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Intrathecal Pain Pump
I’ve have an intrathecal pain pump for many years, just trying to connect with others that have this device to chat with people about effectiveness and drug therapies.
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I had 7 joint replacements or surgeries of neck posterior, neck anterior, 5 disks lumbar spine, left hip, left knee, and left shoulder and right hip and right knee. I have degenerative, disk disease. It is an arthritis that is very crippling. My mother had the same thing but only had her hips done. In my mother's family 4 siblings were affected with these horrible Irish bones; only one was not. I always thought the arthritis would take me out and not be able to work, but it was sepsis that took me out. Aftermath, brain damage. +
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2 ReactionsI had my pump implanted just over two years ago after a very successful trial by injection with Dilaudid. They started the pump at the lowest setting. I had numerous increases over the next year with no help. I decided to have the settings decreased so I could have the pump removed. However, I decided to reverse course on the advice of my pain doc. He said that where i had stopped wasn't all that high, so I am in the process of having the output increased again in hopes of getting the relief that I had gotten with the trial(8 down to a 2).
How much pain relief do you get from your pump> And, what drug is in your pump. Hope it continues to help you.
I have a Medtronic pump with Morphine. The pain clinic I go to you have to refill every 3 months. So, the first thing they do is drain the morphine left in the pump which is 50% of the total and then refill it with 20 whatevers and we start again. I know you fear addiction and don't want to increase it, but it's better than pain killers by mouth, where all you do is sleep. They don't give out targeted drug delivery to just anyone, so I suspect your pain is pretty bad. I've had about 4 or 5 bump ups since 2012 and I'm still in the low dose amount. I hope things get better for you.
Thanks for your response. I am not fearful of becoming addicted. I am going back up on my pump’s output. I have had it increased at least seven or eight times over the past two years.
Morphine trial didn’t touch my pain. Hydromorphone dropped the pain way down.
How did the pump affect your pain?