frustrated wife, husband in pain

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scostakis

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:dizzy:My husband had an accident in 12/07 that left him unable to work. Since then he found out that he has 3 degeneraged discs in his lower back, one of which is also herniated and arthritis in the facets (whatever that means). He's in terrible pain on a daily basis. None of the medications seem to help him and surgery is not an option according to the neurologist. The one thing that was recently suggested was the VAX-D, but our insurance denied it saying it is experimental. We can't seem to get a doctor to come out and say he's disabled, and yet they tell him he can't work. There seems to be no help on the horizon either medically or financially. We live in Indianapolis, IN and I was wondering if anyone had advice.
 
Scostakis,
I have two bulging discs, DDD, and spinal stenosis which causes constant pain which my NS says is not operable. I had a series of steroid injections which did little, but the one thing that helps me to control the pain is water therapy. I went for about 8 weeks and learned from PT's trained in the McKenzie method and now I go on my own to the YMCA warm water pool twice weekly. I continue the exercises I learned, and just about 40 minutes really helps. I did not want the side effects of all the drugs, so I am able to get by with an occasional Alleve. I have learned to cope, and though many activities are limited, I lead the most normal life possible. The thing that I notice most, is that when certain of my muscles are tight, the pain is worse, and I have learned some gentle stretches that help immensely. I hope you find the right answers.
Kay
 
I am so sorry that you have to go through this with your husband. I am a spine patient and I understand what kind of stresses it puts on the healthy partner. Sometimes in our desparation we are willing to just about try anything, regular treatments, alternative stuff, unsuccessful surgeries, even high cost treatments in our quests to get well and get our life back.

Did your husband go to a Pain Management specialist? Many of us here on this board, the spinal board and the pain management board have very serious issues and we are being treated by specialists who are able to get us to comfortable mode for the most part, although it is usually not in a completely pain free state. It takes patience and a good PM to figure out the right corabinations of medications for most of us. Have your husband tried spinal injections? Been evaluated for a spinal cord stimulator or pain pump?

Some of us do not return to our former lives and that is a hard thing to accept. If you are having difficulty getting help with the disability aspects the biggest piece of advice I have there is to get a private Functional Capacity Evaluation by a professional evaluator. The evaluators are good at using objective measurements and data to prove your case. Usually if the evaluator finRAB you disabled and provides the data to the doctor, you will find them a lot more willing to help you out. Most doctors do not want to get tied up in the nightmare of getting a patient declared disabled.

There are a few insureres who do cover this VAX D treatment. I don't know anything about it pro or con. If you met with a provider of this treatment, if they think it will help your husband it would seem they might be willing to provide some complementary treatments to prove their point. If he had some immediate improvement then it would be a reason to continue.

Try getting in some discussions here on these boarRAB, there are lots of good people with very good ideas and information.

Good luck!
 
Scostakis - just checking that you received the email that I sent to you? If you didn't, let me know and I'll try again.

Stonepile
 
scostakis- I live in Indiana and did a fairly thorough research of spine practices. If you want to PM me I can give you some specific information that might help you out.
Stonepile
 
neckpatient said:
Did your husband go to a Pain Management specialist? Many of us here on this board, the spinal board and the pain management board have very serious issues and we are being treated by specialists who are able to get us to comfortable mode for the most part, although it is usually not in a completely pain free state. It takes patience and a good PM to figure out the right corabinations of medications for most of us. Have your husband tried spinal injections? Been evaluated for a spinal cord stimulator or pain pump?


First of all, thanks so much for responding to me! I have already learned more than I thought I would and it's very much appreciated.
Now to answer your questions. My husband is currently seeing a pain management doc and has been for almost a year now. He has tried many pain medicines (ibuprofen, naproxen, tylenol 3, darvocet, hydrocodone, tramadol, oxycodone, lyrica) with little to no results. Lyrica provided the most relief, but it didn't last more than a month or 2. His pain doc has not suggested corabinations of meRAB to us as yet and told us that the next step would be methodone, but my husband doesn't want to go there at this time because of all the risks involved. Currently he's on no meRAB at all. He has had 1 series of steroid injections which gave him no relief. We have never heard of a spinal cord stimulator, so no he hasn't been evaluated for one. PM doc has my husband in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy once a month (like that helps alot). I guess he thinks it's a mental issue.
I think the biggest problem is that the docs seem unable to or incapable of pinpointing the source of his pain. All I know is that when he breathes he winces alot of the time and it just kills me to sit idly by and do nothing at all. So all your suggestions are very helpful to me.
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Thanks minstrel2, the McKenzie method is another one we haven't heard of as yet and it's offered in our area as well. Although he did have PT early on in his therapy, it didn't do much good for him. I believe they just gave him a few stretching exercises to do. I'll see if we can figure something out about this particular method. Maybe it will help...who knows!
 
scostakis will you go in your profile and turn on Private Messaging! I have some info for you.
 
i'm sorry for what you and your husband is going through,, i told a woman from SS that last week,, this not only takes from your life it affects your whole family in alot of ways. alot of the time pain meRAB will take care of alot of the pain issue BUT cause other issues and side affects which are equally crippling. so the phrase damed if you do and damed if you dont seems to fit the situation most of the time. Im not much of a fan of surgery as i have had 3 and the hardware (screws and roRAB) have came apart twice.

if your husband has a herniated disk and its gettin into his nerves,, i dnt quite understand why they wouldnt go in and trim the disk to relieve his nerves of the disk being herniated into it,, because most of the time its the only chance of relief.

but here is some of the deal i have found with surgery-- they can make issues worst than your current issue and more painful,, because surgery causes-- scar tissue, arthirtis,and alot longer recovery period,, but when you have a herniated disk that gets into your spinal cord it rubs on it which will cause a sore on your spinal cord which will and can cause nerve damage and when it gets trimmed off from surgery the sore heals but causes scar tissue to form where the sore healed. i had 3 herniated disks and its been a hard fight to get help,, its cost me a small fortune. which cost my family also, i had medical insurance that covered 80% but the other 20 i have had to pay. but here is what i have had, 1 microdisectomy - 2 full fusions- 2 diskograms- 1 mylogram- 4 or 5 MRI's- 2 nerve burns- and at least 10 injections.. but everyone has to understand when your in unbearable pain daily you'll try anything to just make it better or just try to get it stopped. There is times when i just want to jump off a tall bridge on a regular occurance but i lost my dad at age 18 and wouldnt do that to my boys as i know the constant pain it would cause to them and my spouse,

i tried to get help,, but in alittle over 3 years i have just gotten approved for ssd and in this process i tried to get fooRABtamp and my wife dont make much,, they told me to sell off everything i have worked for all my life and then come back.. im very close to that now but hopefully i will get some money shortly from my backpay which will only catch me up from what i owe ppl and my bank but at least i wont have to sweat it like i have for almost 3.5 years, and worring about paying all these ppl back., like this april i had a nerve burn which cost me 425 dollars and with my 253 dollar insurance premium for the month thats almost 700 dollars.. how am i suppose to feed my family and try to pay bills shelling out that kind of money 3 or 4 times a year not counting the surgeries. i just dont know sometimes. i wish it could be like it was before i got hurt. i miss being around ppl. you feel so isolated most of the time and like this (internet) its about the only way to sociallize anymore..

it's a long hard fight and the only way to get through it is for you and your husband to stick together and fight it together. its easy to get very resentful through this process. but if you stick together it will make it alittle easier to see it threw

i also want to add is unless its a extremely severe debilitating injury most doctors wont say he's disable unless they have dealt with him for a long period of time. but most chose to not get that involved other than medical care.
 
Thanks for the information! I'm checking into the APS therapy and will make notes. SounRAB very interesting. I wonder why I've never heard of this before. Is it experimental in the US?
 
I am so sorry for what you and your husband have gone through that really sucks! I did vax-d three years ago and it worked great for me. My insurance didn't cover either - but the clinic that I went to let me do a payment plan and that really helped - call around to other clinics and see if that is an option for you.
 
Hi scostakis - APS looks like a TENS unit that we use in the us. This is an external stiumulator that would be a very simplified version of the implaced spinal cord stimulator they use for pain cases that cannot be managed by medication. I have some more info for you and will send to you in PM if you turn it on. PS do you have the text of rabroad MRI?
 
Very sorry on your problems, I understand where you are coming from.
Did you take your husband for a second opinion but not to Neurosurgeon or Neurologist but to a Spinal Ortho Doctor?
I had to have 3 opinions before surgery and many more after I had any.
One opinion with such a problem is not usually a good thing, you can trust me on this one.
And another thing is: I am under PM care for 5 years now and will be there for the rest of my life. They work with a patient (sometimes to find a good one takes time also) and make a special "cocktail" suitable for this particular patient, b/c we all very different and what helps me not necessarily helps someone else.

Best of luck to you, and I hope he will start feeling better!:angel:
 
broke as a joke - I'm right there with you on several of your points and so sorry you've been through all that you have. I just don't understand how the docs can say that he can't work any more but yet they won't come out and say he's disabled. Isn't that the definition of disabled?
As far as the surgery is concerned, they tell us that since 3 of his discs are degenerated, there's nothing they can do there. The herniation supposedly doesn't show on an mri that it's hitting the spinal cord. It wasn't until last month that his PM doc mentioned that there could be spinal fluid leaking that may be causing his pain. We just don't know which way turn or which way is up at this point. He's supposed to go for an EMG this month, so we're hopeful that it will at least show where the pain is coming from. I do have health insurance that pays for some of the bills, but it's a very limited policy. I work for the county hospital here and they pay 100% of the bills for the docs there, but God forbid you have to go to a specialist. At that point they only pay 70%, if at all.
My husband also lost his dad to suicide when he was about 19, so he just grins and bears it for the rest of his family. As far as the PM is concerned, I'm going to suggest a few new things to his doc at his next appointment. I don't honestly know why he's even going to see the man at this point because he's not doing anything for him. Supposedly this guy is the best there is here! UGH!!!
 
I just wanted to clarify...is he seeing a Neurologist or a Neurosurgeon? A Neurologist can't make a surgical judgment. And, see if he can have a consultation with an Orthopedic Spine Specialist as well.
 
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