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Pain Pump - I'm so frustrated

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Chronic Pain
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Posted 3/22/2014 2:37 AM (GMT 0)
I just finished reading Peters story. I'm glad that you can find some good in this life. I on the other hand feel punished. I ask myself daily why a loving God would allow me to have so many problems.

It started in my teens. I tried counseling and antidepressant medication, discontinuing all because of side effects. You may think I'm posting in the wrong topic, but I'm not. You will see. In my early 30's I was diagnosed w/bipolar disorder after several hospitalizations and suicide attempts. The worst thing was that it destroyed a ten year marriage and I lost custody of my two young sons.

Next I was diagnosed w/GERD not long after that IBS. I was doing fine with all my ailments for a while until 2002 when they found a tumor in my stomach. Shortly after they removed 1/3 of my stomach. The tumor was benign.

A year later my thyroid became over active. After multiple tests they ended up removing my thyroid also. So now I take medications for that.

I then started having excruciating migraines. Only getting worse and not any better with all the specialists & treatments. They also put me on estrogen as tests showed it was low.

Soon later I had to have a complete hysterectomy. This also improved my migraines some.

In 2005 I started having this awful pain in my neck and right shoulder. I thought I just had a stiff neck, but the pain never went away and only got worse. After seeing 4 doctors and nearly 6 months later they took an X-ray of my neck. It turns out I have degenerative disc disease in my cervical spine. Two surgeries later I now have another bad disc which my surgeon will not operate on.

After three years on the fentanyl patch I finally gave in and got a pain pump. I now feel it was the worst decision I ever made. A year and a half later it's still not working. After getting my dose of fentanyl up to 3700 mcg a day they switched to sufentanil, then a combination of both. No matter how much they increased it I got no relief.

Finally they decided I was too tolerant to opiod pain meds and put buvivacaine in the pump plus I take 8 Norco a day. I haven't been allowed to drive now for over six months And it's nearly destroyed my relationship with my live in boyfriend of nearly 10 yrs. Also a year and half ago I was also diagnosed with Osteoporosis. So many days I wish I were dead.

Is there anyone out there who has had success with buvivacaine in their pump?
Posted 3/22/2014 10:38 AM (GMT 0)
Hello DBG and welcome to HW and the chronic pain forum. Im sorry you have seen so much pain for so long and that in itself can cause deep depression issues so your certainly not alone there.

We actually have a couple of folks on a pain pump and Straydog has had one for many years and will be able to really help you. Unfortunately her Brother had an accident earlier in the week and she has been away from the board at the hospital. I speak with her frequently thru the day and will see if she can find a moment to respond to your questions.

The other is Mark but his pump is new and he has had numerous problems and was going to have to get a replacement,not sure if thats why he has been missing for a few days.

Please hang in there and continue to check in and others will be here to welcome you and try to answer your questions. This forums great for support and experience.

Glad you found us.
Posted 3/22/2014 11:42 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you so much for your reply. It helps to know that I'm not alone regarding this pain pump issue.
Posted 3/22/2014 10:17 PM (GMT 0)
Hello DBGOOD.I saw a reply.Didn't know it was your own.

I'll read your Post again.

There are a couple of folks here with "Pain Pumps",is that what they're called.

Put "Pump" in the title if that's what you're needing info on.

I'll read your Post and be back.

Welcome aboard,
Rick

eta: God Bless you.I hate that you're not getting enough relief.

Posted 3/22/2014 11:20 PM (GMT 0)
You're definitely not alone.Someone going through the same thing as you will come along at some point this weekend.

Everyone here's treatment involves a different combination of meds and maybe physical therapy to try and have some quality of life.

Welcome and make yourself at home,
Rick

Post Edited (tidalmouse) : 3/22/2014 6:00:27 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 3/23/2014 12:36 AM (GMT 0)
hello dbgood and welcome to the forum. sorry to hear about the pains you have to carry. that is alot for anyone to bear. my aches and pains go back around 8 1/2 years now. injured my lower back at work
in nov. of 2004 and things have'nt been the same since. over the years i've been on about everything
from aspirin to xanax. the meds that did work over time developed a tolerance for and the ones that didn't just switched to the next med.

anyway over all the therapy sessions and surgeries my surgeon had mentioned getting on a pain pump.
i really wasn't hesitant to have the pump, did alot of reading on-line and such and it was sounding pretty
good. so after much research i decided to go ahead and have the surgery done.

well after i healed up from the sugery i went to my pm and he added to meds (morphine) to the pump
and mentioned that i would more than likely need a few adjustments to reach that happy medium. i was fine with that so i am able to go in the the clinic (no appt needed) and get adjustments as needed. now three adjustments later, still no results and my pm said he wanted to do an x-ray with dye and look for a blockage.
well it showed that there was a blockage in the tubing.

ok great. another sugery to fix this. by now about 6 months have gone by since i started all the procedures nedded to see if i was a candcate for the pump. anyway i'm set for the surgery but the next appt. for that would be a month and a half before i could get in. now when my surgeron opened me up
he did a check to see if there really was a blockage. turns out there is no blockage at all. what my pm
was doing was tuning to amount of meds down instaed of up. so i was getting no medicine at all.
on top of that he reduced the amout of my pain meds also by 50%. so i wasn't to happy about that.

so this monday i go in for another adjustment. like starting all over again.
well db again welcome to healing well and i hope you find what works well for you.
Posted 3/24/2014 1:46 AM (GMT 0)
Hello and Welcome to the forum. Believe me, I understand what you are going through completely. I logged on to the forum today because I am in so much nerve pain today that I just needed some support. I also have the pain pump with Fentanyl and the Buv medication in it, but Im no where the 3400 of fentanyl, in fact my doctor will have to increase me again this week, I think my numbers are 2400 or something. But the moral of the story is NO it does not help much. As for the BOLUS, OH please, I hardly ever use the increase because it does not help anyway, and much of my pain is the back pain causes more sciatica burning in both my legs and feet.

I know how you feel regarding thinking you would be better off dead than to be going through this pain all for a terrible quality of life, but I do believe in my Higher power and although at times the same feelings comes to mind, Although 3 of my kids are adults, I do have an 8 year old boy to raise and at times he even feels bad for me because he always says mom you are always in pain and I wish you were younger and did not have to walk with that cane. I just want to be around for him. We have to hope that better pain medication will be available because this is bad. I also have a SCS that does not help. I also take 5mg of Methadone 3x daily and Im still in pain with all this. Lets pray for one another.
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