C
chicksfeet
Guest
I am 36 years old and have been off of work (disabled) due to back pain for 2 1/2 years - since April 2007. After some unsuccessful epidurals and a facet injection, they did a discogram where they diagnosed two ruptured discs - L4-L5 and L5-S1, and they were the cause of my pain. Okay, so I go with a very well-respected neurosurgeon and in Sept. 2007 I have laminectomy, fusion, insertion of cadaver bone in both discs and insertion of titanium roRAB and screws. I found that about a month after physical therapy started (12 weeks post-op) that my pain level stopped improving. We tried another epidural, another facet injection, and then in April 2008 the neurosurgeon sent me to a doctor of osteopath who is a pain management specialist. He sent me through two separate rounRAB of physical therapy using a pilates reformer, which helped to loosen me up some and would improve my pain for about 20-30 minutes. He also did about 12 rounRAB of "prolotherapy" injections. Each round consists of about 20 injections of a lidocaine-based mixture into the tailbone and lower spine area. The idea was that my ligaments and connective tissue had become weakened and stretched out, and these injections were "injuring" this tissue to force itself to keep healing itself and become tighter and tighter. I went from being mostly in bed to having a couple of hours of moderate activity (i.e., go to the store, have lunch with a friend, go to church) on a good day as long as I took my pain medications (I'll get to that in a sec) and took a 2-3 hour nap every day.
My pain, both before and after surgery, has been in my lower back, slightly oRABet to the left. I rarely have a sciatica-like sharp pain that goes into the left buttock. Months after the surgery I also developed burning sensations in my hips that would extend like a burning wire all the way down the outside of my legs to my ankles. I began taking Lyrica, which has controlled that burning pain quite well.
In addition to the Lyrica, this pain specialist gradually increased my pain meRAB to the following:
Flexeril 15 mg 2x/day
Fentanyl (Duragesic) patch 100 mcg every 48 hours
Roxicodone 30 mg 4x/day
After I had no improvement in pain level from about October 2008 - July 2009, I went to a different pain doctor, the one who had done all the epidurals and facet injections. He basically spoke as though the prolotherapy injections were "snake oil" (useless) and told me the only thing left that he could do for me is to try a neurostimulator. So, last Tuesday, Oct. 6th, I began my trial with a Medtronic stim. All I was getting was vibrations in my legs and not really feeling anything in my back, so on Friday Oct. 9th the Medtronic reps reprogrammed my unit to try to maximize sensations in my lower back. I still just couldn't tell any real difference, and each day that passed I would turn up the level a little more.
Well, I am supposed to have the stim pulled today, Oct. 13th, and I think I finally found out yesterday (Monday) that if I crank that baby up to 5.00 on my left side, I can finally feel vibration in my lower back. I wish I had more like 2 weeks to try this out. I am going to call them when they open and beg for another day or two.
HOWEVER, HERE IS MY QUESTION:::
when I do increase the level high enough to feel something in my lower back (and I didn't get to experience this long enough to determine if it DID in fact help with the pain), my legs are vibrating so hard it's quite uncomfortable, distracting, and I feel a little unsteady when I walk. For those of you who have had successful stim implants that significantly improve your low back pain, do you also have to turn it up so high that your legs are vibrating uncomfortably???? I am SO confused and I don't know what to do.
My pain, both before and after surgery, has been in my lower back, slightly oRABet to the left. I rarely have a sciatica-like sharp pain that goes into the left buttock. Months after the surgery I also developed burning sensations in my hips that would extend like a burning wire all the way down the outside of my legs to my ankles. I began taking Lyrica, which has controlled that burning pain quite well.
In addition to the Lyrica, this pain specialist gradually increased my pain meRAB to the following:
Flexeril 15 mg 2x/day
Fentanyl (Duragesic) patch 100 mcg every 48 hours
Roxicodone 30 mg 4x/day
After I had no improvement in pain level from about October 2008 - July 2009, I went to a different pain doctor, the one who had done all the epidurals and facet injections. He basically spoke as though the prolotherapy injections were "snake oil" (useless) and told me the only thing left that he could do for me is to try a neurostimulator. So, last Tuesday, Oct. 6th, I began my trial with a Medtronic stim. All I was getting was vibrations in my legs and not really feeling anything in my back, so on Friday Oct. 9th the Medtronic reps reprogrammed my unit to try to maximize sensations in my lower back. I still just couldn't tell any real difference, and each day that passed I would turn up the level a little more.
Well, I am supposed to have the stim pulled today, Oct. 13th, and I think I finally found out yesterday (Monday) that if I crank that baby up to 5.00 on my left side, I can finally feel vibration in my lower back. I wish I had more like 2 weeks to try this out. I am going to call them when they open and beg for another day or two.
HOWEVER, HERE IS MY QUESTION:::
when I do increase the level high enough to feel something in my lower back (and I didn't get to experience this long enough to determine if it DID in fact help with the pain), my legs are vibrating so hard it's quite uncomfortable, distracting, and I feel a little unsteady when I walk. For those of you who have had successful stim implants that significantly improve your low back pain, do you also have to turn it up so high that your legs are vibrating uncomfortably???? I am SO confused and I don't know what to do.