feelbad

believe me, i can soo relate to the surgery crap,i am currently awaiting surgery #7? and an aneurysm coiling(2005) all since just 2001.realistically,this may or may not actually take care of your pain issues as a whole,but there are other options for good pain management that do not actually involve any real narcotic based meds or very little.or the longer acting type meds.it kind of all depends on just what is still there that you will have left to deal with.you are still considered to be in the healing stages yet with certain things not yet set in stone as far as lasting pain,that can still get alot better given time.age factors in here too to a certain degree.it just does.PT can also be of help when your surgeon says its okay to go there.

if things don;t start getting better for you there are always pain management clinics that are there to just help people deal with chronic pain.mine was a true lifesaver for me.they can just offer so many different modalities to try and manage even the worst types of pain.they can use a wide range of methods all together to do the best possible job of hitting all your pain areas.but in the meantime,i would try to get off or down to as little narcotic as possible and still be able to maintain good tolerability,only you know what that is for you.

just speak with your primary or your surgeon,whoever is currently handling your pain control and see if you can work out a better pain plan that doesn't include alot of narcotic meds or any at all eventually.trying to get by without any narcotic or the least amout possible is always the best case scenerio for anyone,it just is.but sometimes that isn't possible.but finding the many different tools availiable out there to try and keep things in control without the use of narcotics is what i have tried to do.narcotics should always be considered an 'adjunct' to other methods as well.i do have to take some longer acting narcotics despite having fifteen years of clean time,i didn;t have a whole lot of choice in having to use narcotics after my spinal cord became injured and my c spine started falling apart.it is the only thing that allows me any real mobility and function of actual body parts without screaming some mornings.its just that bad some days.but i have also been trying new therepys and,meds and topicals and my tens unit which really has been a godsend for my RSD pain.

i would just sit down with your surgeon and find out what he or she feels about where you are at healing wise and ask about a possible referal to a good pain management clinic.or you can have the PM talk with your primary too.whoever is Rxing your current pain meds would really be the best person to speak with,there ARE many other options you can turn to out there and the more tools you have to manage pain,the better.i do hope things will at least start to feel a bit better for you,but you DO have some options out there if you should need them too.good luck and please let me know how things are going,K? Marcia

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3-22-01,herniated C-6-7
11-20-01,placement of hardware for failed fusion
9-22-03,removal of cavernous hemangioma that was inside spinal cord. Neuro damage to L hand L leg and R leg.