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Hurting Like Hell, Living with Gusto: My Battle with Chronic Pain (McFarland Health Topics) Paperback – November 15, 2017

by Victoria Stopp (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
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"Tuesday morning, I spent an hour with a neurologist trying to figure out why I kept tripping over my feet. He pushed and pulled on my legs, whacked me with a reflex hammer and shone a light so deep into my eyes I thought it might illuminate the wall behind my head. That afternoon, I drove home and ordered a new backpacking tent."

Pain is an unforgiving equalizer--forget social status, race or gender. For people suffering from chronic pain, "real life" can get lost among endless appointments, diagnoses, prescriptions and medical bills. Living a life beyond mere survival becomes as big a battle as fighting the pain itself.

Drawing on her experiences as both a patient and a health-care professional, the author candidly describes her sudden transition from a healthy, active lifestyle to years of learning to live with debilitating pain.

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Previous page
  1. Part of series
    McFarland Health Topics
  2. Print length
    171 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    McFarland & Company
  5. Publication date
    November 15, 2017
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    6 x 0.34 x 9 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    1476669902
  9. ISBN-13
    978-1476669908
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is so much more than just a beautiful read. It is a memoir to be cherished and referred to when we are feeling down." -Amos Lassen

"(Stopp) encourages patients treated for chronic pain to question what works best for their body and not blindly risk an addiction. Her book is both a critical look at contemporary pain treatment and a hopeful message to chronic-pain suffers to 'take their power back.'" -Out Magazine

"In this memoir she chronicles a downward spiral that began with workplace injuries she suffered as an emergency medical technician. She charts the development of chronic pain and the various mainstream and alternative treatments she tried, including painkillers, diet, and yoga. On her journey back to fitness, she learns many lessons about how to ask for help and how the medical field deals with chronic pain." -ProtoView

"Replace "some patients" with "Victoria Stopp," and you begin to get an idea of what she's been through. "I took the medicines, and they didn't help," she says. By then, Stopp was a hiking, mountain-biking, running, backpacking, full-blown outdoor enthusiast, and halting the activities she loved for a diagnosis doctors could hardly deliver (let alone treat) wasn't an option. Once, after a neurologist was evaluating her for multiple sclerosis--a disease that would explain her symptoms but also mean much bigger nerve problems--she drove home and bought a new backpacking tent on the internet." -Spartan Life

About the Author

Victoria Stopp's writing has appeared in various newspapers and magazines and on several websites. Her essays have been published in multiple anthologies and she was a 2017 recipient of a Wildacres residency. She lives in Pensacola, Florida.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ McFarland & Company (November 15, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 171 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1476669902
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1476669908
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.34 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

About the author

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Victoria Stopp

Victoria Stopp

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Victoria Stopp's writing has appeared in various newspapers and magazines and on several websites. She earned degrees from Agnes Scott College, Goucher College, and Pensacola State College. Her essays have been published in multiple anthologies and she was a 2017 recipient of a Wildacres residency. She is a public speaker focused on messages of empowerment and health. Victoria loves hiking, running, camping, and soccer. She won a 2018 gold President's Book Award from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association. Her author's blog is http://victoriastopp.com.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
39 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

T.E.
5.0 out of 5 stars Victoria Stopp's "Hurting Like Hell, Living with Gusto" is a brave and ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2018
Verified Purchase
Victoria Stopp's "Hurting Like Hell, Living with Gusto" is a brave and moving account of Stopp's struggle to manage, adapt to and -- yes -- hide severe chronic pain. As the country convulses in the grip of the opioid epidemic, Stopp's account of her travails is an intimate, irreverent and often very funny memoir of her experience with pain that came with a life-changing injury.
Stopp's excruciating neck pain resulted from one of the most common causes of injury among health care workers -- from an attempt to move a patient. She was an EMT accompanying a man in an ambulance when she made a fateful decision. In a moment of empathy for the distressed patient, she tried to turn him to relieve his discomfort, and flew across the ambulance when the vehicle accelerated. That moment of empathy changed the life of a woman whose athleticism and fitness defined her very character. "Hurting Like Hell, Living with Gusto" chronicles her methods of coping with the resulting changes in her life, her attempts at maintaining normalcy, and her fierce defiance of submitting to her pain. While not a chronicle of opioid dependence -- Stopp's steadfastly resisted dependence on pain-killers -- it does delve into the impossible choices that face people with chronic pain, including the easy path of medication, the problems of insurance, and the shortcomings of modern medicine, with its lack of holistic approaches to pain. "Hurting Like Hell" is a satisfying and useful contribution to the national conversation about pain and drug dependence, and should be on the shelf of anyone who doubts the exhausting struggles that come with chronic pain.
4 people found this helpful
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Donna Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Give Up
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2019
Verified Purchase
Do you live with chronic pain or know someone that does? Sadly, you and the others are not alone. You transform from a young, active, athletic person to someone you don’t recognize. Simple, daily tasks have become unbearable and sound sleep is rare. Your life becomes obsessed with finding relief, a cure.

Author Victoria Stopp is one of those people. In Hurting Like Hell, Living With Gusto, she candidly takes you with her on her several year struggle. From the onset of her pain caused by an on the job injury as an EMT she reaches out to the medical world for help only to find a system that easily hands out pain medication as a cure all. But it cured nothing.

Every specialist you can imagine and every tool and contraption she found, she tried. Special pillows, holistic remedies, changes in diet…she tried them all. But finally, she found professionals who did help and slowly she began to get her life back. And she took it back with gusto!

She’s honest about her feelings and at times they are heartfelt and raw. Stopp’s story and message is one we can all learn something from even if chronic pain is not your companion. It renewed my appreciation for my own health and the little things in life we often take for granted. It’s an interesting read.
5 people found this helpful
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Anne From
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book for Anyone to Read
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2019
Verified Purchase
Victoria's book describes, in detail, what chronic pain can do to an otherwise healthy person's mental health. She does not leave any of the details of her struggle out, from well meaning doctors who weren't able to help, to the frustrations of living daily life when pain is at its worse, to the rawness of not being able to help your spouse due to the pain you experience. Victoria takes the reader through the highs and lows of hope and despair as she deals with her pain for years before ultimately coming to grips with a new normal. This book is easy to read, relatable, and shows us what true grit is.
2 people found this helpful
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paul firmani
5.0 out of 5 stars Shine on crazy Diamond!
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2019
Verified Purchase
As an athlete whose life was stopped by a spinal cord tumor and subsequent chronic pain, I was pulled in by Ms.Stopp’s narrative and drive to get better in starts and stops.
Her gift of observing the small things is what had me so engaged the whole way through. I have had the same reactions to a squirrel’s demise as I read on her pages.
One person found this helpful
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Coffeeman
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone in chronic pain!
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2018
Verified Purchase
I reached out to this book as someone who was blindsided by chronic pain, and wondered how to find a new norm. This author shares with candor her struggles, setbacks and progress to offer the reader hope for still embracing what life has to offer.
2 people found this helpful
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Diane Burns
5.0 out of 5 stars Victoria does not mince words and tells it like it is
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2018
Verified Purchase
A page-turner that is a roller coaster of emotions from hopelessness to hope and anticipation. Victoria does not mince words and tells it like it is. Anyone who has endured chronic physical pain, whether an athlete or not, would benefit from reading this book.
5 people found this helpful
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PThomas
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is a very well-written book. The author offers a unique perspective and is an excellent storyteller. We all know someone who deals with chronic pain, and this book is relatable and relevant.
4 people found this helpful
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Happy Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great insight into life with chronic pain
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2018
Verified Purchase
Such a heartfelt and honest account of how chronic pain can rob you of your identity and how the quest to overcome it can consume your every minute.
3 people found this helpful
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