I just joined this forum yesterday and just read this thread today. I could go on for a long time about
my experience (in fact I'm in the process of writing a memoir about
it all!) but I'll try to be brief. In 2005 I rolled over in my sleep and ruptured my c6-7 disc (although it took 3 weeks of excruciating pain in my neck and down my arm and slow loss of function of my arm before I got an MRI and was referred to a neurosurgeon who diagnosed me with the ruptured disc). A week later I had a discectomy and spinal fusion surgery at two levels (c5-7) because I was losing neurological function of my arm.
After the surgery, the excruciaring nerve pain was gone but I continued to have very bad pain (concentrated in the opposite side from where my surgery was), and it was more like burning jabbing muscle pain versus the horrible nerve pain before the surgery.
But after the surgery I continued to have truly terrible pain for the next 9 months. During that time I tried pain meds (e.g., vicodin, oxycodone), muscle relaxants (flexeril), seizure med I think (neurontin), and nothing helped.
Then I found a physical medicine and rehab (PM&R) doctor who discovered I'd developed Myofascial Pain Syndrome after the surgery (or maybe it began when I ruptured the disc since it can be triggered by any such trauma). The PM&R doc gave me trigger point injections (of steroid and lidocaine). It was the first thing that gave me relief. I was in tears because I couldn't believe that after all those months of such awful pain that I could feel normal again! I kept getting more steroid shots over several months but the effectiveness wore off and I ended up having the side effect of bleeding for a full month straight from one menstrual period to the next.
I later tried Cymbalta which made me throw up and then later Savella (a drug for fibromyalgia although I was not diagnosed with that), which made me nauseous. ... Without the rest of all the details, the bottom line: none of the oral drugs helped me, the shots helped for a little while... and were worth it for every second I felt some relief. I also tried traditional physical therapy and that didn't help at all either. I also had a facet joint injection that only spiked up my pain for a few days and did nothing to lessen my pain.
Finally after 2 years of living a nightmare in pain (and working reduced hours most often while lying down at home plus trying to keep my two kids alive), I found that Myofascial release (mfr) physical therapy was the first thing to significantly and permanently bring down my pain (until I was rear ended in my car in 2009 and things spiked up again, although it has come down a bit again)...
Anyway, I just wanted to share that the drugs and traditional PT didn't help me at all and the mfr (specifically "JFB-MFR") finally did. It took about
4 months of JFB-MFR for me to get the first real significant pain reduction (but I had already been in pain for 2 straight years before that which probably made it take a while).
I also read a bit about
pain and the mindbody connection (which believe me, I was very sceptical about
!) But it has actually helped me (e.g., Peter Levine's Waking the Tiger, John F. Barnes' Healing Ancient Wounds, and Dr. John Sarno's The Mindbody Prescript
ion and The Divided Mind. Oh, and over-the-counter heat patches (e.g., Thermacare) also help to slightly reduce my pain. I still deal with lingering pain but it's not nearly as bad as it once was.
Best of luck to you!! (I told you all about
my journey because I hope you can gain from my experience. I spent two years listening to doctors and trying so many "traditional" remedies that didn't work. I just can't help but think it just kept getting worse in all that time, or at least my body was getting stuck in pain patterns that the MFR finally helped release.) Again, good luck!!
I have made some paragraphs in your post to make it easier to read. Some of our members have tracking problems when reading. Thanks.
Post Edited By Moderator (straydog) : 4/22/2016 8:50:33 AM (GMT-6)