pixiepoodle

Hi Barbara,

I am one of the people who has a pain pump and I have responded to numerous posts re: my experience under this topic, as well as under pain mgmt. Overall, my experience has been good and the results have been wonderful.

The only problem I had was being allergic to morphine which caused severe edema in my feet, legs and hands, so I was switched to Fentanyl. My dr. has been implanting pumps since 1983 and never had anyone have a reaction except me. After getting the Fentanyl on 5/29, my dosage has been adjusted quite a few times and I think I have finally reached being as close to pain free as possible (about 95%).

I hate to have to repeat what I have written in all my other posts, so I will try to keep this down to the basics. I got the pump thru a pain mgmt. dr. I had the surgery on a Fri. and was back at work on Tues. and feeling pretty good. The pump is placed in your tummy (4 in. incision) right under the skin so it is not very painful. A catherer is attached to the pump and "threaded" (?) under your skin around to your spine
and is connected thru a 2 in. incision. The only down side to that was the dr. used staples instead of reg. stitches, so sitting against anything was painful.

The pros of the pump are that the meds do not go thru your blood stream so it does not affect your brain, is not broken down by your liver and your body does not build up an immunity, therefore you are fully functional and alert. I have discovered with having no pain, I have almost zero Fibro fog. The pump injects the meds continuously around the clock so there are no highs and lows.

The cons are that the the surgery and pump are very expensive and the battery only lasts between 5 to 7 yrs. and then the pump has to be replaced. But there is good news in that the manufacturer is working on developing a rechargeable battery so you don't have to have it replaced.

Depending on the dosage of your meds, the pump has to be refilled anywhere from every 1 to 3 mos. I started out at 3 mos. (14 micograms) and now I am up to getting it done once a month with 40 micograms. Because the meds used are powerful, you are started out at the lowest dose possible and at every visit, they will turn it up in small increments. In the meantime, the dr. will give you meds for break thru pain until you reach what I call your happy dose".

The refill process is very simple. You are given a lidocaine injection with a tiny needle to numb the area and then a template is placed over the pump to guide where a needle with a catherer goes and the meds are injected into the end of the catherer. It takes all of about 2-3 minutes.

There have been some people who have had bad experiences with the pump (i.e., the catherer getting disconnected, getting an infection after surgery, etc.), but as with any surgery, there are always risks and a certain percentage of patients who will have problems). But everytime I go to the drs' office, I talk to the other patients in the waiting room and everyone has told me they LOVE their pump and couldn't live w/out it. Most of the patients however are people who have had unsuccessful back surgery, so their pain will never be relieved to the level mine has. I just can't say enough good things about the pump - I absolutely love having it and I have my life back.

Oh I forgot to mention that before getting the pump, you have to have a trial run in the hospital. Some people (like the back surgery patients) have a portable pump that is placed outside their body somehow and they try it for several days. All I had was an injection directly into my spine and had to stay overnight to be monitored. One week later, I had the surgery. After trying numerous combinations of meds, supplements, massage and exercise which only took a tinge of my pain away, this is the only thing that works. I highly recommend checking out the website for the manufactuer of the pump which is Medtronics.