Nairek L5-S1 ALIF Fusion January 2009

[treefrog]

If Lyrica didn't work for you, have you tried neurontin? They are similar drugs. I take neurontin and I don't have any side effects, but I know some people do have weird side effects from different drugs. You might give that a try.

Six weeks is very early, but I can understand wanting to start feeling better now. I hope that things get better for you very soon. Take it slow, and try to focus all your energy on healing.

That sure is a lot of stress you've got going on. If your husbands job moves, but you are not thinking of moving with the job, does that mean there is a job in Florida for him? What about for you? You also must be worried about the follow-up care that you might need, though hopefully that won't be an issue. I hope everything works out, in the most stress-free way possible.

[dshobbies]

Karin,

Tried posting this yesterday but ((&%^#$*. When you have so much to deal with you simply can't think straight. Your pain is controlling your thoughts and though you don't like the way they make you feel, perhaps an anti-depressant will get you to a better place. No one likes taking drugs, and more drugs and yet more still but sometimes we just have to bite the bullet and give in, undoubtedly feeling better and chastising ourselves for waiting so long.

Pain attacks our existence and we have to fight back anyway we can. I wish you better days,

Dale

[Terry Allen Blackburn]

I didn't tolerate the Lyrica very well the first time I was on it. I hated it and barely lasted a week on it. The second time around I think my body was already used to it. I stayed on it for well over a year and got up to 400Mg per day. It worked fabulously for the nerve pain and targeted the nerves that were damaged rather than acting globally like Neurontin does. It doesn't help, with me being a drug expert, and also very sensitive to side effects. So I am one who always experiences side effects and have to work through them. It always gets down to whether the benefits of taking the drug outweigh the side effects.

Hang in there Karin. We're all rooting for you.

Terry Newton

[Nairek]

Hi everyone. Just stopping by to let you know I'm still hanging in there. Things have been super busy lately & when they aren't, I'm just plain anti-social.

I'm still dealing with the "new" pain on the left side of my lower back which appeared after surgery. My PM doc was convinced that it was my SI Joint so he suggested that I have another SI Joint injection. I made the mistake of telling the anesthesiologist that I have undiagnosed sleep apnea & she decided that she wasn't going to give me much sedation. I have to tell you, I don't think this chic gave me ANY sedation cuz I was awake & almost screaming thru the whole thing. And the outcome: it took the edge off for 1 1/2 days & then it was back to the same old pain.

We flew down to Florida 5 days later & I have to say that I didn't feel too horrible while we were down there. We went down to look at houses & were in & out of the car quite a bit for the few days that we were down there. I took less pain meds down there than I did at home. The worst pain that I had was the occasional throbbing/stabbing sensation but it was different than the pain I usually feel. Surprisingly enough, I was able to get out of bed & walk the next day & not be in an incredible amount of pain.

I went back to work last week. I work 2 P/T jobs. I started with working 1 for the 1st 3 days & then the 2nd one on Thurs & Fri. I'm not in horrible pain. I just feel very sore. On Friday evening, after working for 8 hours, my right leg did hurt when I was walking so I took some pain meds. I fell asleep on the couch on my left side & woke up on Saturday morning with the pain now in the left leg. It hurt enough that I had trouble walking. So again I took some pain meds, went back to sleep (in bed) & woke up a few hours later in no pain so I went to work for 3 1/2 hours. Talk about weird!

Also, my PM doc seems to think that I may have Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. I have had issues since the surgery where 1 foot feels much warmer than the other & it gets worse the more I walk/sit. The warm foot isn't painful, it just feels like I've been standing on my feet all day when I haven't. I have noticed that I feel a little tingly in that foot. Hopefully it goes away.

I am still dealing with discomfort near my abdominal incision. I can't bump against anything without wincing. Sometimes even jeans are bothersome. It's just sore when you touch around it. Pretty annoying.

Anyway, it's really late. I'll try to stop by more often. I promise! I have my 12 week post-op visit this week. Hopefully I can get some answers.

[Cindylou]

Good morning Nairek,

When you had the SI joint injection you mentioned it "took the edge off" for 1 1/2 days. The most important part of that is diagnostic. If it only took the edge off you should consider another one. I know they are painful, but it is so critical to get the right diagnostic pain generator. I didn't have any sedation with mine at all, because I had driven myself there. Perhaps the doc didn't get it just right in that perfect location. That happens. When I had my injection I got almost 100% relief, but it only lasted about 5-6 hours. No matter. The critical component there is that I got so much relief. I will have my 5 week post-op appt. with the surgeon who performed my right SI Joint Fusion this week. I am doing extremely well. I had no idea the SI Joints could be such incredible pain generators. My doctor says the same thing. That is all he does ....performing SI joint fusions. Very specialized. I just hope you get the answers and relief you so richly deserve. Having said all that, I would be remiss if I also did not point out that you are still in such early days since your L5-S1 fusion. I had that surgery as well, also performed anteriorly and posteriorly, and it is a very invasive surgery. I hope you continue to heal well from that and your pain diminishes in the process.

My best to you,

Cindylou

[Terry Allen Blackburn]

Karin:

The medication for the injections can be much more than diagnostic though it may take time to get the relief that may come with them. I had SI joint injections every three months for the first year after my ADR surgery. It usually took a couple of weeks before I got the full effects of the injections and I got significant relief from them. I did not get any for almost a complete year and then started having some SI joint pain again near Christmas time. I then got two SI joint injections a couple of weeks before Christmas and it took longer to get the full effects this time. It took three weeks to get the full effects but I have not had any issues since. The injections usually will contain a steroid which can be quite beneficial in providing some relief to the aggravated area. Please let us know if it does start working for you in a week or so. It is going to take some time to heal from this very major surgery you had.

Hang in there.

Terry Newton

[dshobbies]

Hey Karin,

I'd like to address another issue. You already went back to work? You are still experiencing incision pain and your muscles are obviously telling you they're not completely ready. I realize financial issues are important but your health is the absolute priority. Please be kind to yourself and listen to your body. End of lecture!

wishing you well, Dale

[Kathy]

Karin, Sounds like things are improving for you. Sucks you are having SI joint issues. Just wondering, where the heck are the SI joints? I have read alot about them; but no idea where they are.

Where in Florida are you looking to move to? I had my surgery in Aventura, right next to North Miami Beach. It is beautiful there. People honk too much though, light barely turns green and 3 horns go off. They honk just driving down the road, you do that in Dallas and you will end up shot They were also very rude, not near as friendly as people in Texas (aside from the crazy people that will shoot you for honking at them )

[Nairek]

Originally Posted by Kathy Earhart

Karin, Sounds like things are improving for you. Sucks you are having SI joint issues. Just wondering, where the heck are the SI joints? I have read alot about them; but no idea where they are.

Where in Florida are you looking to move to? I had my surgery in Aventura, right next to North Miami Beach. It is beautiful there. People honk too much though, light barely turns green and 3 horns go off. They honk just driving down the road, you do that in Dallas and you will end up shot They were also very rude, not near as friendly as people in Texas (aside from the crazy people that will shoot you for honking at them )

Hi Kathy,

Yeah, it does suck to have SI Joint issues. Especially when the doc presses over the joints & I about scream from the pain. Nice picture huh? The SI Joints are located basically at the end of the lower back & the beginning of the buttocks. Here is a link that I found that shows a picture where they are at: Google Image Result for http://www.vancouveryoga.com/assets/graphics/p_sacroiliac_anatomy.jpg

If it doesn't work, go to Google, type in SI Joint & then click on images in the upper left hand corner of the page. It will pull up pictures for you.

I have had 1 injection into each SI Joint. Each injection offered maybe a 20-30% decrease in my pain so basically we aren't going further with additional injections at this time.

We are buying a house in SW Florida about an hour north of Naples. We should be closing in a little over a week. Now the fun starts with trying to get our house in NY ready to put on the market. The real estate market here in NY is less than favorable. We sunk a lot of money into this house & it hurts to have to sell it. But we just can't afford to take a chance with layoffs looming in the future. I would do anything to take my kitchen with me but if I did that, there is no way this house will sell.....lol!

As for the honking Floridians, keep in mind that a lot of them are transplants from NY & NJ. Patience isn't one of our virtues. I spent 6 days in the hospital in NYC. Believe me when I tell you that I know what you mean about the honking! I'm shocked that Texans will shoot when honked at. I'll keep that in mind if I ever visit Texas again!!!

[Katie]

Originally Posted by Nairek

Hi Kathy,
As for the honking Floridians, keep in mind that a lot of them are transplants from NY & NJ. Patience isn't one of our virtues. I spent 6 days in the hospital in NYC. Believe me when I tell you that I know what you mean about the honking! I'm shocked that Texans will shoot when honked at. I'll keep that in mind if I ever visit Texas again!!!

I'm surprised you heard so much honking while in the NYC hospital! When we were there a few weeks ago, we were surprised how quiet the traffic was around the hospital...almost no honking at all. For our first time in the Big Apple we were amazed after all the stories we had heard about the nasty drivers.

Then we saw the posted signs warning of a $350 fine for honking

Honestly, I found the traffic there to be very easy to get through, and we drove right down to the Lennox Hill site to see Dr. Bitan. The cabbies even let us in when we needed to change lanes! Maybe they thought they needed to give us tourists a lot of room