acl828

Pardon the pity party here but it just seems that I've fallen into some kind of Black Hole. To make a long story short, I had a very bad fall in January 2001, didn't go to the doc until April (when I could hardly walk), went to various docs up the chain of severity, and now, 3 surgeries later, am a mess! I am in constant pain and nothing seems to get it gone.
I suffered badly from January 2001 until August 2002 when I finally agreed to a single level fusion. Now that it's 4 years later and I'm still in so much pain, I look back and wonder if I waited too long and all this pain is coming from nerve damage that can't be fixed. My first sugery was revised to a two level fusion and then the third, they removed the hardware. I did actually have a small window of relief in 2004. From March through August I was doing so well that I'd gone back to school and was much more active. Unfortunately, the old familiar pain returned in August but I didn't go to my Neurosurgeon right away.
At the beginning of December he ordered an MRI and the results were that now, the level above, L3 has gone hinky. I've done the epidurals (none helped). I've done PT (made it worse). I take Lorcet (helps a little but nothing totally stops the pain). I've also been told they see Arthritis in my back and the PT said I have Neuropathic Radiculopathy (I hope I said that right). Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else has this same diagnosis and what treatment regimens (successes and failures) you have endured. I thank you for your time and for all inputs.