Pain Management

As a competitive endurance runner, and aspiring professional athlete, I eagerly desire to maximize my aerobic capacity, balance, mobility, and strength. However, with an assortment of ailments left ignored and/or undiagnosed and/or untreated and/or unsatisfactorily treated by physicians, I've found that it's been difficult (and sometimes impossible) to possess such crucial characteristics. I have many physical problems in various regions of my body: abdomen, ankle, ear, esophagus, foot, forearm, glute, groin, hip, jaw, knee, neck, nose, shoulder, thigh, tibia, wrist, and more. Furthermore, this list doesn't even include my experience with complications like chronic obstructive sleep apnea. In regard to receiving sufficient medical treatment for these conditions, I keep encountering barrier after barrier (administrative, financial, logistical, technical, temporal, and otherwise). And just because I CAN function (though not as effectively) with moderate/severe pain/discomfort, does not mean I SHOULD do so. Long-distance running, particularly marathon training/racing, is already objectively one of the most grueling sports (without additional and unnecessary pain). So, as a runner who has taken countless measures to manage pain and has yet to enjoy much in terms of pain relief, it's been hard to sustain my motivation to earn achievements at the highest level of competition. In order to improve my physical health and fitness, and therefore restore my quality of life, I require a number of costly medical treatments (related to the digestive, musculoskeletal, nervous, and respiratory system). But sadly I can't afford all of them. Thus, for the time being, I will continue to make do as best I can.