pain and weight gain

Happy Sunday afternoon everyone.

As most of you know, if you have read my posts, I've been in a major car accident in 85 and was diagnosed in 2003 with a non-malignant spinal cord tumor that will eventually take the use of my legs.  Now I have always lived with pain, but as the years have progressed the pain has taken a lot of the quality of my life away from me.

I've never been "ultra" thin and have had my years of being heavy (now isn't that a relative term?) and years of being at an almost normal weight for my 5'2" frame. It seems though as my quality of life has decreased the weight has increased up to my present weight of almost 200 pounds.  I have never ever in my life been this heavy, two years ago I weighed 145 pounds.  I find that the more the pain grows the more I eat.  Now I know that part of this constant eating is the fact that I have no control over my life and in the area of food I have control I just choose not to, now that makes sense doesn't it?  Another component is depression, I can't do the things I once did.  I know, I know I say I've adjusted but do any of us really?  And then there is the Lyrica, it works wonders for my neuropathy but reeks havic on my brain, it doesn't shut off when I'm full, I know that I should be full but I don't feel full, if that makes sense.

I tell myself every Sunday morning that this is a new week and I'm going to start eating healthy and for the most part I do, well if you exclude chocolate, I just eat to much of it. Yet by Sunday afternoon it's back to the same overeating and the same hating of myself for doing it.

I have decided to stop taking the Lyrica, while it is a God send I know it is part of the problem. I know I should exercise but it is hard.  Even with pain meds I can't walk very far. I bought the palites machine and yoga tapes and was wondering if anyone else with limited mobility of their legs (my right leg doesn't work very well) uses these or if anyone else has any suggestions on exercises that people with limited mobility can do.

I would also like to know if there are other people out there in the same boat as me and if you would like to get together and talk in this forum or start a new one.  I think it would be helpful for me and maybe others if we didn't feel alone.  Pain separates us so much, from the so called "regular world" as it is maybe if we could talk, encourage, and gain insight from each other it would be one less thing that separates us.

If anyone has any ideas or if they have any suggestions on exercise (and don't say swimming, I'm a great swimmer but there is no way I'm getting in a suit right now :) ) let me know

Thanks

Vickie