Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

@lorirenee1 @suzanne2 and others, I would urge you to discuss stopping any medication you are taking with your doctor. We are all patients here with limited knowledge on all of the drug interactions or the specifics of other symptoms/conditions being treated. If you are having issues or problems with the doctor another plan comes into mind - have a conversation with them and plan what you want to tell them. Good tips here and a Plan your conversation card that you can print out to help you write your questions, etc..
- https://patientrevolution.org/visit-tools

I had never heard of Kratom before so I looked it up and am very put off and scared of the possible side effects. Be careful!

@ellens and others, I would urge anyone thinking of taking Kratom to read this post by @colleenyoung. It has a lot of information and warnings about the substance that you should know before taking it.
- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/my-opiod-addiction-part-1/?pg=3#comment-412247

Thanks Hank! Your thoughtfulness is appreciated. I do see my PCP in a couple of weeks. I do plan on getting off the gabapentin then.

Thank you, John!

@suzanne2 That is good Suzanne about dropping Gaba if not helping you. Hope you do consider trying Med. Marijuana and/or kratom also, they can be super useful (again if it's within your budget -these things are not cheap, but can be uber helpful). As John says, do your own research first. You seem like a very nice person and should not have to be dealing with this in your life.
Best, Hank

Hi everyone. Yesterday I had my followup visit with the neurosurgeon, and was less than thrilled. She wouldn't answer any of my questions about pain control and neuropathy. Her response to every question was that she's a surgeon, not a neurologist. Since my pain level is no less than it was before surgery, she had done all she could for me, unless/until a doctor ordered some procedure which she would be happy to perform. That was mostly in reference to my question about a pain pump implant. I have to find a doctor who would order that and manage it. She only puts it in and doesn't do the management of medication.

And speaking of meds, she commented in passing that morphine doesn't treat neuropathy pain. (Sound familiar, @faithwalker007 ?) You can imagine how I felt about her saying that. She also was really surprised that my pcp told me that if he learned that I was using any cannabis products he would stop prescribing any pain meds. That, even though any form of cannabis is legal here in Oregon.

She told me that because my pain is from my knees to my toes, a DRG stimulator is contraindicated. It treats only a very specific location, unlike the scs that is supposed to treat larger areas. So, I'm going to get my SCS adjusted soon, and give it another try. It's possible that it could be programmed to become effective now that my spinal canal is no longer being constricted. We shall see.

I'm continuing to wean myself off morphine, down to one 15mg in the morning now. I'll continue at that level for a week. Last time I tapered off it I had no withdrawal symptoms, to see at what level it's treating the pain in my feet and ankles. I have an appointment with the neurologist next Tuesday, and I'm going to be asking for clear answers that the surgeon wouldn't give. The plan is to try Cymbalta again. I started to try it a couple of years ago, but that was during the same time that I tapered off morphine, so I probably didn't give it a fair chance. A month after that I have an appointment with the pain specialist - he has told me that he doesn't deal with pumps - I'd have to find a different pain doctor for that.

The surgeon was very pleased with the healing of the surgery incision. I had a little pain from it for 3-4 days, but none since then. (I did ice it a lot the first week after surgery.)

So, @lorirenee1 I guess that a DRG stimulator is not in my future.

I've spent more than an hour writing this, so I need to stop and get outside to my chores.

Jim

Sounds like the very prescribed, automatic, robotic response.

@faithwalker007 good point. Perhaps it was a projected AI being giving Jim this information. Consistency is important you know.

Yes, John, I heartily agree for people to really be careful with any med the take, and discuss it with their doc. Weaning carefully is essential. And researching Kratom is essential as well, as I did. Thanks, John.