Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

I am 72 years old and quite active usually walk 2-3 miles a day and do some exercise 15 minutes for back pain surgeon recently said i have arthritis and he can’t help,except to put a battery powered wire in my back .i’am not happy with that i can’t take pain pills because of other problems
I am looking at getting a second opnion.

Hello @gerryg

I see that this is your first post on Connect - I would like to welcome you. I appreciate your post regarding back pain. Have you already had back surgery?

I understand that you are now interested in having the battery powered device implanted to help with your pain. I am glad to hear that you are seeking a second opinion. This is always a wise choice. In considering a second opinion I would encourage you to look for a large medical/research facility such as a university medical center or a facility like a Mayo Clinic.

We have some members who have had the implant with good results. I would like to invite @jimhd who is a volunteer mentor to share his experiences with the implant. Here is the link to a discussion group where this implant is discussed, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/has-anybody-had-an-implantable-neurostimulator-for-chronic-pain/?pg=3#comment-95485 Please read through these posts and see what others have experienced.

I look forward to hearing from you again.

Teresa

I haven’t had back surgery I was told with aurthits surgery wasn’t an option I don’t want an implant right now I can live with the pain but want to know if there is another alternative . And if in fact surgery would help? Was also told to many steroid shots would lead to ostiperosis. How do I get to see a doctor at Mayo clinic

Screw that stimulator. Get yourself an implanted pain pump. I have one and I love it. The pump drips about 3mg. of narcotics into your spine every 24 hours. You have a remote that can give you another 1mg. over ten does in 24 hours. That's a total of 4mg. of dilaudid per day. That's nothing but it is 300 times more effective than drugs that you eat. I used to eat 252 mg. of drugs everyday and got no good relief, I still wanted to die, I had no life. No more unpleasant side affects, your not taking enough to have side affects. See Dr. Park at MHealth

Chiming in here Im a nurse and to many steroids Wil effect your kidneys @liver they only give 3shots a year but I have a fracture back as well as arthritis and they do help Dr.injects my back of where ever I need it.

If your pain is in your back for getting the wires and the stimulators. Get yourself a pain pump installed in your belly with a catheter going up your spine. Less than 4 mg per day of Dilaudid will give you all the relief you're ever going to need. Yes the pump has to be replaced every five years which means another surgery and yes the pump has to be refilled with Dilaudid or any other narcotic your doctor chooses to use every 3 to 4 months which takes about 5 minutes once you're in the doctor's chair. You don't have to go in the hospital you don't have to stay overnight you don't have to be anesthetized.
You just get a needle. They pump out the old dope and they put in fresh dope. Yes I still have pain and yes my pain is manageable. It's so much better than it was before the pain pump. I traded 252 mg a day of Oxycontin Dilaudid and Valium for less than 4 mg a day of Dilaudid. The man to see is Dr Park, Michael Chank Won Park at M Health in Minneapolis Minnesota. Tell him t
Stephen, the poster boy for the pain pump sent you. He'll fix you up real good.

So happy the pain pump works for you without the side affects. I was hoping you could answer a couple of questions for me:
1. When I take oral pain meds I feel loopy and I don't feel safe driving or "walking" around without someone with me. Did you feel that way with oral meds, too? If so, do you feel that way now?
2. Do the meds still have an addictive side affect like the oral ones do? I know many people do not care as long as they have relief, but I would still like to know.
Thanks for sharing!
ronnie

wsh66: Is it Mayo health for MHealth( I will try to contact That Dr.Park, from India? Nice pain relief ,safe is welcome.

@peach414144

Good Morning,
I have been living with back pain for over 10 years and had to retire early because of the impact on my ability to walk. At the time, I lived in New Jersey, just an hour outside of Atlantic City.
First, I have tried 3 times to get an appointment at the Mayo Clinic, in Florida, but I have been turned down. Apparently, they take just so many people with a certain ailment. However, I have been told that you have a better shot if you get a referral from your doctor. I don't know but it is worth a try.
I don't know to what extend you have been trying to get help and what has been done.
I am certainly no expert, nor am I in the medical field. I can only share my own experiences.
I started with an orthopedist because I didn't know what was wrong. I has used her before and trusted her. The doctor took extensive blood tests, an MRI and x-ray. We discovered that I had osteo-arthritis and spinal stenosis in the cervical and lumbar spine. She sent me to a pain doctor for treatment.
(NOTE: Many pain doctors were anesthesiologists before they became pain doctors)
The pain doctor gave me facet injection, epidurals and then did radio frequency ablation and one dose of oral steroids when then pain became too intense, while all along taking large doses of ibuprophen. Sadly, non worked and he felt he could no longer help me.
I did some research and found a spinal clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. I was told that my cervical spine was worse than my lumbar and that I would need surgery. Funny thing, my cervical spine was not giving me any problems at the time, just my lumbar. At that point I was not ready to have surgery.
I saw 2 more pain docs after that, mostly because the first one left the practice and I needed to find another. Both did the same as the first and I got minimal relief, if any. After seeing pain doctor number 3, I agreed to do a trial for a spinal stimulator. The trial did not go well due to the way it was put in. However, I was desperate and willing to give it a try. However, during all this, we decided to move to Florida for the warmer climate. The cold was torture.
I asked the representative from the spinal stimulator company to suggest a doctor in Florida so that I could continue on with their stimulator. The doctor they suggested felt I was not ready for the stimulator and again, I went through the shots. You guessed it, they did not help.
Out of frustration, I did my own research and found another pain doctor. I did extensive research on him and pain doctor number 5 seemed to be the answer. I've been seeing him for approximately 3 years and he is the only one who has been able to give me any relief for my lumbar spine for anywhere from 6-12 weeks. He became my savior. Several months ago my cervical spine started to act up again after a few years of it being calm. My pain doctor was not able to help me with it. He tried a couple of procedures. I was having violent headaches each morning that woke me up and nothing, not even pain meds helped.
I began to do my research, again. Now, I was looking for a neuro-surgeon for an opinion. Of course, a surgeon wants to operate, and he did. He suggested I have 2 pairs of discs replaced with artificial ones (this, instead of fusions). I had the surgery 7 weeks ago. I've only had about 4 headaches. I'd say I've had about 85% improvement with things getting better each day!
Now, my last 2 lumbar injections did not work at all. I'm getting another MRI to see if the osteo-arthritis and stenosis has progressed. When I go for my 12 week check-up with the neuro-surgeon, we'll discuss what he thinks he can do for the lumbar.

There are other non-surgical things you can do. Of course, there is no guarantee any will help. Besides the shots you can try: a chiropractor, THERAPUTIC massage, acupuncture, cupping, aquatic and/or land physical therapy.

So, that is my tale. I am striving for a quality of life. Regardless of how any surgery goes, I realize I have to change my life-style. I will FOREVER have to be very aware of how I use my body as to not inflame it. No twists, jostling, sudden moves, carrying anything heavy, hyper-stretching or over-doing.

Don't give up. If one doctor tells you NO, look for someone else. Research. First, check the website of your medical plan to see which doctors are covered by your insurance. Then, there are multiple websites that rate doctors and have actual patient reviews you can read. Look at all the sites to get a broad view. Arthritis CAN be surgically cleaned up. I've had it done on both my knees on one shoulder.

Good luck and I hope this helps!
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

Hi!
I am so sorry for what you are going through. I just wrote a rather lengthy response to @gerryg. Perhaps it might help you. I don't know how to share it with you. Maybe you can look up the name????? In the meanwhile, I will continue to try to copy it to you.