Pain, scar tissue and adhesiolysis

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elsa50

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Hi. I had a L5-S1 laminotomy and microdiskectomy 5 months ago. In the past couple months my pain has been getting noticeably worse. My surgeon ordered an MRI which showed that the S1 nerve has been successfully decompressed, however it also shows scar tissue in the area. I had an injection May 3rd which didn't provide any relief. I've been referred to a pain clinic. The pain doctor said the cause of my pain might be the scar tissue, might be a irritable S1 nerve, and might get better, stay the same or get worse. He had me switch from gabapentin to lamictal to see if that would help. Didn't help...in fact the pain worsened so now I'm going back to the gabapentin which, it turns out, was helping to control the pain. I take 1800 mg/day. In the past week the pain is, at times, excruciating. On the suggestion of my family doc, I'm now taking hydrocodone in addition to the gabapentin. I'm getting another injection this Wednesday. I can't begin to express how desperately I'm hoping it will relief the pain. Does this sound familiar? If the source of my pain is, in fact, scar tissue "tethering" the S1 nerve, has anyone had experience with adhesiolysis to break up the scar tissue? Thanks in advance for any advice or information!
 
First, be sure to only get medicatinos from your pain medicine physician unless he/she agrees to other sources. Often when you see a PM doc they have you sign a document that says you will only get pain medications, of all types, from them. To do other is considered "doctor shopping" in some eyes. When my hubby had to get my post op meRAB from the pharmacy, prescribed by my surgeon, I called my PM office to notify them of what was prescribed, by who, and what was filled.

Scar tissue could be the culprit or could you still have some nerve compression of SI somewhere else? Is a nerve ablation (RFA) an option at that level?
 
I have read about failed back surgery syndrome and believe me, I'm plenty worried about what the future may hold. What I'd like to know is has anybody who posts to this board had any experience with:

a) adhesiolysis
b) laser surgery to remove scar tissue
c) implantation of a spinal cord stimulator

Thanks.
 
I had am implantation of a spinal cord stimulator & I don't recommend them. The leaRAB they lay against the spinal cord can move & I had to go in 3 different times to have mine repositioned. Plus I wasn't having as much luck with pain relief from it as I did a TENS unit. I finally had it removed when they finally told me that because I was so high waisted that it was easy for the leaRAB to move our of place. I was not impressed at all, I have additional scars going down my back, a scar on my hip where they put the power pack & to this day, that spot is still sore if I bump it. I have talked with a friend who had one put in & he has had good results but his is short & stocky built so he didn't have the same problem as I did, being tall & having a high waistline. Hope this helped.
 
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