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Catahoola just checking on you.

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Chronic Pain
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Posted 1/30/2010 6:05 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Catahoola,

Haven't been seeing much of you lately. I just wanted to check on you and see how you are doing and what's going on with you. When you feel up to it please let us hear from you.

Posted 1/30/2010 11:39 PM (GMT 0)
thanks for checking. I've been reading  and responding to various threads so I guess its been hard to find me in one place. I was pretty upset after my last doctors appointment 3 weeks ago. Doc listened after I first saw yet again another different new student doc first and then refused to make any med change. The student doc was very eager to set me up for yet another cryoprobe( which he would be assisting on) I explained we weren't doing anything invasive any longer. I had been on 10 mgs opana bid and told my doc that I was taking both doses in the am and the 20 mgs seemed to be helping. His response was "good but watch out becasue its a 12 hour med so watch out for a drop out" and left so the student could write the scripts. I have an appointment to see him again on monday as the breakthrough pain have ( has ?) been coming more and more frequently and stronger ( 10 out of 10). We have to do something. He mentioned I might go to Johns Hopkins as a second opinion but I just can't afford it. I do have an appointment scheduled with a local pain doc who is spoken of very highly on March 3. She is not connected with any major med center or any teaching center but everyone I've spoken with has mentioned her. Four years ago when I tried to get in I was refused when I mentioned I had a nerve stim. I mentioned it again to the receptionist this time and there was no hesitation so maybe things have changed, I hope.

Again, thanks for checking on me. I've been here, just going through a rough patch. Wish me luck on monday.

cat

Posted 1/31/2010 2:07 AM (GMT 0)
Good Luck cat.
Posted 1/31/2010 6:37 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Cat,

You are right we can get lost in the shuffle on different threads here at the forum, lol. I hope your dr will do something for you on Monday. Jeesh, you have been thru so much. I am sure you are excited and nervous about this new PM dr. This new one may be the one that fits the bill for you. I sure hope so. I know what the difference can be when you find a dr that really knows what they are doing. I am with a new pump dr, have been with her for a year. This new dr has really given me a lot of my life back. My prior dr was as dumb as a box of rocks when it came to pumps and the medications used for pumps. As a result his patients suffered terribly. He quit pain mgt and did that field a great favor by doing so.

Anyway, just checking on you. Take care and let us know how the appt goes on Monday.

Posted 2/1/2010 7:37 PM (GMT 0)
well I saw the doc today ( this time the big man himself , no med students !!) We made a med change to 20 mgs opana BID and increased the topomax to 50 mgs 3x's a day so I am hoping that will help with the nerv pain. That makes it a grand total of Opana 20mgs bid, topomax 50 mgs. tid, lyrica 75mg's 4x's a day, norco 4x's a day  along with the prozac, zorco and ambien. Now I also agree ( but have 2 weeks to change my mind) to a nerve block in the office in the oppcipitol nerve. Now you all heard me piss and moan about how terrible the trial stim for the oppcipitol nerve was and there is no way I will ever go for that again. Nor will I ever agree to another cryoprobe anywhere , no more anything to anything where they have to put me out ( even though that was my biggest complaint with the trial stim) I know it doesn't make any sense BUT I do recall the simple nerve block, simple shots helping some. I have 2 weeks to change my mind, or rather to think about it. Greatefully I had had a cup of coffee before we left at 5:30 this morning for our 2 1/2 hour drive so we couldn't do it today ( maybe that was fate?). Anyway, what do you think? Of course  I'm not really asking you to tell me what to do but I am asking your opinions. If you had had the luck I've had with all the shots and cryoprobes and stim trials etc ( I know I wrote about them in lenght in the opana vs oxy thread a bit ago), would go with a nerve block in the office.? There has been a heck of alot of nerve pain in the back of the head, a heck of alot of it recently and the nerve block has helped from what I recall many years ago when I first started all of this BUT I never had any of this terrible nerve pain in the back of my head before I had the first cryoprobe to the back of my head. Kind of a darned if you do, darned if you don't situation situation.

any opinion will be taken as such

hope you all are having a pain free day

Its February already, soon it will be spring!

cat

Posted 2/2/2010 3:04 AM (GMT 0)
Cat, I have had several occipital nerve blocks done in one of my old pain mgt drs office. I found them very uncomfortable, as they were an injection, and I always got sick at my stomach. I quit doing them, I did not get any relief from them.

Considering what you have been thru already, if you decide not to go thru with this, I totally understand and I do not blame you one bit. Enough is enough.

Perhaps the change in meds will give you some relief, lets hope so.

Posted 2/7/2010 6:30 PM (GMT 0)
can i ask, what were they "supposed" to do for you? I've had these injections before and they pretty much numbed my head up  depending on where i got the shot. These are suppose to numb the back of my head. What were they suppose to do for you?

cat

Posted 2/7/2010 8:30 PM (GMT 0)
Cat
May I ask about the pain in the back of your head, and where do they give the injections? I know I have upper neck pain that goes up into the back of my head, about mid way up, I guess if you drew a line around the back of my head from the top of my ear on one side to the top of the ear on the other, from that line down and on it into my neck is where I have pain. and more strongly on the right side. My pain Doc says is it from the disk C2-3 area. and the MRI and X-rays confirm this,I have nerve root impingement on the right side. Anyway I am having epidural steroid injections done, I have had them before (literally at the base of my skull but in my neck) and I had pretty good luck with them, anyway the 24th I will get it and then again the 10 of March. Its funny because every where else that I have had them in my back they haven't really worked very long. But they seem to do better up there. So where do they give you these injections? I am just trying to relate to see if this is similar to what I have had and am going to get again.

Good Luck to You

White Beard
Posted 2/7/2010 9:14 PM (GMT 0)
Cat I had severe headaches going up the back of my neck. Mine were done to try to stop the headaches.
Posted 2/7/2010 10:59 PM (GMT 0)
whitebeard-

     at the base of the skull is pretty much exactly where the injections go, top of the neck, dead center one on either side of center.  I've been keeping a "picture diary" since my appointment on monday to see if these injections are really going to be benificial and I can honestly say that the  breakthrough pain has only been in that "spot" once. Thats my problem ( well..one of them :o)..0  there are so many trigger spots that I really can't see how an injection in this one specific spot is going to help me. I will bring  this is to show him before I decide either way. I also have an appointment with another pain doc on March 3.

I haven't been on all the threads as this has been a bad week. Have we heard anything from Skeye and her appeal?

cat

Posted 2/8/2010 2:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Cat,

I'm still waiting on my surgeon's office. I sent everything (doctors letters, papers from the literature, etc) to them weeks ago & have made 10+ phone calls to them, but the lady I need to talk to is always "on the other line" when I call & she never returns my calls. Sometimes I wait on the line for her, but they always end up kicking me off the phone eventually because I am "tying up the phone lines." It is extremely frustrating! I don't know whether or not she's actually gotten the stuff that I sent because I haven't been able to get ahold of her to confirm! I'm guessing the appeal still hasn't been submitted, but I don't know... I hope she remembers that I want to meet with the insurance company face-to-face so they can't give me any BS. It will only take 2 minutes of her time to talk to me!! I don't know what happened, this lady was so good at keeping me in the loop after the initial denial & when we submitted the first appeal.

Fortunately I saw my fantastic PCP on Friday & he called the surgeon's office while I was with him to try to get things moving. Unfortunately, the lady that we need to speak with was off (!!!), but hopefully she'll at least call him back tomorrow. Can you tell that I'm beyond frustrated, or what?!

Hope things are going better for you!

hugs,
Skeye
Posted 2/11/2010 7:07 PM (GMT 0)
Well for what its worth I have cancelled the nerve blocks that were scheduled for monday. Those little hairs on the back of my neck were telling me not to start all over again with the shots and the cryroprobes and then the  trial stims and who knows what, at least not until I see this new doc for a second opinion on March 3. She may very well suggest the same thing but for now I think I need to wait.

Hope you are all well, warm and dealing with the snow.

cat

Posted 2/11/2010 7:41 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Cat! I just posted a reply on tmjpain. I'm so sorry, if I cant remember meeting you, but I can see that you are a very caring soul here. We all, so wish that you are doing better with your health, and by the looks of your last reply, you need some rest. Did I get that right? ...or am I a mile off again? :) I seem to have the hardest time keeping track of all the members here. If you are in the top 10 list on the post here, that is where I tend to focus, so forgive me if you slipped by my eyes here. I will read up on your post here in a minuet or two. Take care now, and get some rest.

Michael
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