Intrathecal Pain Pump

@patz Good to know. Thanks for sharing.

Hi, I've had the Medtronic pump for a little over a year. I wasn't getting the relief I recieved in my trial throughout this time. In fact it felt like no relief. But it did help other pain. I felt the Doc missed the catheter mark from the trial. Several weeks ago I finally got a dye study to check the catheter placement. He said it was correct and bumped my dose. Now im of the understanding one of the benefits is the drug doesn't cross the blood brain barrier. I was fine the rest of that day but I had a crazy dream that night, woke to an awful putrid smell thats still here weeks later, shivering chilled to the bone, sweating, low grade fever that won't go away, and my mind is wacked! Im not in here! Oh and I now have constant restless leg my requip won't work. Migraines won't stop. Weak as all get out. Can barely take a shower on my own. And that wipes me out for the day. Ive been to the ER 3 times. Hospitalized for 3 days. No one can find anything. My son and husband have moved and cleaned everything trying to find a source, nothing. I have morphine and bupivicaine in my pump. Oh, but my lower extremity pain in now gone. I just feel completely numb and have restless leg constantly now. But my big question is, it shouldn't be messing with my mind right? I shouldn't be getting side effects like im taking pills, right?

Wow, so sorry for your suffering ! This seems to be a cautionary tale…wishing you better days with less pain !

Does anyone know how they test your drug levels with the pump? Like to see if youre getting overdosed?

@love42animals- I have had a Medtronic pain pump implanted for over 20 years until I had it removed about 3 years ago. You have very generally touched on some of the reasons I was no longer satisfied with it. It's true the narcotics delivered by the pump should not go systemic (on paper, anyway) and therefor not effect the brain as when taken orally, but that might not always be the case. Some of what you describe are symptoms of withdrawal and some are symptoms of a some type of over dose. If any of that is the case the pump or the doctor could be suspect-either the pump delivery is inaccurate or the doctor made a mistake in his dose calculation or procedure. There are basically two ways of adjusting the dosing-1, changing the delivery rate of the pump and 2, changing the potency of what is being delivered. Each takes approximately 24 hours to take full effect depending on catheter length and size. Something is definitely wrong and from what you describe it is either the pump or the doctor or both ( I say that that from experience). Hope this helps.

I have had my pain pump for over three years. Never have had any pain relief, except for just ONE DAY about 8 months ago. Makes no sense. Went way up on the dosage with the only problem was several bouts of vomiting. Had to dial back the pump's output. Thinking of having the pump removed.

@heisenberg34 I agree with you, if it doesn’t work there is no point in dealing with all the hassle it is to be a «pain pumper». In my experience one needs the most
experienced and most proficient neuro surgeon and pain management doc you can find. This is a millimeter sport and typically when the catheter is not placed optimally it won’t work. Have you considered looking into a revision surgery to see if they can make it work somehow since you already have the implant. Do you also use orals for breakthrough pain? I just know that I had to completely redo my pump and catheter placement after finally finding a doctor who knowd how to use these pumps. He literally changed everything from the meds inside the pump to the placement of both catheter and the pump itself. It took me two years of trial and error before getting to a point where I finally started to get some relief. During those two first years I had zero pain relief from the pump and after the redo and news meds (he replaced the bupivacaine with clonedine and he also went up on the strength of the hydromorphone.) My point is there are so many things that can make these pump not work as designed, and one needs to find the surgeons and pm docs who actually know how to make these pumps work.

@alexandercrps I am glad to hear that you finally have some relief from your pump. You may have seen where I mentioned that I had one day where almost all of my pain disappeared. That can't just be a fluke. Yes, I take tramadol, baclofen, and gabapentin. Not sure how much they are helping. I do know that when I tried to stop the gabapentin, it was really bad, pain-wise. I have a neuro surgeon about 50 miles from me who is highly recommended. He removed my old spinal cord stimulator two years ago. Unfortunately, my pain doc doesn't show the slightest interest in helping me, pain-wise. He managed my pump and that's it. I am in the middle of trying to endure neuropathy. Balance is way off, feet ache most of the time. If I was back in PA, I would have many medical options within an hour. Thank you for sharing your story.

@heisenberg34 I don’t like how your pm doc sounds. If he is not interested is actually helping you out no wonder he can’t make rhe pumø work. May I ask, do you bolus and if so how many times pr day, and is the pump preprogrammed with boluses and do you fire them off yourself ? Reason I ask is that boluses and when you disepense them matters a lot with regards to the analgesic effects of the pump. So placement of catheter and boluses are likely two of them most essential parts of this tech that needs to be fine tuned in order to work

@alexandercrps I have six boluses. I have used all six with no effect. I am very wary of having another procedure where someone slices into my spinal cord. I am st a loss right now.
How much pain relief would you say that you get from your pump?