day and I try not to avoid any activities unless it really really hurts.

But it all seems so randomly. Some days it's not so bad and some days are killing me and I can't find a pattern. Currently the pain keeps spreading to different parts of my body that didn't hurt before...

How do you deal with something like that? It's also having an impact on me mentally. I wonder sometimes if it's just in my head... , do I just need to exercise more? But I tried that and it didn't work, but still.... , and where will it end? will it get worse or will it stay this way? Pain medication isn't really helping anymore... so does that mean that I'll have to take stronger meds eventually (which I don't really want)? And all the while I try not to be a burden to anybody or allowing the pain to be a burden to me and I have lots of things in my life to be thankful for like my family, friends and such but since it's increasing so much lately that I have the feeling that it's taking up more of me than usual.

I hope somebody have some tips that could help dealing with it.