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Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself
Chronic Pain | Last Active: Apr 26 9:22am | Replies (6794)Comment receiving replies
I'm a 69 year old female in the Atlanta area who has severe back/spine problems and am trying to avoid surgery. Standing and walking are painful and I have to sit or lie down after a few minutes. I've had the partial nerve blocks in the back, been to a chiropractor (suggested by the surgeon) and am trying to do exercise classes and/or water aerobics. This has helped some but now I'm having tingling down my left leg down to my toes. My balance is getting worse and the pain in my butt/rear area and leg is bothering me more. I'm interesting in others who have had spine surgery and if it has helped their pain.
Replies to "I'm a 69 year old female in the Atlanta area who has severe back/spine problems and..."
@granny998, I don't know yet how many responses you have had to your comments. I am 68 years old and in October 2016, I had an acute lumbar attack in which my husband had to rent a wheelchair in order for me to get to my spine doctor. I had already been diagnosed with spondylosis, degenerative disc disease, and a bunch of other spine problems. I was actually in Denver on a consulting job that required weekly trips home to southern California, then lugging my suitcases back to Denver after each weekend. I'm sure that is what led to my acute situation. When I saw my spine doctor they ordered an MRI, which i had the next day. It revealed a badly herniated L5-S1 that required outpatient surgery which I had in December. That surgery has gone beautifully with immediate relief of pain. However, my L4 still requires surgery that will be a major surgery. It is 7.3 mm out of alignment with my spine and is impinging my spinal cord which causes great pain on my right side. The stenosis in my back is causing my sciatic nerve to be constantly stimulated causing so much pain. I am currently taking Tramadol 40 mg x4 /day; Baclofen 10 mg x3 /day; and my pain doctor just added Gabapentin 300mg, x2/day. I also just began using OTC Capasacin 1.5% for relief of some topical pain. It's working great, but doesn't touch the deep pain when I put pressure on my right leg to climb stairs, etc.
I recommend that you find a reputable spine surgeon and follow their recommendations for testing and diagnosis. Find someone who a friend or family member has used and then research them online to find out their ratings as a surgeon and the number of successful surgeries they hav had, etc. Let us know the results.
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Sometimes surgery is good. But always find the best dr. U can. The last thing i wanted was surgery...but i almost lost the use of my legs by putting it off thank god for my man who made me go and get it checkex out. It has been 20 years ago. Although the pain is still there...i can walk thank god for that. So see about getting that checked out to make sure you dont get in a worse position!!! Hope this finds u on a good day. Sharon