post acdf questions

[wastefulltick]

hi everyone
i had acdf w/donor bone and plating c56 c67 bone spurs cleaned out on c 23 c34 on may 6 2004 and have had a difficult recovery and need some imput i have been in pain since the surgury and it is worse than before the surgury and that was bad enough i still have not fused i go for another xray next week let me give you all a list of what is going on and welcome all responses i have pain now in my rt collar bone neck and up the back of my head and down to middle of spine also in my rt and lt shoulders and arms and hands with numbness and tingling in fingers prior to surgury had pain only in neck lt shoulder arm and hand and numbness and tingling in lt thumb and index finger i can no longer sit for more than 20 min used to be able to sleep for 4 hours in recliner now can only sleep off and on for 1 hr at a time can lay down for an 1 hr or 2 and than wake up in bad pain with both arms and hand numb and hurting i also now cant seem to keep my feet and legs still as they now hurt and i have to move them alot my only comfort is walking and standing i am sleep deprived and now am having panic attacks almost daily i feel like every bone in my body hurts ever since the surgury neuro says this is normal that the nerve in c67 had a bone spur growing in it and another spur in c34 was pressing aganist the dura of my spinal cord and the they are angry and inflamed and he gets angry with me when i bring up all the pain im going thru and even told me that he told me 2 years ago that i needed this surgury and that it was to save the use of my lt arm and hand and to avoid paralsis i felt like a scolded child i cant work because of the pain and lack of sleep and i cant drive because of limited mobilty and the pain it causes when i turn my head to see to turn and have almost caused a few accidents im miserable tired and hurting depressed and paniced and need your help with any opinions i havent posted in a while because of the pain of sitting at the computer sorry for the rant just needed to vent
bob

[solardust]

I am so sorry you are in such pain,what meds are you currently takeing????I know most do not touch nerve pain,but anti-inflamatories work rather well if you keep up with them,I also use a heating pad,although some say ice works better,hopefully it is because your nerves are all worked up and the way it has been explained to me , it takes alot of rehab to get them to relax again,I seems to feel at my best walking,I guess that gets the blood flowing,I know docs hate to give anything for stress ,but I think you should really fight for something that will relax you a bit,I hope one of the senior members can help you more then I,just know we are all feeling for you and you are not alone,Diana

[wastefulltick]

hi solardust
i am currently taking 15 mg roxicodone 4 xday and 5 mgs percocet as needed for breakthru along with asprin and valium for muscle spasm did take neurontin for a week but it did not work and left me feeling like a zombie also took flexrell it made mel tired also use ice packs and heat packs went to pt but that increased my pain ten fold
bob

[solardust]

Hi bob, what I have been doing , since c 5-6 is still buldging and causeing some problems, is I take( 4 )200mg Ibuproven,4 times a day,so every 6 hours,I told my NS this yesterday, and he was fine with it,my surgery was Aug 13th 2004,( fused c-6-7) so maybe if you can tolerate it,give it a try,its not as strong as a steroid,but if you take them like clock work,they do give relief,let me know ok,and I hope they take some of the edge off for you too,just remember it may take a day or too, cuz they have to catch up on the inflamation.Diana

[solardust]

p.s sorry forgot to mention the shoulder's, try to relax them if you find that you have them hunched up,it does help.