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It's Baaaack! Pain again after 6 months :-(
Last Spring pain got really bad in lower back, running around hip into groin & in front of thigh. MRI showed stenosis at L2-L3,L3-L4, L4-L5 withL4 nerve root impingement. First set of shots worked for only a couple of days. 2nd set did nothing. Thurd scheduled but the Pain Dr said it seemed to him more like facet arthritis than the impingements causing my pain, so he wants to do ablation of the nerves carrying the pain signals.
In the meantime, narcotic drugs doing little, PT doing little. Flew 9 hours & got on a ship in Norway in August. almost cancelled due to the pain. FIrst thing I did on shop was try acupuncture - figured it can't hurt. Well, it did more By the 3rd treatment, I was no longer taking any pain medication & I was pretty much free from pain. I was shocked that it worked. When I got home from cruise continued the acupuncture, and stayed essentially pain free - just some nagging stuff in low back. UNTIL LAST WEEK! THe pain is back! Bad! But this time instead of being confined to right side, my entire lower back is stiff straight across the back. And of course, supposed to be going away for a month - a 15 hour flight. Since I've tried most things, except the ablation, or other surgeries, which I am leery about, I am wondering about MEDICAL MARIJUANA. ANYONE TRY IT FOR BACK PAIN? (Unfortunately, if it does work I'll have to stop it for a month when I go to Japan) I am at the point that I'm having trouble sleeping, and I am unable to do the 4-5 miles of walking a day I am used to doing.
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Hi! This almost-81-year-old "child of the 60s" is now taking 2 drops of cannabis oil daily. It helps *somewhat* with the pain, but also leaves me dizzy and, given all the other heavy-duty painkiller medications I have yet to let go of, rather drowsy.
Good luck to you!
Yaakov K. In Jerusalem (yes, THAT one!)
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2 Reactions@yaaqovk Same generation, but somewhat surprisingly I did not do Pot in my youth. (I did drug detection in the City Morgue - I think that "cured" me of doing drugs)
THe weirdest thing happened - when I was in the awful pain yesterday I was able to get an appointment for PT. The guy did all kinds of twists & stretches diagnostically, and then said that next weel we'll start working on getting rid of the pain. Well, whatever he did, last night I slept pain free and today, so far, I am pretty close to pain free. Hoping it lasts!
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5 Reactions@srquser
Keep up the PT. I am having another X-Ray for scoliosis done, and then I will start PT. I am 79 years old and never did marijuana, but I am all for it if it truly helps. It seems like my pain pump doesn't help anymore and have considered having it removed and a spine stimulator implanted. Being in pain is so absolutely unbearable. I have severe scoliosis and spinal stenosis. It is so miserable.
I'm going through this exact thing , I've had my first nerve block my second will be soon then the ablation. My Dr and I had a good look at my latest MRI and it's definitely arthritis in the facet joint. Canibus is a bandaid.
@srquser Happy to hear your good news, and wishing you continuing good news. I myself just dropped down to one drop of cannabis oil daily. Much less dizziness with about the same level of pain relief
Again, good luck to you. Yaakov K.
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1 ReactionI use THC/CBT gummies for sleep and pain. I can say it does help with sleep. As for pain I still feel a less intense pain, but with gummies I just don't care about the pain.
this brings hipe.
@papatommy22 One of my sisters has arthritis in the facet joint and stenosis. She was diagnosed through a cervical MRI ordered by an ENT that she saw for vestibular testing (thinking that might be the cause for sudden 24/7 vertigo/migraines).
My sister recently had a MEDROL DOSEPACK (6 day prescription) that completely eliminated the vertigo by day 4 of the prescription. She also had extreme migraines that were lessened but not eliminated. She's scheduled for an injection later this month that she hopes will eliminate the migraines.
She used cannabis gummies and smoked a bit but neither helped much.
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2 Reactions@bon5870 Is that a typo?