appt with pm dr

Glad to hear everything went well!!! Is this PM located in a hospital? Just curious as you wrote that you were going "back" there for a MRI....I've never seen those in a PM's office but that is great they could schedule you so quickly for this...

It's still very early in the recovery process though for a back surgery...(Did you have a fusion at the L4-L5 level? I couldn't tell by your signature what they did for the surgery)

It can take 6 months to a year to fully fuse so they are being really thorough doing a MRI less than 3 months afterwards but at least this will give them a view but just don't be discouraged if things haven't healed yet.

I certainly hope that you don't have an infection...have you had a fever lately?

And the last thing is that you have to be careful just monitoring the steroid treatments and my PM believes in doing this only a few times a year. It's not unusual at all to have inflammation after a major surgery and steroids help reduce this. Especially the more you recovery and move around, the more sore and inflamed things can get.

Were you set up for any PT to do after surgery? I started mine about a month to six weeks after my 3 fusions.

And then I can't remember if you are on a nerve pain medication? That would be another thing they could easily add to help with the nerve issues.

Not sure if you have taken steroids before but the main side effect after a day or two is some insomnia...So just as long as you are prepared for this, it's easier to get through the week!

Sorry for all the questions....just curious...LOL....I hope that you are all clear for any infections and the steroids will help!

That is great it has everything in one place. Mine has all of that minus the MRI. So it does make it convienent!

There are other nerve pain meds like Neurontin and Cymbalta. I used the Cymbalta for about 3 years and it really helped with my nerve pain symptoms. I was lucky in that my last fusion took away the majority of the nerve pain for my neck..Unfortunately I still have 3 herniations, two in my lumbar, one in lower cervical...so I can empathize with the pain.

I just think that since you are still so early in the recovery that you may find that things calm back down in the next months. As I mentioned, hopefully they will get you started on PT (if you haven't already done this) as it's so important to keep things moving when possible.

Glad that you are set up with the PM office now:)

Hi Big, so glad to read the MRI & labs came back good. Sounds like that nerve is just so inflammed. One of our mods just had back surgery. His surgeon said there is a small bundle of nerves where his surgery was done & the nerves tend to just go nuts when there is surgery involved.They put him on Decadron and he has had to have a couple of refills but is hoping to see the light at the end of the tunnel. He said the Decadron is wonderful for the pain. He has had to do a slow taper on each script.I will keepmy fingers crossed you get to feeling better.

Keep us posted....Susie

Thanks guys! Last night and today have not been so great. I woke up at 2 am and been up every since. I knew it would happen. I do not sleep well anyway, much less on steriods. I have been real down today because of hurting. The celebrex is not cutting it. I have such bad problems with pain meds. She would have given me lortab or ultram but I can't take those. The only thing that worked with my shoulder surgeries was demerol and I hated to ask for that. Probably should have. I may have to call her back though.

I can take a lortab and double over in tears hurting so bad with stomach pain. Sometimes I feel like I would stop breathing it was so bad. The Otho who did my three shoulder surgeries always gave me the demoral and would refill on follow up visits. That was temporary pain. Nothing like this ongoing ordeal.

I am going to finish the steroids. They help all areas of pain. My shoulders have been hurting for weeks too so I am hoping to settle that down as well. Lol.

I am guessing I will get a call Monday for the appt to have injection. Maybe that will be soon!

Hey B, just wanted to add here that using demerol post-op is often seen but with all the new laws and Dea regulations Drs generally can't justify why they are using a short term med for chronic pain.

Could be part of their reason the office Dr lost his licensing?

Everyone these days gets a say in how we're are treated it seems.

Hoping things get better for you soon.

Vickie

To have all that stuff in just one place must be really nice. Sorry to hear about all the crazy side effects. Thankfully, my side effects to meds aren't that bad.

Hope the appointment goes well with the injections.

- Rainy/DD

I didn't post about license being revoked. I am at a great place.

I am waiting on appt for the spinal steroid injection. I thought I would hear from them today. With this all being in one place they email each other to set up our appts. I hope to have this in a few days. I didn't object to a round of oral steriods as they seem to help other things too with me!! I have been having a lot of shoulder pain but refuse to see a doctor at this time for it. I just can't handle another surgery right now. Especially since it took three to get my right shoulder straightened out and that was in 2010.

Thanks for everyone's concerns. Things are going to get better. I just know they are!!!

I have my appt for injection!! Next Friday (22nd) I sure hope it does some good. Yesterday and today were pretty bad days for me. Celebrex she gave me is just not cutting it at all. As I was walking to my car after work, I had to stop several times due to severe pain down the buttocks. I have not been stopped in my tracks like this. Spasms I guess? A co-worker took what I had in my hands and walked with me to my car. I made it home fine and it has stopped for now.

Thank you and I will post if anything changes.