Discussions that mention lyrica

Hi,
I am 10 months out from a 4 level lumbar(L3-s1) fusion and still having a lot of issues and pain. I saw the OS today and the xrays and mri look good. I am completely fused and the mri did not show any stenosis. I am still having pain down my legs(feels like I ran a marathon) and pain in my back. I am also having some burning pain which is probably nerve related. The OS does not know why I am having pain, so now he is trying to look outside the box. He has suggested looking into having SI injections, and then maybe having the screws removed or a spinal stimulator put in. I am terrified of all of this because it seems like everything makes the pain worse, not better!! He also wants me to see my neurosurgeon and a ruematologist and see what they think in addition to the pain mgmt specialist that I see. Has anyone had any of these procedures? Did they work and what was involved? Also has anyone tried Lyrica? Did it help and were you able to stop pain meds. I still take flexeril and percocet, so I don't want to add anything else into the mix unless it will mean I can stop something else.

Thanks
Cindy

The spinal cord stimulators have really worked for me...had one since 96-they require a lot of surgerys though...my mother has taken lyrica for leg pain it really helped her, but she had to discontinue it because it broke her out bad...good luck with your discission..denyor

I have pain down both legs, buttock pain, numbness in saddle area, urinary retention and bowel retention. Most from fusion surgery in 2005. I am awaiting surgery to remove my hardware which has been painful from the beginning. The doctor pushed on the hardware last week at my appt. and now my hip and thigh hurts. I think the screw is near the nerve and causes all kinds of problems. The screw or scar tissue at the S1 area is causing a lot of nerve problems. I will be having a laminotomy at several levels. I also have severe back pain. I can only take Norco and flexeril. I tried Lyrica and nothing. I did gain a lot of weight from the Lyrica and the Predisone. I had a trial stimulator prior to surgery. It failed when a wire came loose. It does help the legs, but did nothing for my back pain. Check the thread on here from Shawley. He just had a permanent Spinal Stim. put in. Was the MRI you had with Dye? The dye will show more than with a regular MRI. It is basically a simple surgery to have the hardware removed. I hope you find a solution to your pain. Good Luck

Hi Cindy -- I just wanted to tell you yes I have had everything you ask , did it work for me ? Not yet , but let me make it clear everyone is different.
Your only 10 months post op so don't go jumping into another surgery or implant just yet . I had my first fusion in 2004 , and in early 2005 I broke a pedical screw , plus a non -union (failure to fuse) so I had a revision the Dr. replaced all my hardware and new bone , after that I ended up with nerve damage ,so he put me on lyrica , it help's a little with leg and feet pain but not the back. And in july 2006 I had surgery to remove scar tissue and place a sleeve over my dura to protect it from scar tissue , it still didn't help the pain . I was taking oxycodone 15MG and Morphine 30MG plus Lyrica and skelaxin but nothing took the pain away ,so just last week I had the stimulator implant placed in my spine , the trial helped the leg and feet pain but right now I have pain in my toes that make me wonder if it was placed right ...It's still to early to tell because of the swelling of surgery so I'll have to wait. I have heard from some people it takes over a year for the nerves to calm down after surgery so maybe you should just hang on.

Please don't think all this bad stuff will happen to you because it may not , I'm just an unlucky person.

Hope you get your pain taken care of.

Shawley