I have asked to be removed from all pain medications as they were not helping at all and did not want to just keep increasing dosage. So my PM Dr. suggested i try Ativan or Diazepam before bed and also a muscle relaxant called Baclofen for spasms during the day (which i had been on in 2013) it did not work, but he insists on trying it over the Soma 350mg i had been on before the surgery.... any input
View 1 Replies8 days ago I had ALIF surgery on L5-S1 disc. I can not get over how good my back feels. I never thought that I would be pain free again. I spent the last 2 1/2 years in extreme pain, I had tried everything to relieve the pain but nothing seemed to help even a bit. I had been taking 10/325 norco 4-5 times a day. Now after surgery I have absolutely no back pain, I do however have some discomfort in the stomach area from the incision. I go to get my stitches out in 6 days and still have 3 weeks before I go back to the surgeon for my follow up. I am hoping he will let me go back to work after my follow up. I know that all surgeries are not this textbook but for me it was remarkable. I am hoping that I can do some kind of working out once I have total fusion. I have put on 35 pounds over the last 2 1/2 years and have not been able to exercise. I hope others have had such great success with this surgery.
View 3 RepliesHad ALIF surgery almost 3 weeks ago and now bad leg pain on back of my thighs and under left knee. Is this common and when will go away. Back pains I knew but leg is bad.
View 1 RepliesI am interested in how you have recovered and how your nerve pain is.
i just had an alif L5=S1 on oct 22 and i think things are going ok. I only have slight discomfort around my spine, have slight nerve aches in my left leg but my feet ache like i have been standing all day. My surgeon told me to expect nerve pain for up to 4 months but i cant help worrying when i get pain where i never had it before I don't get pain walking or sitting, only the foot pain when standing and nerve pains when lying down.
I am going to be scheduled for an L5/S1 (ALIF) fusion surgery. While I am in significant amounts of pain, I am nervous about the recovery for this procedure. I would like to think that I have a high tolerance of pain but I am very nervous about this procedure. How long is the typical recovery time and how bad is the post-op pain? I am having a difficult time deciding when to have my surgery because I don't know how long to expect to be incapacitated.
View 3 RepliesI am 4 weeks post op from ALIF at L5-S1. I've had discectomy done twice (2002 and 2012) The last one didn't help any so we did injections and that offered no relief so it was on to the fusion. So far I haven't reached that point where I'm feeling any relief. My surgeon acted like I should have felt relief immediately. I'm still having lower back, butt, and all the way down my leg into my ankle and foot pain (all of this on the LEFT side) I've read and been told it could be quite a while before I get any relief. I was told I would only be in the hospital for 24 hours and was in there for 4 days. I used a walker for the first week and a half or so. I can now move around without it, I'm just very careful. I mostly lay flat in bed with ice. I do get up quite often to walk around the house and have started sitting up in a chair that my Home PT set up for me when he came to visit immediately after surgery. I also do the exercises my PT gave me.
About 4 days ago, I was laying on my side and I reached back to turn my heating pad on. I guess I wasn't thinking and twisted too much. I felt a sharp pain in my back that shot down my leg. Every since then, I have had the worst pain in my back. (I still had the same amount of pain in my back/butt/leg/foot as I did before this surgery 6/10. This new pain has been added to a new place in my back, and when I move it goes up to about a 8/10) I was giving it a few days before I called my surgeon because I don't want to be one of those people who constantly call the dr with small issues that go away after only a few days. This definitely is showing no signs of letting up) The worst part is, they just moved my meds down from hydrocodone 10-325 every 4 hours to Hydrocodone 7.5-325 every 6-8 hours. (Previously to surgery I had been on percocet 10-325/6 hours since June of last year. My surgeon prescribed that for one week after surgery then refilled me with hydrocodone 10-325/4 hours the last 2 weeks. These really didn't do the job, but at least I was somewhat comfortable so I dealt with it.) Now that they changed me down again, I'm getting no relief. Especially with this new pain. Over the weekend I was taking more than I was suppose to and now I'm worried I won't be able to get a refill when I need it. I've been taking pain meds for a little over 2 years now. I look forward to the day I no longer have to rely on them just to be able to get up out of bed in the morning. That day just doesn't seem to be anytime soon. I feel that at the age of 36, I am too young to be in this kind of physical condition.
When I walk, I am bent over to my right side like a little old lady. I can't stand up straight. And each time I take a step with my left leg, it feels like someone is stabbing me in the lower back on my left side. Hopefully I can get some answers tomorrow when I call. I knew this surgery was going to be a long recovery, and I was prepared for that. This new pain really has me worried and I really hope I haven't done something to mess it up. I just don't feel like this pain is something I should be having
Has anyone else injured themselves while recovering from a fusion like this? If so, what was your results? Did it heal on it's own or what? I know everyone is different, it's just good to not feel quite so all alone thru this. No one understands unless they have been thru it. Especially doctors they seem to think that everything goes exactly like the "book" says it should. That's just not always the case.
I am new to the board and am now one year out from lumbar fusion. I am a very physical person and a Personal Trainer as well. My low back pain has all but disappeared however neck and shoulder pain,stiffness and numbness are very concerning !!! I am currently treating with acupuncture and muscle relaxers. I also am a chronic migraine sufferer and believe this is partially being caused by cervical issues.
View 11 RepliesI was switched from Nucynta 50mg to to Opana 5mg (OxyMorphone) by my Pain Mgt doctor and I have a total different experience. I don't know if they messed up or what, but here's the issue.
While I was on Nucynta, I would take it, and eventually feel the effects, i.e. the lightheadedness, the "high" feeling, and also the pain relief. The reason I was switched was that Nucynta gave me migraines. Bad enough where I got ill and had to run to bed with all lights off.
Onced I was switched to Opana 5mg, things were different. I took 3 last night, my very first dosage, and took the first. No effects, no pain relief, no "high" feeling, nothing. So, about a hour and fifteen minutes later, I took another one. Still nothing. So I wait again, same amount of time, took a third pill...... Nothing.
So, when I saw the doctor originally and was switched, I was told that Opana was an equivalent to the nucynta. So, if it's an equivalent, why did I go from 50mg to 5mg? I'm just curious. I know they are different drugs and probably manufacturers. Can anyone shed some light on this bizarre issue?
I am a 40 year old male that has had two back surgeries. First Surgery February 2014 Lumbar Spine Posterior Discectomy Micro-discectomy on L4 & L5. Surgery failed no improvement. My Second surgery March 2015 Anterior lumbar interbody fusion (alif) surgery on L4, L5, & S1 with cage implants and bone grafts harvested from my own hip bone. I experience sciatica on my right leg and most frequent on left leg ;shooting pain down my right/left hip/buttocks, goes down the back of the leg. The last 3 years left foot numbness. My worst pain is in bed getting up is very painful. Before my ALIF surgery I suffered from sciatica foot numbness and pain in mostly my left leg region. After 6 weeks post ALIF surgery or so I started getting pain in my buttock/hip region. This actually started during my physical therapy. At first I was doing water therapy this is when it started. My last day of water therapy I was literally about to go to ER from P.T clinic. From there on it just had gotten worst, no real improvement. I went back for more P.T sessions stretching and other exercises . What Physical Therapist did notice that my hip motion was very limited and not much improved happen during all my sessions about 40 or so. Its being about 10 months after surgery and 4 months of P.T. and pain on hips doesn't go away. I have to be careful going up or down stairs. Getting out of bed or moving around in bed its a battle. I have spoken to my surgeon and he says it will take more time for recovery and possible have to live with this pain as a fact of life. I have also spoke to other doctor s and pretty much same response. Once thing I just found out recently is about Hip Bursitis. I was diagnosed with Arthritis. My surgeon keeps on saying its my Arthritis causing pain but prior to ALIF surgery I never had this buttocks pain , specially getting in and out bed. I was wondering if anyone has had same symptoms after spinal fusion surgery having Hip Pain From Arthritis or Hip Bursitis?
View 10 RepliesI was in a car accident about a week ago and 4 days after the accident I started having pain on the left side of my ribs right under my breast when I take deep breathes, yawn, sneeze, ect. It a little swollen but doesn't hurt to touch. what could this be?
View 3 RepliesCouple days ago I stepped out of bed and almost hit the floor as the excruciating pain shot through my calves. I have not exercised or done anything extreme. I have tried stretching and over-the-counter pain meds ..
View 1 RepliesI have excruciating pain on my right side almost constantly and when I take a 1mg xanax, my pain goes away. Why is this? A Lot of people question this when I tell it but in all honesty it works. I wouldn't be telling it on here as telling it on here doesn't benefit me at all. I would just like to know why a xanax will stop my pain on my right side. Any ideas?
View 2 RepliesI have been on 3 pills a day of norco 10/325, I want to slowly taper off. I need a plan that would be with no W/D's. I thought about starting a reduction of 1/2 a pill every week until I am free of the pills.
I also need to stop taking celexa, I am going to cut back 1/4 a week to iam off.
Will this work?
Or do I need to get suboxone and is that addicting.
Once off the pills, I don't know what I will do about my chronic pain.
My dr. did a CT scan on my left side to see if I had sciatica as I had a lot of symptoms of it. It showed minimum damage to the nerve. I was not told what to do next? Should I get a follow up with what kind of specialist? Would a MRI show more information then the CT scan?
View 1 Replieswill i have withdraws after taking suboxone 3 weeks? they put me back on pain meds because i having surgery soon
View 3 RepliesI went to my Pm yesterday and let him know that I wanted off the methadone. So since I had to see the NP because it was considered an emergency visit they decided they were going to put me on the patch where you wear it for three day then take it off. So I asked about the side effect and after hearing them something in me panic and snapped and I said forget I want off of everything. So as off right now I am coming off of the methadone. I decided that with the scare of my heart and the new neurological problems they only way to know is if I come off of the meds. I am still on the Topamax he did not want to take me off of that because I have been on it for over a year and never had a problem. SO I am hoping in with 2 months we will know if it was the meds causing the neurological problems or the something else.
What made me snap was I was telling him that I wanted something for the muscle because I was having a lot of spasms and tightness and off of the methadone and he totally ignored me and said well we are going to give you something a lot strong and this should work since the methadone has not been working. It was as if he was not listening to me. He said to me you are going to Cleveland clinic (CCF) to be treated for the muscle so the will figure it out soon, I said yes but I do not get medicine from them because I have a contract with you. I don't know why he would not give me a muscle relaxer but I feel better knowing that I am coming off of the medicine for a while I just hope I can handle the pain long enough to see of it is neurological or a side effect from the methadone....
.I had a C5-C7 disc fusion done 5 years ago that alleviated all of the pain in my neck and shoulders. What I am left with is a severe case of peripheral neuropathy. My feet and legs are numb to the touch but hypersensitive when I walk so I cannot go very long distances without the tingling burning throbbing pain. This pain is heightened at night when I go to sleep thanks mostly to the 300mg of Lyrica twice daily. I had an EMG nerve conductivity test performed which of course indicated severe neuropathy.
Now I am going to a neurologist who says I have to put up with the pain. I am going back on Monday to my neurosurgeon to ask for a lower MRI (never done) and I wanted a referral to PM because the pain is out of hand on 600mg of Lyrica daily. I have been on Oxycodone before and hated it and I do not like the stigma attached to these drugs so I thought I would ask my doctors to consider Methadone. What does everyone think? I know Methadone has its own stigma but is long acting and something I NEED right now and probably for good as I have had this neuropathy for 5 years.
I have suspected Piriformis Syndrome & SI Joint Dysfunction also causing sciatica, have also had some nerve pain in the back of my thigh, occasional calf cramps, foot cramps, and foot pain. Since my last Cortisol injection into my SI joint it has made everything horribly worse, I cannot sit now for very long without severe left foot pain that makes me feel nauseous it's so horrible. I have informed the consultant of this and am on a waiting list to go back and see him, this is the 2nd time the injections have caused me extra pain so have now lost faith in these and want to try alternatives.
My consultant previously wanted to put me on Amitriptyline but I have been on this before and was taken off it due to serious sedative side effects (even fell asleep eating in a restaurant) was on a small dose and still didn't improve with time. So I've read that Nortriptyline is an alternative with less side effects, can anyone advise if they have had less sedative side effects with this than Amitriptyline please?
So I'm on 10 mg norco 4 x daily. I keep telling the doctor if I can take 5 a day because 4 isn't enough and I'm in a lot of pain. he doesn't even respond I'm frustrated. Should I ask for percocet 4 x daily.
Wouldn't I have to take 10mg percocet for it to be stronger then 10 mg norco since percocet 7.5 mg is equivalent to 1o mg norco
I have a few questions about withdrawal I have been taking between 2-4 Norco 5/325 for the last year for pain and i'm ready to get off but im so scared to go through the withdrawls so i'm wondering ow bad it would be I have read so many stories on the internet but they are taking way more then me any advice would be great I want my life back......
View 1 RepliesSo told doctor about fentanyl issue and he said we could give Percocet a try again. Ni was getting nausea from it before. So I said ok, now have a script for 90 Percocet 7.5mg. Just had 60 Norco filled last Saturday hoping this won't be an issue at pharmacy. He said the Percocet will be more effective for pain. Also I have a box of unopened fentanyl patches. Can I return them to the pharmacy? I don't want to have pharmacy and my insurance think I'm stocking up on meds.
View 3 Replies