I've been seeing a doctor that deals with pain management for over 4 years now. Since my back went out on me over 4 years ago I've needed constant epidural every 2 to 3 months but about a year or so ago I didn't need them any longer due to the fact I stopped exercising which created the pain to begin with. I still however take pain medications to "control" the pain that comes and goes and other problems that have come along as well. Since the more walking I do the more pain I have the more pain medication I need. Its a very bad problem that will only get worse as my back gets weaker and other problems develop as well. Falling on it not long ago it really made me need more of my pain medication but I would rather deal with a pain that is manageable at about a 3 to 5 level , which spike at times to 8 to 10, than go back to the epidural. Pain management is a very important thing to be on to be certain that you don't go overboard with any medications to reduce the pain. That said at times it would be great to have morphine to reduce those high pain levels at the times they hit but since I don't like to take medications anyway I refuse and live with that pain until it diminishes. I've seen friends that went into addiction with those addictive pain medications and they had a very difficult time stopping themselves from that addictive lifestyle. That's why I just live in pain rather than become an addict. Which would you do? :shrug:
you should see a physio, doctors only mask pain but a physio will try to get to what is CAUSING the pain and fix it. It takes effort and it will probably hurt but long term you will be better off
I have degenerative disc disease and 4 discs are paper thin causing them to pit pressure on the nerves in my spine.
I live in constant and frequently debilitating pain. I was taking morphia for it, until I got addicted and now I'm on methadone. I used to self-prescribe heroin (diamorphine), but have quit this now. I have simpathy and a deal of empathy for fellow sufferers of chronic pain, it's not much fun. Have you thought about a TENS unit to disrupt your nerves in the back, and if so, did it help?
I have suffered bouts of severe back pain without taking any meds, so I knew when I was doing something destructive and would stop. Do not worsen the situation ... find and fix the problem. Generally, sitting is the most unnatural position and stresses the back the most; standing or lying down is the least stressful. Yes, counter-intuitively, standing stresses your back less than sitting. Get down to a healthy weight, if needed. Learn and practice healthy postures. The big trouble with any opiate (natural or synthetic) is that your brain senses its presence and compensates for its painkilling effect on the brain by increasing the brain's sensitivity to pain, which leads to addiction because you become increasingly hypersensitive to pain and require more of the meds/drugs. Non-opiate pain meds (aspirin, tylenol, ibuprofen, etc) don't effect the brain like this. When you go cold turkey from opiates, you feel like you're dying because you're sensitivity is still cranked up, the opiate has worn off, and your body naturally produces pain signals. People's brains normally ignore such signals, otherwise the tight shoes, bunched up undies, paper cuts, etc would drive you crazy (which is what happens in withdrawal). Learn to taper off. Opiates also make you constipated by slowing down the peristaltic action of your intestines, but the colon continues to remove water from its contents, so it has more time than usual to remove water, and the contents become hardened. Try using as much of non-opiate meds as possible, or a combined med of the two (such as an opiate with aspirin or with tylenol/acetaminophen/paracetamol, etc), depending on what will overstress your stomach (aspirin), liver (Tylenol), etc. Discuss this with you pain mgmt doctor or PA. Be careful with methadone (especially when switching over to it) because it stays in you longer (slow to act, slow to be eliminated), and you might think it's "not working" and take more, but end up OD'ing. It kills stupid "recreational users" who think it's safe because clinics dispense it.
Hi Cifo, yes, you are quite correct in your analysis. The only real benefit with using methadone for pain-relief is that I can sleep. The withdrawls from the diamorphine appear to make time go very slowly, with imsomnia thrown in for good measure. Obviously I will slowly reduce my methadone intake, but may have to consider a great deal of further surgery, and nothing is guaranteed down that route either. I went a certain route that only addressed the symptoms, in an effort to make the pain liveable. Unfortunately I had to go this route as my local doctor refuses to prescribe anything stronger than paracetamol. It's a problem living in an isolated community sometimes.
I was given Demerol and Dilaudid to help ease the pain once and it did help but they were to good and I could easily see how an addiction could easily be had. I just try to relieve the pain with Tramadol for the most part a non opiat drug which takes the "edge" off of the lower end pain scale events but does little to relieve the 8 to 10 big ones that happen without warning anytime and anyplace. I just grab another Tramadol to help ease it a little but that high end pain lasts a short time until I can just sit awhile and straighten out my back a little.
The Actiq or Fentora "lollipops" (oral transmucosal fentanyl applicator) are "breakthrough" pain opiates designed for those big random events that regular pain meds can't subdue soon enough or hard enough (without leaving you useless for the rest of the day). You may want to discuss this with your pain mgmt people.
Should have told you about that. Yes, I've been given a "patch" once which almost killed me! It seems I'm very reactive to that medication and when it was applied to my back it hit my heart as well which caused a big problem.
Ask the doctor about having the discs or disc fragments vaccumed out through microsurgery. Seriously...there was a survey done of people without back pain...and a lot of them had ruptured discs too... the issue seems to be more where the old disc tissue squashes out. If it squashes toward the spine or major nerves, you have problems. Yoga keeps my back problems from being problems.
I've seen a few doctors about "spinal fusion" which puts steel rods through your spine to keep the area from moving. I've been told this does a very good job of stopping the movement so that the disc's aren't bothered very much at all. The down side is that you will never bend over any longer, which , to me, isn't worth the surgery because I need to bend to pick shit up! I just don't have any disc membranes left any longer so there's nothing to remove. They are making new types of artificial disc's but they need replacement after a few years so I really don't relish the thought of a surgery every 3 to 5 years on my back.
Sounds like several affected discs, otherwise two fused vertebrae wouldn't limit range of movement much. They also make some really impressive stuff called "BMP" (Bone Morphogenetic Protein) that encourages the body to grow bone, and it is used in spinal fusion. The armed forces have also used it experimentally to generate massive amounts of lost bone, and thus, saving limbs that otherwise would have been amputated.
There are 4 and two more are on the way out as well. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! But I've lost disc membrane not bone. :shrug:
When i had the motorcycle accident that smashed my arm, I was thrown on my back, breaking a rib in the process. It was the first major back-pain I'd had in years and although I hadn't broken it, the spine was severely swollen and bruised. I'd forgotten just how bad serious back-pain could be. There's nothing to compare as virtually all movement in the upper body eventually depends on the muscles in the back. Not being able to move wasn't any fun at all, especially as I'm normally highly independent. I've since bought an Ortho-mattress which helps, though it's a bit hard. Worth the money though.
I use to go to a rehabilitation department at a hospital in which they had a device that was very similar to the torture chamber thing called "the rack". It was very good, the best, to relieve my back pain by pulling my spine apart using a neck and foot restraint straps to secure me with. This was the only thing that ever relieved my pain without medications. Unfortunately it only worked as long as I was using it.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I had a very firm mattress but it wasn't helping me at all but my new softer one does, I don't know why but it just does.
