Constant Post-Op Pain After Lumbar Fusion Surgery

@loriesco Thank you again, Lorie. I have been to several people that I have been paying on my own (chiropractic, acupuncture, trigger point massage), as it is usually much faster than trying to get the insurance to cover it.

My main issue is how many times I've been told that I am not a "textbook case", as I don't have many symptoms that most people usually do with spine and nerve pain. I have never had sciatica pain, nothing radiating into my arms or legs, it has only been in my right flank/oblique area where the muscles are locked in a spasm. Doctors have literally told me, "I don't know what is wrong with you", and they give up after trying one procedure.

So, I'll gladly pay a MFR specialist if it gets to the bottom of what is happening with my body.

@marcd2k send me a message after you go. Also - try botox too. Insurance covers it. (mine did). Gotta go through a pain management or neurology dept who knows to do this. They commonly do trigger points but are reluctant to request botox. Botox paralyzes muscles and you will need to exercise them when the botox wears off in six months but it brings GREAT relief to muscles which refuse to relax. I've done that for cervical area, shoulder blade and lumbar butt muscles.

@loriesco I will send a message afterwards. As for the Botox, that is one area I found about a year ago, treating locked muscles with Botox. My insurance denied the Botox treatment (what a surprise), but they recommended Dysport. It is basically the same type of drug as Botox, and is used to paralyzes the muscles.

Unfortunately, after getting the shots, there was no change at all in my muscles, they have remained locked for 2 1/2 years, and nothing is changing that. I have also had trigger point injections (at least 20 injections directly into the locked area), and they did absolutely nothing as well.

Thanks again, I'm going to keep looking, because no one is doing this on their own. Everything I've found and had done is because of my research and getting appointments set up myself.

@linda6101…hey Linda, how’re you feeling today?

Back in the mid to late ‘90’s I had a couple of laminectomies and discectomies and finally in 2000 I had a lumbar fusion from L4-S1. Surgeons said no work for 6-9 months. I had asked the surgeon about PT (I hate PT) and he said not for a long time and all I want you to do is walk. Oh and wear this ugly Bigfoot sized brace that went from my armpits to below my waist. I started walking the next morning. Actually, I tried to walk. The pain was too intense to make it out of the garage. Every day I walked, and in the beginning it might’ve been 10 feet that I shuffled my feet. I was able to walk a little further every day. At my 3 month follow up I asked the doc if I could go back to work. He said no and asked if I was walking and how long I would walk. Said I don’t know but I’m walking about 40 miles every week. He let me go back to work. Have had cervical issues as well and needed to be fused. My neck now is fused from C3-T1 and I’ve had 11 surgeries on my spine and I’m still trying to walk a little bit at a time.

There was a rumor going around that someone told you that you went to the wrong doctor 😂😂😂. Who knows, maybe, maybe not. My first back surgery was when I was 28 (1989) and since then I’ve been flown in a life flight helicopter twice, in a 3 month and a 6 week medically induced coma, had5 right shoulder surgeries and then it was a shoulder replacement. Then came the knees, hands, wrists, I died in a 60mph head on collision (I got lucky that day), spent the summer in a trauma hospital, had a stroke after my last cervical fusion and my surgeries have totaled to over 55 surgeries. Then this past May I was diagnosed with bladder cancer and my right kidney needed to be removed which was done last November and now the remaining kidney is failing and is functioning at less than 40%.

All of my surgeons were really top notch. They did their job and then some. almost all of the second and third surgeries were because of me and almost all of them were from falling. Once I fell and broke my shoulder blade. Who does that? Then another fall broke it again!

Because of all my medical crap, I’ve been having to really advocate strenuously for my own health and safety. I researched the procedures and the surgeons to know what is going on with me medically/physically and actually started asking for prior patients opinions by having the doctors office call some of the past patients and ask the patient to call me to discuss their thoughts on their experience, very helpful. Very informative. We ask others how they like a certain restaurant or their thoughts of the daughter’s new boyfriend. We all should do some background research on the doctor’s that’s going to be holding your life in his hands. Seems to be more important than asking how the food was.

@marcd2k Thanks for the advice. I’m not giving up!