15 months with pain pump, still not working

Hi everyone. It's been a while. I'm pretty much at my witts end with this pain pump. I've tried 4 different meds. Had reactions to morphine & Dilaudid.

So for a long time I was on fentanyl, which I'd been on before in patch form. Problem was I was so tolerant. I was up to 3700 mcg/day. & still in pain.

So we took away some of the fentanyl & added Sufentenil. Eventually switched completely over to Sufentanyl. Then I started feeling mentally strange. At 625 mcg/day still not enough relief. A little over a week ago I took in one of my weekly print outs and told the doctor "this is where I felt best. So last Thurs. that's where he put me 2100 mcg of fentanyl & 210 mcg sufentany a day. I also take up to 3 Norco a day.

I have degenerative disc disease in my cervical spine. Two lamectomys & two fusions at C4-5 & C5-6. I now have another bad docs at C 6-7. Surgeon says another surgery the risk far outweigh the benefits.

So the pump became the choice of treatment. Had it installed sept 2012. I'm so tired of hurting still going to dr every week, not being able to drive. I asked what if we just took it out. He says now I'd need too much medication and never be able to drive. How can he be certain. My catheter is at C7, which is as high as they usually go. But what if it's not where the pain really is? My doc has more pump patients than any other in my city.

I don't know what to do anymore. I'm so depressed & discouraged about the whole thing.

Anyone else out there experiencing the same difficulties?

hey db, sorry to hear about your pump troubles. got scaried for a minute when i saw the post heading.
i just recently had a pump installed to the tune of a month ago so i read these and think, on no here we go. in fact i just had my medicine put in about a little over a week ago. it set to the lwest does right now but this monday i go in for an adjustment. morphine is the med. i have for it. i was on ms contin 15 mgs twice a day and have since stopped taking that. but the pain level hasn't quite tapered off yet. time will tell. i'm sorry i don't really have any advice to offer at this time. we do have a member here who has a pain pump and hopefully they can help you out. best of luck to ya.....

Lex Rae thank you for your post. First of all I don't believe I can take a break from the pain meds. I would hurt so bad, I'd rather be dead. There are times I feel like that anyway.

Although the trial worked, I was on 75 mcg/hr fentanyl patch. I felt great. But as soon as those patches were gone, it's been down hill. At this point I feel he needs to try 2 things.

1. Take X-rays or ct scan & see if there's more going on on there. I just have this feeling that the meds aren't going where I hurt the most. And the catheter is as high as they put them at C7y

2.. Wean me off pump meds and gradually put me back on transdermal & oral meds. I don't think he can be 100% certain I'll need so much I can't drive.

I called him today because sometimes he'll meet you at his office & adjust the dose. He jut told me to double my Norco.

I appreciate your concern. I'm concerned too. A few weeks ago he was going to switch me back to straight Fentanyl. As he had switched me completely over to sufentanil. On that I was up to625 mcg/day. Definitely not 10 times as strong as Fentanyl.

The dr told me good news they now allow you up to 5000 mcg/day of Fentanyl. (They I'm assuming is the governnent. Didn't sound great to me. If was going to take that much to control my pain, where do you go from there down the road if my pain worsens. It just all doesn't seem right. Too much medication. Suppose to need less. This was going to give me my life back. Instead it's robbed me.

Another thing. When I increased the Norco today like he said, why do I feel better. Seems I respond better to the oral & transdermal meds.