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Spinal Cord Stimulator Removal

Chronic Pain | Last Active: Aug 18 10:10am | Replies (85)

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@heisenberg34

Well, once again my hopes of finding an answer to my sudden increase in pain have been dashed. The much-awaited MRI apparently did not reveal any suspicious characters hiding in the wings. Two docs looked at it it. This week I had an EMG as proposed by my new pain doc who had given me another glimmer of hope. That was also dashed to bits when the EMG did not reveal anything monumental except that I have some neuropathy. Big surprise! The EMG doc suggested an epidural. Ha, ha! I have had more epidurals than I can count! To add the cherry to the mess, my tele visit with the doc I saw last week was canceled. Now, I am scheduled for a followup visit with the EMG doc in THREE WEEKS! So, three more weeks of enduring this crippling pain. I am going to be emailing the original doc to see if it is possible to reschedule the tele visit. Oh, happy day! Between my bloodwork, EMG, and MRI, I should be healthy as a horse...NOT!

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Replies to "Well, once again my hopes of finding an answer to my sudden increase in pain have..."

Hi again. I responded to your previous post over in the "Just Want to Talk" discussion, then stumbled upon your EMG update here. Nothing showed a problem there either, like the MRI. So sorry, I know you were hopeful to find something. Familiar story to me. I went through test after test, med after med, procedure after procedure too, and nothing is more frustrating than wanting to prove what exactly is causing pain, only to be continuously let down.

Having neuropathy and a chronic pain disorder called Central Sensitization Syndrome, I completely understand your plight. My quest to find the problem that could be fixed and cured, did me in physically, emotionally and behaviorally. Chemically, too, as I tried every drug looking for that magic fix. Do I sense you are feeling the heaviness of the search?

Respectfully, I totally get that checking off and ruling out cause is incredibly important and I advocate for doing such, but I want to throw this thought into the ring. What if the flares and increased pain stemmed from stress, environment, a dysfunctional central nervous system, etc...? Once, all the tests are done and the specialists are seen and the meds are tried, there is not much more to do but accept and manage what is. Ugh, that's a tough pill (no pun intended) to swallow. Been there, and resistantly done that!

I'm wondering if watching the following video may be helpful in understanding chronic pain to see if maybe you resonate with what Dr. Sletten from Mayo Clinic is educating on. Here you go -

Dr. Christopher Sletten - Central Sensitization Syndrome:


I'll be curious to know what you think after watching. Not everyone is at this place in their pain journey -maybe not yet or maybe never, but it doesn't hurt to be educated. Keep the faith and stay hopeful! I look forward to hearing back from you. Be well.