7 Months Post Bertagnoli ADR with Continued Neuropathy

[jamie5136]

Well, the pain originates about 3 inches above where the butt crack starts, so lower back. So, when I lay down slightly reclined, it hurts and then sitting hurts. I consulted with a tailbone "guy" and he said my tailbone was not broken and hence was not the issue. I have also had three unsuccessful ganglion impar injections and I have tried every pillow available with zero success. the pain is hot and stabbing, so is some type of nerve pain. Also understand that even before I had the ADR, I still had sitting type pain, but assumed it was discogenic; it obviously is not.... but, nobody can seem to tell me what it is.. doctor's seem to ignore me when I say I have sitting pain. And yes, I have to have a fusion due to the subsided disc. Just trying to decide if I should do the DSS tooling with Dr. Pettine or a plain hard fusion... Dr. B said to use the DSS...TBI does not do this much, I think, so this is why they have said a plain hard fusion. I never know who to believe or trust anymore. I am going to get like 4-5 opinions and then go from there.

Originally Posted by dshobbies

Katherine,

Just had a surgery myself and promised myself I would stay off the forum for awhile but I too had legs on fire. This is nerve pain. I was taking 2700 mg of Neurontin daily, (switched to Lyrica, supposedly less side effects) for two years. My ankle and foot still bother me. The big difference is my pain began right after surgery and yours began after four months. My nerve damage was caused during surgery thus the immediate pain. Why yours started after four months IMHO, I think needs investigation. If you don't already have a pain management doctor, find one and like all doctors, some are better than others. Perhaps this is some kind of delayed reaction??? but you should find out for sure. I doubt you caused it. FYI, I should probably still be on either N or L but choose to live with the now very controllable pain. This is a personal choice.

Jamie, this is quite different from sitting difficulties which I don't think relates to nerve pain but comes from, among other things, the tailbone pushing up on the spine. For the time being, until you either have revision surgery or ???, you might try using something called a Tush Cush, a pillow with the tailbone section cut out, available at Relax the Back stores. Others have them but their quality is the best and they're not terribly expensive. While sitting, it takes some of the pressure off your tailbone.

Also tried wellbutrin and reacted quite badly. Caused permanant tinnitis, a lesser side effect.

Good luck, Dale