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Posterior Cervical Fusion for Osteoma Recovery time and pain

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Chronic Pain
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Posted 5/21/2016 2:13 AM (GMT 0)
CBD, I am absolutely floored at the dr telling you it would be ok to ride. My first thought is he is one of these drs that think when he does surgery the person is better than they have ever been.

If this were me I would set this summer out & let myself completely heal before even thinking about getting on a horse. You know your fusion has not healed inside & it can take up to a year for it to become solid. That lifting is something you should not be doing any time soon. I would think it would be best to play it safe & let yourself heal & then be able to do it next year without worrying about messing things up in there. You sure don't want to have to go through another surgery over something that could have been prevented.

I hope you will continue to hang out with us here.
Posted 6/12/2016 2:51 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry I haven't been on, I have been extremely ill the last couple weeks. Took two weeks to get my last pain med refill. I need to know how long you were all on pain meds from your fusions please! I landed in ER twice now. ER doc told me the reason my doc gave me only ten days of meds to start it that that was probably all I should have needed so it's obvious the surgery didn't work. My doc kind of threw me under the bus when the ER doc called him the first time I went in and said to him that I just have a chronic problem. Oh yeah? I know the surgery worked, I can feel it, if I had had any kind of continuity of care I would be SOO MUCH BETTER by now. The pharmacist at Walgreen's was appalled when I told her what I had been through and she was able to see the huge gaps in my refills, and I kid you not, she called them three times to get me this last refill. Awesome lady. I need advice. My doc wants to kick me over to pain management and I do not not not want to go through the hell they put me through before all this, those people told me it was all in my head and performed countless procedures on me that made matters tons worse. I am just so sick and so frustrated!! My doc did NOT treat me like this after my anterior fusion. And get this, er docs tried telling me the withdrawals between refills were just in my head too. Which is another reason I called a pharmacist to ask advice. I need help!! The last nine weeks since surgery have been a living hell and NO ONE takes me seriously! I don't know what to do!!! Help!!
Posted 6/12/2016 9:01 PM (GMT 0)
Omg, what a crock of BS. Many of our members are on pain medications of some form sometimes a year or so, some never get off. Just because they had surgery does not mean the pain will go away. Obviously your surgeon has changed his rxing methods a whole lot. Being on pain meds 9 weeks out from surgery is totally normal, I can count on one hand how many members that had this surgery & joined here only to leave because they don't believe in pain medication & vast majority of us are on pain meds to have any quality life. Those people had a total aversion to pain medication & chose to be miserable. Sad but true they were totally uneducated about the use of narcotics thought they were taboo. You may be able to stop meds after several months or you may only need one every now & then. Regardless you need to have access to them.

Here is your only option as I see it. PM dr, sorry I know what you said happened before. Is this the only PM group on your insurance or in your area? Please keep in mind there are 2 different types of PM drs out there. One will do injections & procedures only, no medications. The other does the same but also will rx meds if deemed necessary. No other dr will rx pain meds to you unless its a PM dr. If this were me, I would get online & see who is available on my plan & call them to find out exactly what they need for you to be seen. Most require a referral from another dr & some require a copy of your medical records. Also, I would do a google search of PM drs in my area & call them to see what is required to get an appt. Keep in mind it is not unusual to wait at least 6 weeks to get an appt. The reason I am urging you to do some of this leg work is, it can shorten the time your drs office has to spend if they chose not to send you to the prior one. You don't appear to want to go back there anyway so I would start fresh. When calling you need to ask if the dr does injections & procedures only or will he rx pain meds if he feels they are warranted.

I know the above is not what you wanted to hear. Changing neurosurgeons will not make a difference on getting pain meds either. Surgeons are being targeted now not to rx pain meds longer than 10 days period. Its a mess that was bad & its getting worse because the surgeon are getting fingers pointed at them.

However if you need further spine surgery I would have to look for a new one if this were me.
Posted 6/12/2016 10:36 PM (GMT 0)
I would love nothing more than to never need a pain med again lol! But I do want to find a doc that gives a crap. My friend has a really good one that's a few hours away but he does write three scrips at a time for her etc. I may ask for a referral there and maybe she and I can set up visits on the same day and hit the mall there too lol. Plus it's a gorgeous drive through the mountains.
I am going to stretch out the scrip I have as long as I can, and at my next visit to him ask for three scrips at once to give me time to get in to the doc in Billings, MT.
Yeah, it's pretty hard to heal when you go through withdrawals every few weeks and holy Hannah has that led to my whole system being a mess. I landed in ER because I hadn't slept in almost three weeks and I am soooo tired of being sick and tired. I did manage a short walk today which brought home how weak I have gotten. Wowza. If I can sleep well for the next while and get some exercise I think I will be much better. I just have not yet had the chance to get my feet back under me since surgery.
I am determined to beat this, but I need a doc working with me and not against me. Thank you for your reply straydog, I will work on doing just that. That helps a lot!!
Posted 6/12/2016 10:48 PM (GMT 0)
If your friend has a good dr, gal I would be calling that drs office tomorrow & asking if they take your insurance, what is needed to be seen & get it rolling. If they are accepting new patients, needs a referral & accept your insurance my next call would be to that surgeons office giving them the info on this dr. & say I need a referral or whatever you need. I would not sit on this because of the wait involved to get an appt. Finding a good PM dr in todays environment is pretty tough. I have traveled before to see a good dr & it was worth every mile to get excellent care.

You are absolutely right, your dr did you a great disservice after this surgery. That is just barbaric doing what he has done. Yes, you would be farther along with the healing process had your care been handles differently from the very beginning.

Keep us posted.
Posted 11/21/2016 3:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hello CBD, I just found this thread and was wondering if you are OK now. The last post was in June.

I am appalled by your story and your doctor and do hope that you have been helped and are feeling great now and back on the horse (that made me cringe too when you said he said you could go back on the horse).

I am about 7.5 weeks post posterior fusion (C5-6 and C6-7). This was done due to a failed anterior fusion almost exactly 5 years before this surgery of C4-5, C5-6, and C6-7. C5-6 and C6-7 did not fuse in the 2011 surgery and I finally was having so much pain the doctor gave me the option of posterior surgery to repair it, with adding of rods and screws (I already have 3 levels of cages).

I felt like I would never be off the drugs and was continually trying to wean myself for fear of getting addicted. My doctor was awesome and gave me 30 day supplies of two types of pain pills (one for breakthrough pain) and muscle relaxers and even gave me a different muscle relaxer when I told him I feared getting too addicted to valium. He refilled my prescriptions for me for another 30 days as well. I did finally stop taking them for the most part about 2 weeks ago after cutting the doses and taking them farther and farther apart. You are definitely correct about feeling withdrawals when you don't take it. Now, every evening by 5 or 6, when the pain gets to me, I take 1/2 of a muscle relaxer and sometime after and before bed, I take 1/2 percocet an maybe another 1/2 of the SOMA (they are prescribed at 3/day but I have never taken more than one total per day, they are potent. It is still very difficult to sleep comfortably (I am supposed to sleep without the collar and I find my neck in very odd positions when I wake up in the night).

I have not gone back to work yet (scheduled for 12/20). I still have to wear the Aspen Collar all day and he wants me to keep wearing it until our next visit in January. Still wondering how I will get to work when I go back (although it's only for 3 days and then we have a Christmas shutdown until January 3rd). Anyone out there driving with an Aspen (or some kind of hard) collar? He said I absolutely cannot drive without it. I am scared to drive WITH it! or WITHOUT it for that matter. I have not driven yet.

OK, didn't mean to go on and on, it's just nice to see there are others out there with similar situations and I really wanted to know how CBD is doing, poor thing.

Thanks for listening.

Barbara
Posted 11/23/2016 4:18 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Barbara,

Your post will be seen and probably get more responses if you Post New Topic rather than here on an older one.

Almost 3 years ago I had cervical fusion. My own story title is just like you see in my signature if you want to read it. That was my first and only neck surgery. I did not drive for a LONG time afterwards. Our latest car with a back up camera is wonderful for my stiff neck! I also did not have to go back to work. That would have been very difficult for a long time also. I did not need to stay on pain meds more than 6 weeks. My ice pack and recliner are my best cures even now if I overdo! The first 18 months I did that often, not so much now, but glad I know how to get it relaxed if it starts hurting. Watching my posture, holding my neck up straight rather than bent, is very important. Cooking has always created more pain for me, so I've learned to be mindful of that posture. It does help!

I wish you the very best recovery possible. Start a new topic and we can continue our conversation there, perhaps others will join in.
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