Sacroiliac joint pain and my introduction

The PRP type of prolotherapy helped my daughter.

I'm sorry you're going through so much pain.

I take prescription 500mg Naproxen twice a day, sometimes three times when my pain is especially bad. I take the over the counter 650mg Acetaminophen 2 to 3 times a day, staggering it with my Naproxen. Sometimes after months and months of Naproxen, I feel it's not working as well, so I ask my doctor to switch me to prescription strength Ibuprofen.

I also take Mirtazapine at night, which helps me to sleep, and alleviates my pain. My PCP told me it's a very bad antidepressant, but a very good sedative that lessens pain in some pain. Being able to sleep for longer periods of time at night sure helps me cope better with the pain during the day.

I sometimes put a lidocaine patch on my Sacroiliac, where I have a herniated disc and a Tarlov cyst that push against each other.

I use medical marijuana tincture (Indica), a topical salve (Hybrid), and sometimes I'll rub in my tincture on my SI joint area because the tincture has more THC than the salve.

I keep a cold pack in the freezer, and put that on for no more than 20 minutes at a time.

I have the wonderful new heating pad from Sunbeam, which allows the heat to penetrate deeper. It's a godsend.

PT didn't help me much, so my pain management doctor and neurosurgeon told me it was okay to do sitting yoga. Silver Sneakers and YMCA360 both have free seated yoga and other seated exercise routines. I try to do the yoga every day. On better days, I'll do one of the other routines as well. The yoga helps my mind as well as my body. I love it.

When my pain is especially bad, I'll also look for a comedy show or movie, and watch that. Laughing releases endorphins, and endorphins help lessen pain.

I hope you can find something in here that might give you some better days. I know it's rough.

Best wishes to all for a day with less pain.

Cookie

It is now 5 months from the SI fusion. I have no SI pain whatsoever. I'm planning to get the left side done this coming summer if it keeps acting up, but on the up side, lately, my chiropractor's adjustments are keeping the left pain-free.

@cookierockwell

I've written a lot about what i was through with SO many specialists, if you go back and review that, but basically my chiropractor was my savior. She kept me pain-free on and off for 8 years until the alignments didn't last long and I got the fusion.

Over the years before that, traction worked very well for my sacroiliac instability/alignment. I still wear an SI belt when I play golf, learned about it on YouTube. If you go on that website, search under "sacroiliac instability." There's LOTS of good info. Best of luck!

I would love to see a chiropractor, but unfortunately, I've had a terrible time with the ones on my insurance plan. For example, one very nice guy talked with me for a half hour, very hopeful he could help me, then informed me that he doesn't, after all, accept my insurance, and it would be $450 for my first visit.

Another I went for my first visit, and at they told me that instead of my $5 copay, my first visit would be $150, then visits after that would be $5.

Both should have told me when I called to schedule the appoint. Instead, I spent $$ on Uber to go out and back from both appointments. Wasted $$$.

I'm sorry to hear that. I went to one that my ortho surgeon recommended. Two sessions and she relieved my pain. When she was on pregnancy leave, she sent all of her patients to another chiro she knew along with instructions about how they are being treated...so there must be someone reliable out there.

Who did your surgery? Was it done with Ifuse? I had bilateral ifuse 3 yrs ago today and am awaiting a revision. The pain is off the charts. Cant sleep, can't sit or lay on either side. Cant stand too long. So glad you are out of pain.

@sunshine22220 I'm sorry to hear about your situation. That kind of pain robs you physically and emotionally! Dr. Gage, a physiatrist in Brunswick, GA, did it. He put two screws between my hip and sacrum to hold open my SI joint. So far so good! Still have a bit of scar tissue pain but only in weird positions physical activity puts me in. Picture a bad golf swing 🙂 I still wear an SI belt for golf, as a prophylactic measure. Otherwise, I'm good to go. I also have an implanted spinal cord stimulator for L3-L4 pain.

I've had L4-5 laminectomy/Discectomy Jan 2019. Fusion L4-5 July 2019. Then both si joints fused 6/9/21. Find out 10/2023 that the original surgeon left 2 screws in my nerve canal in my spine. Didn't need the si joints done. So he took the fused cage out of l4-5 and on post op decided he won't see me at all! Found the Mayo Clinic has excellent dr to get these ifuse rods out( I am allergic to titanium) I found out last summer. I am literally burning! The surgeon who put these in me won't take them out even though he said if it didn't work out he can take them out, he said he just doesn't like to. Just so hard for me to trust any doctors so I pray drs at Mayo can help. After this I have no one to help. I won't do a spinal cord stimulator because I am immuno-compromised so any infection I can die. It's a nightmare out there. Hard to find someone to trust.

I know this might sound trite and unbelievable but I went through four mattresses that were very expensive before I finally found a really soft one that's like a cloud and my neck, shoulders, hips, SI joints, lower back - everything stopped hurting. 3 years now no pain after 15 years of misery including occasional cortisone shots in my joints and hip and neck surgeries.