Saw my Pain Doctor today.

Howdy everyone, hope you're having a decent night.

I just saw my Pain doctor today--finally--and I came away sort of hopeful, but also kind of reserved. He said he wants to try a facet join injection, since the injection into my L1-L2 disc didn't seem to help me. He also told me that he would be really careful with getting any kind of surgery, because it can often end up hurting more than helping. I'm fine with both those things. Getting the facet join injection can't hurt, and even if it isnt the cause of my severe pain--I am almost certain that I have chronic pain associated with it in some form. So it's worth a shot.

The only issue I have is that I sort of feel like my doctor kind of...doesn't get how bad I hurt. I mean, I was really hurting today and I didn't really realize how much until the nurse asked me if I usually shake my leg so much. (I jiggle my right leg when I'm nervous, but today I was really going at it. lol!)

Anyhow, my doctor is super nice and very informative, but like I said I sorta feel like there is a slight disconnect. He told me that he didn't think changing medications would help my pain, which I sorta don't understand because when I told him how my Tramadol doesn't really help that much he said "Well yes, it is definitely a mild pain reliever for sure," so how would trying something else not help? I de-emphasized narcotics before when I told him that the low dosage of Hydrocodone wasn't helping me much, so maybe now he is thinking "Well good for him, we should keep him off the narcotics." (Even though Tramadol sorta is one. )

He then asked if I was going to school, and when I told him that I wasn't I added about how I am applying for disability. I said Social Security, and he sort of went all wide eyed and was like, "Disability??" So, that seemed weird to me. My other doctors have been super helpful with all this, but I sort of got the vibe that he thought I was crazy for applying for disability--which makes me think he isn't really taking this seriously enough. It's been a year and I feel like crap. I'm willing to try other medications, and if I can't get surgery I really need to try something else. Ugh.

But I'm hopeful the facet injection helps even just a lil.

If this is your first visit to this particular doctor hopefully his actions/reactions are nothing more than just trying to get a feel about what kind of patient you are..ie the kind who is truly interested in finding pain relief or the type who is just looking for more meds, etc.

Misterkatamari....I remember being were you are. I don't know if any doctor really understand what kind of pain you are going through unless they had gone through it themselves. I have to honestly say I do not know if I would be so understandable if I haven;t gone through it myself. So we have to be our own spokes person for ourselves. The meds. I take are morph sulf.120mg in the morning and 90mg in the evening and I also have break through meds. I also take 2700mg of gabapentin and 50mg of amitrytline at night, however this took 2yrs to reach a proper dose. Don't get me wrong I still have pain however I am able to have some quality of life. Hang in there!

Keep in touch and let me know how your managing. Even if you just want to vent, we all have days like that.

Take care, Amy


Chronic pain(nerve), fibro and mild depression

misterkatamari....I understand that you do not want to be an addict, my doctor put it best....does a diabetic feel like an addict just because they need meds. to survive. I also felt the same way you did but I did give in and now have some quality of life. I am afraid without the drugs Patrick I would not be able to get out of bed. However, everyone is different I hope you are able to get some answers that will help you.

Keep in touch so I know how you are doing....I will keep you in my prayers

Take care, Amy



Chronic pain(nerve), fibro and mild depression

Mister, just curious as to how much tramadol your physician has prescribed. I use tramadol 100mg 3xday along with tylenol. The tylenol definately helps things. Your doctor may be cautious with the anti-depressant tramadol mix because there is a chance of seratonin syndrome with this. Also, if your doctor is considering a facet injection you are probably experiencing some nerve pain from the facets irritating a nerve. Possibly something for nerve pain like ultram (generic is gabapentin) would help in your case. I take 600mg gabapentin 2xday.

Normally with facet syndrome the irritated nerve causes some killer muscle spasms, are you having this problem? I have facet syndrome in many levels of my spine and the muscle spasms never stop so I am also on a muscle relaxer. There are alot of muscle relaxers out there and most that I tried made me to sleepy to function until I found baclofen. Possibly talk to your doctor about this but you may have to try many until you find the right mix for you.

I've had the radio frequency ablation done which is what your doctor is considering. I would recommend this if you are comfortable with your doctors skill level. If it is successful you can expect anywhere from 6-18 months of relief. There is alot of information on the web about facet joints and rfa,
even utube videos. Get as much information about this as possible so you are informed enough to make a decision.

Hope this helps.

bsjaguar said...
Mister, just curious as to how much tramadol your physician has prescribed. I use tramadol 100mg 3xday along with tylenol. The tylenol definately helps things. Your doctor may be cautious with the anti-depressant tramadol mix because there is a chance of seratonin syndrome with this. Also, if your doctor is considering a facet injection you are probably experiencing some nerve pain from the facets irritating a nerve. Possibly something for nerve pain like ultram (generic is gabapentin) would help in your case. I take 600mg gabapentin 2xday.

Normally with facet syndrome the irritated nerve causes some killer muscle spasms, are you having this problem? I have facet syndrome in many levels of my spine and the muscle spasms never stop so I am also on a muscle relaxer. There are alot of muscle relaxers out there and most that I tried made me to sleepy to function until I found baclofen. Possibly talk to your doctor about this but you may have to try many until you find the right mix for you.

I've had the radio frequency ablation done which is what your doctor is considering. I would recommend this if you are comfortable with your doctors skill level. If it is successful you can expect anywhere from 6-18 months of relief. There is alot of information on the web about facet joints and rfa,
even utube videos. Get as much information about this as possible so you are informed enough to make a decision.

Hope this helps.

Wow, I have never heard about facet syndrome causing muscle spasms. Ever since my pain began, and I herniated my disk last year--I have been having almost constant muscle twitching and spams. Most of them aren't painful, but they have been happening almost constantly. And not just in my back, but I have twitching all down my arms and legs too. I asked my doctor if I cold try a relaxer, and he put me on Robaxin (Metholcarbamol), 750mg. I'm still getting the spasms, but it sort of hurts less and is less severe. I would have never connected that all to the facet stuff, though.

Also, when I looked up Ultram, it acts like it is the same thing as Tramadol--so I'm sorta confused. But either way, my Tramadol is at 50mg. My doctor said I can take up to two at a time, however, which I do. I just can't go over so many mg in 24hours. I don't get any bad side effects from the tramadol, other than a bit of drowsiness and constipation, but I also don't get much relief from it either. I also take Naproxen, as I tried tylenol but it generally seemed to help less than ibuprofen type medications.


And thank you so much! :)

Mister, I have been hurt and disabled since 1995, I have seen probably 30 doctors of all different types. I have had 3 spinal fusions by three different surgerons. My last 4 level fusion was suppose to relief my pain by 80%. within 3 weeks of surgery this doctor wanted to stop all my pain meds cold turkery!!! I wasn't on a whole lot but he scared me to death. The only doctor that would help me was my regular pcp doctor. He has been prescribing my meds for about 12 years. IMO I would go back to your regular doctor and tell him this guy is not helping me. I hurt and I just want some relief. To me personally Tramadol is nothing more than tylonel. I get no relief from it. I have had tons of injections, nothing has worked. I know everyone is different so maybe a small dose of oxycodone would do you some good. But I would start with your pcp and maybe he can also make another referal to someone in the PM that does more that just injections. Good Luck, take care
Cheryl

Misterkatamari -
Tramadol is generic for Ultram. It works for me mostly on my fibromyalgia muscle pain and some with my spine pain. It's not highly addicting and it helps make me less depressed because it raises serotonin, which is why I have to be careful when taking anything else that does that too.

I don't like taking serious opioids because they stop working too fast, and I need to save them for surgeries. I had one shoulder impingement fixed a couple of months ago and the other one is going bad.

You might ask the doc to try injecting somewhere else. When I was having a lot of sciatica and leg and foot pain he injected my tailbone (caudal injection). That hurt a lot afterward, but relieved pain a long time. It's been half a year and it's just beginning to come back a little, not enough to do anything about it. I had a year's complete relief from an injection at L5/S1 previously. If I can get pain relief long enough it seems some types of back problems will resolve on their own. You can research that online.

Jag - PT didn't do much for me. I can do the exercises on my own. The few minutes they give us with the TENS unit isn't enough. It takes at least a couple of hours for my spasms to stop. My shoulder doc doesn't even prescribe PT except a couple of things I do at home, which hurt so much I can't really do them. Oh well, I see him tomorrow. I'm on prednisone for my sinuses and that's helping the shoulder the most.

There are different types of injections too. If your doc can't do more than one type, ask him if a referral to someone else who can would do anything different.

Wow, thanks everyone!

I did have epidurals in my herniated disc area @ L1-L2, but it didn't help at all. So that is why he wants to check out the facet joints with an injection, to see if maybe it is causing some significant pain on its own that might be helped.

I actually got on the treadmill today and walked (slowly, but...) for around 15 minutes, and then later on for another 15. It sounds lame, but I really hope I can keep doing it. I took my Tramadol and Naproxen after, and while it hurt badly while I was walking--I am not having too much 'recovering' pain from the exercise, which is good.

   Pain Back Doctor...you have been reported to the Admin....I dont have the good health to clean up your mess you have created here on the forums....but you will be gone soon!

   Snowbunny...if you see ad's like this...email anyone of the mod's ...or report to the admin. Thanks!

     SE

       Snow....you did a fine job then!....anytime you see a moderators post...click the email icon just under their username..and send.....mine comes directly to me via my phone...and I'm usually there, unless Im asleep. :)

       ...or you can look the mod's name up in the member directory.

Im in a bad way here at the moment, and will be gone for a while untill I get things worked out and settled down...but may pop in from time to time to assist Laura and Stray.

   Thanks!

 SE

      ...Laura....is a different time zone then most of us here in the USA...and is usually up...but she is having serious health issues as well. Stray...I believe stays up to the wee hours of the morning as well...and I'm up at different times too...so fire any one of the three of us or all three of us an email...and I'm willing to bet at least one of us will catch it pretty quickly.

    ...also the button to alert the Admin...is there to use....however sometimes I think we perfer that we take care of it ourselves if we can, as Peter also has health issues, and of course covers all forums, and has a host of Moderators reporting to him.....he is a busy man.

    ...again you did just fine...and hope the tips help all here. Were all in this together, and will accept help anytime....when a spammer like this floods the forums like he did.

  Thanks!

   SE