Background information on me: 42 yr old Male, good shape, very athletic. I have debilitating lower back pain radiating down the left leg to the knee, sometimes to the ankle. I sometimes have severe groin pain. Severe lower back spasms at times.
DDD L2-L5, with L4-L5 being the worst, and L5-S1 also looking bad. I have tears in 2 disks as well. There is severe inflammation in the L4/L5 disk space that is now also in the Vertabrae which they cannot figure out. I have been on all types of antibiotics, all my blood work appears to be normal except for my red blood cell count which is extremelly low for no apparent reason No cancer, no anemia.
During the past year I have had 5 MRI's, they show mild herniations at the levels stated above, nerve impingment at several levels, but not "bad". A Bone Scan which showed abnormal uptake at the facet joints at 3 levels.
3 epidurals ( worked for 3 days)
4 facet injections ( no relief)
4 nerve blocks (no luck)
Numerous hours of physical therapy (this appears to help)
Accupuncture (no luck)
Myelogram with spinal headache and blood patch.
2 weeks later severe auto accident near seattle rearended on interstate whiled stopped at 60 mph, hit sterring wheel, broke a few teeth, more pain, etc, etc.
I was referred to Orthopedic surgeons for evaluations, all of whom are respected in their fields who state this needs to be pain control for now, or this will move up my spine rapidly if fusion is done. I am not a disk replacement candidate.
I have lived on tylenol, celebrex, vicodin, tramadol, Neurontin, Lyrica, percocet with my D.O. After the consults with the Surgeons , and after the auto accident, we agreed to get with a pain specialist who put me on the Topamax for starters and Wellbutrin. I am up to 75 mg as of today, no pain control as of yet, I am just miserable.
The pain doctor is recognized as one of the best in Seattle, I agreed to give the
Topamax a try before trying harder opiates.
I am also scheduled to work with a pain psychologist starting Tuesday, work out in a pool and take tai chi (sp?)
As for the amaitriptylin, I loved that I slept, but absolutely hated the drug in general. Beware, apparently it can be dangerous if mixed with tramadol.
It is agreed that the pain is coming from the disks, I think. I have a feeling that nobody really knows for sure. The one thing I have learned, is that after $25k of tests this year, and feeling worse now, we as back patients have to take contol of out care and make sure we know what is going on with our health care, what the doctors are doing, what the medications they are prescribing are for, and what the side effects are.
DDD L2-L5, with L4-L5 being the worst, and L5-S1 also looking bad. I have tears in 2 disks as well. There is severe inflammation in the L4/L5 disk space that is now also in the Vertabrae which they cannot figure out. I have been on all types of antibiotics, all my blood work appears to be normal except for my red blood cell count which is extremelly low for no apparent reason No cancer, no anemia.
During the past year I have had 5 MRI's, they show mild herniations at the levels stated above, nerve impingment at several levels, but not "bad". A Bone Scan which showed abnormal uptake at the facet joints at 3 levels.
3 epidurals ( worked for 3 days)
4 facet injections ( no relief)
4 nerve blocks (no luck)
Numerous hours of physical therapy (this appears to help)
Accupuncture (no luck)
Myelogram with spinal headache and blood patch.
2 weeks later severe auto accident near seattle rearended on interstate whiled stopped at 60 mph, hit sterring wheel, broke a few teeth, more pain, etc, etc.
I was referred to Orthopedic surgeons for evaluations, all of whom are respected in their fields who state this needs to be pain control for now, or this will move up my spine rapidly if fusion is done. I am not a disk replacement candidate.
I have lived on tylenol, celebrex, vicodin, tramadol, Neurontin, Lyrica, percocet with my D.O. After the consults with the Surgeons , and after the auto accident, we agreed to get with a pain specialist who put me on the Topamax for starters and Wellbutrin. I am up to 75 mg as of today, no pain control as of yet, I am just miserable.
The pain doctor is recognized as one of the best in Seattle, I agreed to give the
Topamax a try before trying harder opiates.
I am also scheduled to work with a pain psychologist starting Tuesday, work out in a pool and take tai chi (sp?)
As for the amaitriptylin, I loved that I slept, but absolutely hated the drug in general. Beware, apparently it can be dangerous if mixed with tramadol.
It is agreed that the pain is coming from the disks, I think. I have a feeling that nobody really knows for sure. The one thing I have learned, is that after $25k of tests this year, and feeling worse now, we as back patients have to take contol of out care and make sure we know what is going on with our health care, what the doctors are doing, what the medications they are prescribing are for, and what the side effects are.
