Intrathecal Pain Pump

@laurenseavertson789 I have a pain pump as well and been getting medication from it since August 2024. I had great relief for six months but then the stenosis at L2/3 just above my fusion L3-S1 and the deterioration in my SI joint got really bad and I have worse pain again. However, the pump is helping, and I get out during the day. I had placental tissue matrix injections in both sides of my SI joint and that helped for six weeks. I just had my second PTM injections yesterday and am hoping they will build on the first ones since they are regenerative in nature like stem cells. On the pain pump, I was told by my pain doc that taking too much oral opiate can adversely affect the effectiveness of the pain pump. He is ok with 2-4mg/day of Dilaudid though. I used to be on very high doses of opiates and can say that they actually make pain worse when they start wearing off, it is called rebound pain. I scoffed at that for years, but now that I am off those high doses and only take them once/day, my pain is actually better.

This pump has transformed my life for the better. I was almost bed ridden due to pain from 11 failed back surgeries. I can now walk up right, stand and kneel at church with no pain, play on the floor with my grandson! Whoever invented this, thank you!

@sbb4512 @sbb4512 I’m interested to hear how long it takes most people to titrate up to a dose that actually relieves their pain. I’m scheduled for the pump implant on 5/13/2026. The surgeon will fill the pump with saline, and then the pain doc will replace the saline with real medicine 2 weeks later. So, I’m wondering how long it might take for me to get any real pain relief. I’m hoping it will only take a couple of months.

Beyond this, I’m wondering what to expect during recovery, and how long the recovery is. I know there’s no bending, lifting, or twisting for the first couple of months. I’m wondering if I can return to a normal exercise routine, and how long before the restrictions are lifted. My surgeon said I can go back to weight lifting in 2-3 months. I don’t lift heavy weights, but I like to do enough to move around independently. I’m wondering if this is other people’s experience. I was surprised the surgeon was so optimistic. It seems that once the pump and catheter are embedded with scar tissue, they seem pretty stable.

Any other complications that people had with their pumps might help to keep my expectations to be realistic.

I have one had it for a few years! And they still give me steroid injection’s and it not helping my pain! I wished I never got it put in I’m having server muscle spasms in my lower back I can’t even stand to do clean my dishes are sweep my own floors I have to have my daughter come and do my basic housework!

@mamadonna63 Same here but my daughter died December 22, 2023 and now I'm all alone. The pump doesn't work at all and my doctor Suelane DoOuro in NYC cut me off all my pain meds that didn't really help but at least it was something. I pray constantly for God to let me come home. I cant bare this satanic pain anymore. I have seen 69 doctors and each and everyone of them had their mind made up not to take me as a patient before they even walked into the exam room and thats the ones that would come in. Many others sent the office manager in to say the doctor doesn't know enough about your rare diseases to take you on as a patient. So I sit on an uncomfortable could 24/7 just waiting to die while my narcissistic mother thinks up ways to torture me even more. I was told I was going to die from Cardiomegely and any stress put on me would kill me quicker causing her to put the worse possible stress she could think of on me just to get rid of me because she has no respect for sick people who cant earn their own money. I would do anything just to get IV Lidocaine. Its the best thing for nerve pain and doesn't make you sleepy or dopey like narcotics do but doctors are even afraid to write a Lidocaine prescription. I actually had doctors say they could careless if I die in the worst pain that exists then turn around and leave the room. What in God's name happened to all these people that they have absolutely no compassion or empathy for anyone. My doctor wanted $2,500 from me to continue writing me prescriptions on top of what she gets from insurance. Its disgusting that they just seem to hate chronic pain patients and the elderly. I have absolutely no life anymore and cant sleep more than an hour, hour and a half every night. I feel like I'm in a nightmare that just won't end. I wish suicide wasn't a sin but I know it is and I know hell is actually worse than the hell were all in already. I pray for each and everyone of us that they realize untreated pain is just as dangerous as pain that is treated. May God have Mercy on us all.