Saturday, May 5, 2012

Fentanyl Patches with TegaDerm.

I don't think I can place fentanyl patches with TegaDerm on my chest. I usually have reactions, but not this bad.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Pain Management and CT Scan Results

I went to aquatic PT this morning and got an extensive workout in the pool. It is much better than traditional PT.

Pain Management went over the results of my CT Scan. They were not good. I have disc bulges at L3-L4 and L4-L5 with spinal stenosis and loss of disc height at L4-L5. There is impingement on the nerve roots at all levels, mostly on the right.
They wrote for a Neurosurgery consult. Now I just need to wait and see what happens from here.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Lumbar Spine X-Rays

These are my lumbar spine x-rays from 2 weeks ago.




Aqua Therapy and Caudal Injection

I had my first Aqua PT appointment today. It was a nice experience compared to traditional methods. The pool, that is similar to a spa, is approx. 10x5 feet and 7 feet deep. They put a float around your waist and place you in a lift. The lift places you in the water and the platform submerges until you begin to float. Once you are floating, you hold the side bars and do the exercises as they instruct you. It still wore me out and I sleep for 4 hours when I returned home.

I just got a call from the Pain Management Office asking to reschedule my injection that was supposed to be done this week. They could only fit me in on the 4th and now needed to reschedule for the 15th. I told them not to schedule it until I talk to my primary pain MD. I am afraid that it will make the pain worse when the lidocane wears off. And they say the Canadian Medical System is worse... I doubt it.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Pain Management Appointment 4-23-12

I went to the pain clinic today to avert a trip to the ED for uncontrolled pain. I toughed it out over the weekend to get this appointment. It was not with my primary pain MD, wich could be a good thing for a different view. The thing that aggravated me was that even though I told them I was in 'suicidal" pain, he would not go up on my opioids. He prescribed amitripyline, 800 mg of Neurotin at bedtime to max out the medication and lidocaine patches to put over the primary pain areas. I am still not sure how that is going to reach the spinal nerves... He also wanted to do a caudial injection this week, but of course the schedule was full until 5-4-12. That was his plan so he didn't need to go up on the oxycodone. So much for that, so I will just suffer until then.

The first good thing he suggest was aquatic therapy, so I scheduled an appointment for this Thursday.

I missed 2 functions this weekend from pain and cannot enjoy my life. It is impacting my ability to take care of myself and it is becoming a depressing realization that I may need to live this way, but I haven't given up yet. My CT scan is this Friday and maybe it will reveal the primary source of the problem.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Physical Therapy and Progress

I have been in Physical Therapy (PT) for approx. 3 weeks now and my pain is worse. If the back spasms are bad, I can take 10 mg of Valium. My Therapist said if I don't make progress in another week, he is going to talk to the surgeons and cancel the rest of my appointments. On the 27th, I am going to have a CAT scan of my back for a Neurosurgical consult. I cannot have an MRI because of the SCS unit.

At this point, it feels like my back is broken. I have a pain management appointment on 5/1 and I might discuss the use of medical marijuana. It is legal in New Jersey and I am becoming concerned with the amount of opioids that I am taking. I am not sure that this is the right or ethical thing to introduce, but I am desperate for a pain free day.

I need to make another appointment with Psychiatry to discuss my current condition. They really helped me with the transition to disability in the past and living in chronic pain is draining. In 9/2010, I had a suicidal episode because of the loss of my job and the thought of having to live this way for the rest of my life. Thank God for my wife and my Mom for being there to help me through this. When you think of all of the issues you need to face at once, it is overwhelming. You need to concentrate on getting well and not guess what the future holds and you cannot control things you cannot.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Introduction

Welcome to my blog on back pain from degenerative disc disease (DDD). I started to suffer from DDD in 1999 after a sudden onset of putting my pants on and hearing a "pop". I fell to the floor immediately and it flet like I was hit in my lumbar spine with a sledge hammer.
Currently, I have had more than 16 fluroscopic guided epidural steroid injections, a microdiscectomy at L4-L5 in 12/1999, a hemilaminectomy at L3-L5 in 1/2000, and a laminectomy revision at L4-L5 in 9/2009. In 6/2010, I had a spinal cord stimulator (SCS) placed with a 5 lead paddle. This required a hemilaminectomy at T10 and a painful recovery after my pain medications not being added to my post operative anesthetic plan. The SCS unit provides some relief, but there are "dead zones" in my hips and other primary locations of my pain.
Currently I am taking the following pain medications.
75 mcg/hr fentanyl patch
10 mg of oxycodone 3 times a day
600 mg of Neurontin 4 times a day
150 mg of Effexor XR

I will add more details of my current course and stories of my past management and recovery.