Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

Have you been doing a home exercise program (HEP) your entire life? With your early diagnosis of scoliosis you should have begun a HEP then. I too was diagnosed early and now have a compensating curve in bot my lumbar and thoracic spine, they kind of even each other out. They are minor compared to my spinal stenosis, lower extremity peripheral neuropathy and chronic pain so you’re in good company. I had surgery in 1988 and it allowed me to continue my life and work. I couldn’t go back to being a nurse but I stayed in the healthcare field. Deciding for surgery is a big decision and I would exhaust all other avenues first and obtain second opinions. You said your tried everything else so choose who will perform it wisely. You can find recommendations on this site for certain.

Hello there. Sorry to hear about the swelling. Was it occipital ablations you had? What did your doctor say caused such severe swelling?

You seem to be on a path of exploration regarding pain management. I hope you find relief soon. Good luck with your visit to the PM clinic. Perhaps they will help teach coping skills and management tools to compliment your other approaches. Will you post again about how it goes?

Hi @jenatsky, you replied back to me. I'm tagging @janicecarter so she can be sure to not miss your helpful reply. Happy day all!

Greetings everyone, my name is Dave and I have been dealing with chronic lower back pain for 21 years. I had my first surgery, Lumbar Laminectomy L3-S1, in 2011 and never recovered (I think there is an actual term called failed lumbar laminectomy). It did nothing for my sciatic pain and actually in 2019 I discovered the surgeon had cut too deep into the faucets and my back eventually gave way and crushed my discs in L4/L5 and L5/S1.

Like all of you, I try to deal with it in many ways (exercise, breathe work, meditation, OTC pain meds and even prescription meds). In October of 2021, I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) and have been on a Prednisone regimen for the past year, normally that helps most people but my declining regimen has failed 4 times and my Rheumatologist is now looking for other causes.

Thank you for your amazing stories and for giving me hope. Just when you think things are bad, you read about someone else that has it worse. Not that I want to hear that, just that I respect you all for everything you are going through.

Thank you!

Hi Dave, @jenniferhunter started a discussion you might find helpful from what other members have shared:
-- Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
Have you heard of or tried Myofascial Release Therapy?

Thanks John, I have not and researching it now!

my name is Janice. I have scolilosis from my neck to the end of my tail bone, stenosis and ruptured disks. I have been to 2 surgeons and their reply is I have to have metal rods and different metals to hold the spine together. They can't guarantee I won't have the same pain afterwards. Plus my age (84) is against me . I am in pain 24 hours a day. too.
I have tried pain meds, pain doctors, shots in my back, chiopractor, massages, accupuncture and medical marjuana.
I don't know what to do next.

Hi Janice, I'm sorry to hear that you haven't found any help for your pain yet. Did you see the reply to your first post earlier in the discussion by @rwinney? Here is a link to Rachel's reply to you - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/762901/.

You will notice that we removed your email address. Connect is a public forum. We recommend sharing personal contact information using the secure private message function.

Dear Janice, the difficulty is coming to grips with learning ways to help manage living with chronic pain versus the risk of surgery, like you explain may not guarantee relief. What does your gut tell you to do about surgery? Would it be worthy of consideration for you?

I'm sorry you are in pain and struggling. Do you have companionship, someone to help you through obstacles? Are you able to walk and exercise?

I also have scoliosis in the upper spine neck area, stenosis, and a very rare condition called Syringomyelia which is basically a hole in my spine. Have you tried Tramadol? it's a schedule 4 pain med so it's easier to get a prescription and I read that it's designed to work from pain originating from the spine unlike other pain meds, no other pain med has worked, I've tried morphine and oxycodone which didn't have much of an effect on my pain.

So I understand where you're coming from.