Severe chronic pain and Intrathecal pain pump

Sincere thanks for the time you took to fully explain it to me. Makes sense now. Thank you friend.

Thank you for the correction. I’m very familiar with a fried brain. No apologies necessary.

@alexandercrps Hey. I’ve been away for a bit because of traveling over to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for thoracic injections. {sigh} I completely understand every word you posted about being unable to leave the house. My husband drives me everywhere now to all of my appointments. My back pain has gone from completely horrible to totally excruciating in the past several months. I’m getting really bad electric shock type pain at different places from my thoracic to my lumbar. They hit me randomly even if I move the smallest amount of. The pain radiates into my ribs; into my hips… I can hardly move much now. I’m getting strange pressure feelings at different places in my spine, as well. So basically I’m a complete shut-in now. Seven years of this pain and it just keeps getting worse. It’s been completely devastating. It’s destroyed my life. My pain medicine doctor where I live said he has prescribed all he is going to and I feel so dismissed by every other doctor I’ve seen. It’s incredibly frustrating and infuriating and depressing. I see my pain medicine doctor over at Mayo in Jacksonville in a few weeks so my husband and I are really hoping I’ll be able to get a pain pump trial very soon and keep our fingers crossed that it will work out for me. Honestly I’m kind of at a loss for what else can be done. Sorry to ramble…. it’s been a very painful and tiring day.

I'm not affiliated with Mayo. But you need a pain doctor, to put the pump in. Neurosurgeons, don't do this procedure. Sounds like a pain specialist would be of better benefit. I wish you well. I know how disturbing it is, to be in so much pain & disfunction

@laurenseavertson789 My pain pump trial was done twice, both by injection. The first was with morphine. No help. The second was done about two weeks later with hydromorphone. That dropped my pain from an 8 down to about a two. A neurosurgeon performed the permanent implant about three months later. I was told that pain management doctor is not recommended to do this surgery due to the complexity of the procedure.

@heisenberg34 I thought you were going for your trial. I'm not sure what kind of doc, would do my permanent ( if it goes that far) Since i am total titanium from my neck thru the buttocks & i have a DRG stimulator on right side. Only place they could put it, would be on my left back/ side. I am allergic to Morphine & only use Dilaudid, or Fentanyl I prefer Dilaudid Do you still have yours? still get benefit from it. No one wants to operate on me, due to the amount of hardware i have. How long was your trial?

@laurenseavertson789 I know what you're going thru. I hurt, from the slightest movement. No one ( but another pain patient) can understand this. It's very depressing & at times, i feel hopeless. My life has shrunk, to basic couch potato. I can't participate in much of anything anymore. I am single, & feel left out of my life, or any life. Now i am dependent on OXY, & i get tired of the side affects & the entire thing. I've had severe pain issues, for over 25 yrs Good luck & keep in touch. Lauren

@laurenseavertson789 Thanks for reaching out. Here’s my current situation. Had spinal fusion at L5-S1 in 2017. In 2018 I had a Medtronics SCS implanted. It worked well until 2021 until it just stopped working. I tried another battery from NEVRO, but it never helped.
Then, in 2023 I had the trial, one with morphine and the second with hydromorphone which dropped my pain down to about a 2. In April of that year I received the permanent implant with hydromorphone.I guess I was on a pretty low setting because it gave no pain relief. I started having the dose increased every couple of weeks hoping that the pain relief would kick in. It didn’t. I could not understand how a medical device that dropped my pain hadn’t done so after so many increases. We moved to another state in August of 2023. Found a new PM doctor to manage the pump. I have gone up many, many times until 2025. Now, my last increase resulted in my becoming extremely nauseous and I began to vomit excessively. I tried to contact the doctors office many times with no luck. So, I went to the doctor’s office to get it turned down only to discover that he was in a different office 50 miles away. I got there just in time to have the pump turned down. That was last Friday. Today, the nausea returned so I called the doctor to get it turned further down. Typically, got answering service. Request for help ASAP in getting pump dialed back. That was this morning. Here it is now 5:30 pm and no response.

Sorry to be so long winded but I guess it was important for me to vent. It’s important to find a doctor who cares enough to really listen to you and takes proactive measures to help you. This doctor has not. Has never ordered a single test. Has never looked into any other option to give me some pain relief. At this point in time I am desperate for help. My pai is becoming intolerable. In no way am I saying that a pain pump is not a good option. It should be. Obviously I can’t explain why it hasn’t worked for me. I hope I have answered your questions. Feel free to get back to me .
Chris

@heisenberg34 Good information! When I was over getting my thoracic injections I spoke to the RN in charge of all the pain pump patients there and she said if I do get the pain pump then my pain doctor will partner with the neurosurgeon and they complete the procedure together. I was so glad to know this since I’ve had the same pain doctor for the past seven years. He understands all that has happened with me and how my pain has progressed. I completely trust him.

@laurenseavertson789 Thank you. As much as I hate to say this… I’m glad to know I’m not completely alone. That other people understand what I’m going through. I hate that anyone has to live with this horrible pain. My husband is wonderful and helps me so much. I never wanted us to be in this situation and (as strong as I used to be) I never thought I would be here living in constant pain. I just hope something will help me.