Hi my name is Margie I thnk my profile is still here. I have been in major pain in my lower lumbur back and also my upper back around my shoulder blades. I have been to a few Doc's . One actually said that I needed surgery for for Spondylolthesis, which is my lower back, but I am trying to aviod surgery as much as possible. I have had a lot of health problems since I was sixteen and I am now almost 45. I have been on Oxycontin which I could not take because they were passing right through me because I also have Crohn's disease. Then I tried the Duragesic Patch, which really helped my pain, but it was breaking my skin out, then my Doc put my on Hydromorph Contin, and it did help me alot with my pain, but then I started to get really bad headaches from them, so I had to stop them. So now all I am on is Percocet's which help not even half as much as the meds I was on, but I expected that.
What I would really would like to ask is I was referred to Rhumatologist by my G.I., but I don't really think that they could do that much for me . I would just like to know if anyone out there has a similiar problem or had one. I don't know what to do anymore???? I am so fed up and I am almost at the end of my rope. I know I have Osteoarthritis in my back, but I also now I have the disc or disc's out in my lumbar. I don't know what to do.
PLEASE if anybody any good suggestions I would love to hear from you!!!!

God bless everybody out there because I know what it's like to be in pain!!!!!

Margie :angel:
P.S. I heard that there were some kind of injections for the back, if anybody knows about that mabye they could explain it to me. I would very much appreciate it!!! Thanx again!! :angel:

Hi Margie :) . I don't know much info about your particular set of circumstances but i hope you're managing ok. About the injections, i'm not sure if you are reffering too epidurals but those injections are fluid that can seperate the nerves from pushing on disks back there. They don't always work and are temporary up to six months. It gets slow here on the weekends so hang in there for some more responses. :) :)

Margie, I can't really help you with much with medical advice, I do have a few suggestons and some info which I hope may be helpful. I can sure understand your pain and concern I have been dealing with spine issues for 6yrs now.
I was on oxycontin and the durgesic patch along with many other meds, I'm sure the percocets aren't helping alot since you most likely need a long acting med to go with that, which is what I am on, I now take methadone for a long acting med and percocet for break-throuh pain and this seems to be the most effective for me, they are using methadone a lot now in treating chronic pain.
I have also ben seeing a rheumy recently and testing for lupus and possible FM and he put me on plaquenil for my joint pain and swelling and it is really helping a lot.
I assume the injections you are talking about would be epidural steriod injections I have had more then I can remember and they never helped me for more then a few weeks if that, if you should consider having them done please be sure to do your research before gooing ahead with them.For some they are very helpful and often are good for diagnostic purpose.
I hope you can find the answers and help you need, I wish you the best of luck.
Linda

Hi Margie,
I don't really know much about any of this, but I saw that you have Spondylolthesis. My daughter was just diagnosed with Spondylolthesis. Can you tell my what is envolved with this? She meets with the surgeon on Monday, and I'm just so nervous about all of this. She is only 12, but she is an avid athlete. Her life is sports, and I'm afraid that if she has surgery... she won't ever play again, and if she doesn't have surgery she won't ever play again. After reading all of these postings, I'm afraid of a lot of things for her. Is there any insight you can give me?

Thankyou very much for your reply. I haven't been on the boards in a long time so I'm just checking my replies now. The injections I will be receiving are called Pars injections, I don't know if they are the same thing as an epidural?? I am back on the Hydromorph and I don't seem to be getting any headaches from them anymore. I think that last time I was on them I wasn't on them long enough to give them a chance. So the pain has been a lot better to deal with. Anyways take good care and thankyou!!
M.S.

HEE,
My daughter was diagnosed with spondy at age 11. She continued to play sports at that time - soccer, dance, volleyball, track (hurdles and high jump). Her spondy was a grade I and gradually progressed over the years. My daughter's dr had her come in every six to twelve months to evaluate her. We went to her dr for years before we ever heard that dreaded "S" word. When she made dance team and danced daily her slip progressed quicker and the pain never stopped. So unless your daughter's slip is a grade III, I would be really surprised that surgery would be the first thing suggested?

Since your daughter is young, are you seeing a pediatric orthopaedist? This means that the dr has a specialty in the pediatric patient since they are different than an adult. Our dr has a pediatric fellowship with a specialty in scolisis so he dealt a lot with the spine. One thing that I have learned from our dr is he continually stressed that kids are different than adults. I really believe him now. Many of the stories on the boards relate to adults and things that are done for kids are different and they recover so much quicker!!!

The first treatments were rest from sports, three months of physical therapy, continued home exercises, medication, bracing, more therapy, and lastly surgery. So we tried non-surgical treatments for two years before she had surgery. Her mri later revealed that she was also born with stenosis. She has recently been diagnosed with a major gyn issue. Those drs feel the back problems may be related to the new diagnosis, but the orthos don't think they're related.

Now if your daughter is slipped a lot and surgery is suggested, go and seek out a second and even third opinion. When surgery was first suggested to us my daughter was only 15 and I freaked out. Luckily I have a relative who is a pediatric ortho and I sought a third opinion from a pediatric ortho and all three felt surgery was the next step for us. I still put it off a year having our surgeon try one more non-surgical treatment of bracing. Once that didn't work I knew we would be booking surgery.

This was in Feb. 05 and luckily her dr felt she could wait until school was out in June. She had a half of day of vacation and surgery was the next day. She is doing fabulous. I don't know if she'll ever water ski or dance again, but she is 7 1/2 mo post op and is ice skating, light swimming in the pool, using the treadmill and eliptical. Some of the drs we saw said no restrictions after a few years. Her dr is pretty conservative so we'll see what he says when we go in Feb. But she now has her smile back.

Another suggestion. Search the web and you will find a few things about spondy in children. Read what you can and write out a list of question before you go to the dr. That always keeps me focused and then I don't forget to ask something. Our dr is just fabulous, though and finishes each appt reminding me that if I have any question to call him. He always returns his calls which is great.

Hee, I'm sorry that I've turned this into a book, but there aren't many kids in our children's shoes. It is a terribly hard decision to make as a parent. Try everything you can first. My niece also has this diagnosis, grade I, and is still playing travel volleyball. So this may not be the end of your daughter's athletics. Please feel free to ask any questions and let us know what you find out at your appt on Monday. cas