Pain Management at Teaching Hospital

[Jim M2]

After giving up on further improvement (4 years post ADR) my family doctor got me scheduled at the Univ of Washington Pain Center. My doctor was a resident just starting his fellowship to specialize in Pain Management. He couldn't figure me out to save his life. It only took a minute for the attending physician to straighten him out. They can only help manage the pain (which I knew). Here's what they recommended to my family doctor:
PT
Neurontin
Tramadol
and others not yet revealed to me

Good things about it:
They are not insisting on injections
They are not ignoring me because there's no injections on the horizon
They jumped past the silly recommendations (accupuncture, yoga, ....)
They made several meaningful recommendations to my family doctor
There is a follow-up appointment to monitor progress

So far I'm happy about the outcome.
Jim

[dshobbies]

Jim,

I'm glad you're finding relief in pain management. It matter little where you find relief as long as you find it but I am sorry to hear that after four years your problems have not relieved themselves.

As for those silly recommendations and/or other remedies, others have found relief utilizing them and should not catagorically be dismissed. I have just recently found some benefit to acupuncture and no one is more surprised than I. Others have discovered benefits to yoga and pilates and so on. We're all individuals and what works for one may or may not work for another. The important thing is to keep searching until you do find that 'thing' that works to better your life.

I wish you continued relief, Dale

[Jim M2]

Hi Dale,
Thank you for correcting me. I agree 100% with what you've written. I made a hasty generalization about these kinds of treatments. There is a reason they are prescribed, not only do they sometimes work, they're very conservative.

Jim

[mmglobal]

Jim... I'm so sorry that things have not improved in the 4 years since your surgery. I remember when you had it done and know what a tough road you've had... that difficult time transitioning from being hopeful for a quick recovery... hopeful for a slow recovery... hopeful for any recovery... then understanding that this is what you get.

Pain Management can be helpful, but I'm not sure I understand why you have to give up. You did the original surgery because you were in bad enough shape to justify taking the risks. You are still there and after a failed ADR at 1 level, you still have many options. I understand that it would be easy to pursue options if the indications were clear, but they are not.

Call me some time... I'd like to catch up. You still up in Seattle?

All the best.

Mark

[Maria]

Good luck! Maria

[Jim M2]

Mark,
Yes, I'm still in Seattle. I'm doing okay. Could be better, could be worse. When I say "give up" I mean I've given up expecting to manage this by my own devices such as exercise, restrictions, over-the-counter remedies (glucosime) and the like. The PM is just to get me through another year or two. I'll re-evaluate then.

Maria,
This is excellent news to see how you've been improving! Do you think your painful discs have given up the ghost? Are you naturally fusing at the painful levels? Most of the doctors I saw pre-ADR told me I would probably get better in a decade or more without surgery.

***
Mark and Maria,

Regarding options, I know there's many innovations such as the Coflex that Dr. Bertagnoli showed me last September. At the moment I'm too timid about surgery, even if it's fairly conservative and mostly reversible (like Coflex). I'm doing okay. I just want to do better and wait a little longer.

Thanks so much,
Jim

[elias2117]

Jim, sorry to hear that your still in some pain. I to had a spine surgery that failed to relieve my pain for the simple fact not all back pain comes from nerve or disc.Most people suffer from muscle-skeletal injury and really don't need surgery, so unless you have a positive sign of disc or nerve issues then you might want to look into PROLOTHERAPY! I have been fighting back pain for 6 yrs now with all tests showing negative results except for a Diagnostic Muscle-skeletal Ultrasound. That test showed major damage to my lower back muscles(tendons) Multifidus which is important in every move you make and very painful if damaged. I have been doing prolotherapy for several months which has reduced my pain, I'm two treatments into what the doc said would require about 6-8 so it take patients and time. Maybe prolotherapy isn't for you but maybe it's just what you need,becuse if your in a PM stage then what could it hurt. Luck for you there is a well known prolo doc near you. This treatment works after all the Mayo Clinic supports it. I hope you find relief and never give up. Best regards,John.


http://www.aaomed.org/page.asp?id=40&user_id=83128

http://www.getprolo.com/

http://www.drmarkwheaton.com/Prolotherapy.htm good info

http://drreeves.com/ lots of research

[dshobbies]

After I insisted a friend with severe back pain get a current MRI, she discovered her pain was muscular. She had prolotherapy and is doing much better. It's considered 'alternative medicine' and isn't covered by most insurances but may be worth trying when all else has failed.

Wishing you better days, Dale

[elias2117]

Well it's paid by insurance but must be done by a doc who is in network and then must be medically reviewed. I have had prolo paid for so maybe I'm lucky, I think in the future it will be covered just because it will save money and works very well. Tell your friend to do more sessions than the doc recommended I have read that doing just enough to cure the pain will only result in the problem reversing. The who point in prolo is getting new tissue and make the joint stronger not just to stop pain. It has happened to me now I plan on doing a year of it to insure the problem never comes back. I wish your friend the best with prolo and a speedy recovery. Best regards, John.

[mmglobal]

From another thread....

Originally Posted by mmglobal

... seek out lkastl on this forum... she did extensive reserach and has tried prolo... her situation is very different, but she'll be a good resource. She also has a therapist that has a So.Cal office. Let us know how it goes.

[Maria]

edited as necessary

[dshobbies]

Have you ever noticed that we only get about 5 great days in our lifetime. Something or someone always screws something up and so goes the way of our life.

We all wake up in the morning hoping that this will be one of those perfect days but it is what it is. We do the best we can with what we have and often much choose the best of what's offered even though nothing is to our liking... kind of like politics.

Try to smile and laugh as often as you can... and watch American's Funniest Videos and see if you can predict who will be posting on this forum

[Maria]

edited as necessary

[Jim M2]

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone.

I've been seeing a therapist who is outstanding. She's an excellent listener, teacher and experimenter. I'm hoping to get some better understanding of the pain generators.

John, Thanks for the links on prolotherapy. I had noticed forum discussions on it, but never knew what it was until now. I suspect it might work on some of my pain generators, but my chief complaint is the facets which was confirmed by nerve block injections a year ago. I'm pretty darn sure there's other pain generators besides the facets so I've got prolo on my list of options to consider going forward.

Maria, I definitely feel worse when there's tension in my life. I've had some misunderstandings at work that caused anxiety and more aggravation of my back problems, or so it seems. That is so awesome that you're feeling better!

Jim