Is this constant sense of one upping others, and almost rooting for others to not get better. I see this all the time.

Somebody has been in pain for 1 year. Invariably one or more people jump in and say "You think YOU'RE in pain? Try dealing with this for 20 years!" Followed by someone else saying 21, 30, I'm 95 and been in pain since I'm 14, or pain runs in my family for 10 generations, etc.

The other thing is...sometimes people do get better. 3 years ago, I was obliterated by a fluoroquinolone antibiotic (Cipro.) I was crippled. At my lowest I had BOTH my Achilles tendons repaired at the same time, so totally wheelchair bound, and had severe tendonitis in my wrist. I had one working hand and 3 bad limbs. That was last summer when I hit the lowest point. Yesterday, I walked a mile in regular running shoes, and today I am not flared. I can lift 30 pound dumbbells in my left wrist again.

I really feel for those who have degenerative conditions, those who will not get better and will only get worse. But can we not do this crabs in a bucket mentality where we tell young people they're in for another 40 years of pain as if it's a sort of rite of passage they need to experience to keep their pain card? Almost as though you don't want them to get better since you're not going to? In Cipro groups, somebody can post a recovery story and then someone else will chime in "Wait 5 years, it always comes back" which is really a disgusting thing to say to someone who made it out the other side.

Keep fighting. Don't give up. People do get better.

Edit: The only point I was trying to make is don't invalidate people's pain, and don't ever tell them they can't get better. Pain is terrifying enough. A sudden onset of acute pain is scary, chronic pain is scary, but sometimes, I'd even say a lot of the time (not always, of course), pain is temporary and you can get better. I needed somebody to tell me that 3 years ago, and I would like to emphasize that now.