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Posted 3/14/2015 8:11 PM (GMT 0)
I am new to this forum.
I had an appointment with a new Pain Management doctor last Wednesday. I wrote out a letter explaining the journey that I have taken with my low back pain as well as my knee pain. I was so surprised that it made all of the difference in the world. Next Wednesday he is going to put a trial pain shot in my back to see if a pain pump will work for me. If so I have one put in the 2nd week of April. He said he is going to use Dilaudid. If this works my questions are 1. Will it help with my entire body or just work for my back? and 2. Is there a risk of addiction? I come from 3 generations of alcoholics but I am not. If you could all help put some fears to sleep I would appreciate it. Please let me know anyone with a pump that is willing to share any information. Thanks so much.
Posted 3/15/2015 12:54 AM (GMT 0)
Welcome to HW Trac72.There are a few folks here with Pain Pumps.Probably a lot of information under the "Search" function on the upper right.

I imagine it will help with all your pain.I've got Lumbar problems and a really bad Rt. knee.

I take Morphine at present.There's nothing that takes all the pain away but it will take it down a few notches.

I would say that I'm dependent on my Pain Meds.I take them every day.I'm in Pain Management.

They'll be more folks along.

Take care and God Bless.

Rick
Posted 3/15/2015 12:55 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Trac72,

Welcome to the HW Chronic Pain forum. I am sorry that you are having to deal with your pain issues from your back, you have come to the right place. There are many members here healing with various conditions affecting their back (spine) and legs.

I am confident that you will get feedback about your impending pain pump as there are numerous member here that have one. Everyone is different, some people has tried them and it worked like a charm while others did not get the necessary relief.

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of pain medications have you tried before having to resort to the pump and what you do take now for your pain control?

The weekend is a little slow in the forum so please keep coming back this week and I am sure you will get some thoughts and good information about it.

Hugs from Texas,

Pam
Posted 3/15/2015 1:10 AM (GMT 0)
I have tried everything from PTL to OxyCotin. I do have to say that even the ER morphine with I morphine worked the best but felt that about the 1 year mark it fell out from under me. When I have pain so bad and a trip to the ER that Dilauded worked the best. I am just so sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm 43 and my grandpa tells me I'm addicted to pain meds. No matter how much pain I'm in I still will go and skip a dose just to prove (in my mind) that I'm not. Isn't that weird? For this pump I had to go off my pain meds but currently take Percale 10/325.
Posted 3/15/2015 1:27 AM (GMT 0)
Trac,

What are you taking the meds for, what happened with your back? I am glad that you found a PM doc who will support you in your needs with controlling the pain, that's a big step in the right direction. If you read some of the threads, there are horror stories shared by our members in dealing with their PM doc's. In today's reality, us CP'ers sometimes have to fight to get our meds, not only with our PM doc's but the pharmacies as well.

Taking narcotic meds for our conditions doesn't make us addicted, it makes us dependent because that is what we need to live our own individual quality of life. Without the meds, I would not survive! Don't even come down on yourself as the why you are taking them, if the doctor feels that your condition warrants it - then you have every right to make yourself as comfortable as possible. There are other modalities for pain control which all of us at one time or another have to resort to because sometimes even the meds are not enough.

I don't think that you should be "skipping" or changing how you take your meds, that is what you are supposed to be doing as defined by your doctor and by your pain contract. With all respect, your grandpa probably doesn't understand and him being old school just see's it as it is, an addiction! Please don't sacrifice your pain control by not taking your prescribed medicine correctly, it will only hinder how well it is under control.

Big Hugs from Texas,

Pam
Posted 3/15/2015 1:37 AM (GMT 0)
Welcome to Healing Well

There is a thread with some good information for you called
Decision on meds and pain pump. Put that in the Search box in the upper right of this page. These people with pain pump experience will be along to help you soon.
Posted 3/15/2015 1:47 AM (GMT 0)
I have bulging discs in T3-T4, L4-L5. Digenerative disease and I suffer from Osteoarthritis in every joint. I have tried SynVisk in my knees with zero relief as well as over 30 cortisone shots. Tens units the epidural injections. You name it I've tried it. I do know that I'm dependant on pain meds. I have just heard everything from my grandparents to my mom and have overheard my great aunt ask my grandpa if I have gotten wise and sought help for my "problem" with pain seeking. I an just sick and tired of hearing their crap.
Sorry don't mean to rant just makes me feel bad. At least my hubby knows how I feel. He will tell me I know your in pain because I wear it on my face.

Tracie
Posted 3/15/2015 5:02 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Tracie and Welcome to Healing Well Chronic Pain Forum. I have a pain pump I just got it implanted last June for lower back pain and sciatica pain. My pump has morphine in it and it gives a constant low dose infusion. I also have a little device that came with it called a PTM it is about the size of a small cell phone and I can put it on my skin on top of the pain pump and press a couple of buttons and it will make the pump infuse a bolus dose of pain medication into my spinal canal! the dosage amount and frequency and number of bolus's are all preprogrammed in by my PM doctor.

The pump works really well for my lower back pain and sciatica but it does not cover other areas of my spine or even my knees! I have also had problems with my knees especially my right one and last year had steroid injections and all that finally ended up getting a total right replacement this last December. When I got my pump refilled the first week in December I told the doctor of my pending knee surgery, he told me to tell the surgeon that the pain pump would not cover or have any affect on my knee pain and I would need pain medication for and after the surgery! Also I have had three fusions in my neck and this pump does nothing for my upper back and neck pain when I have it!

I had been on oral pain meds for many years due to herniated and torn disc at T12.They would not do surgery on Thoracic disc so they put me on disability and spinal pain management. During that time I had other spinal problems and surgeries including a foraminotomy at L3 thu L5 in Jan of 2013. I moved to a different state in October of 2013 where it is much more difficult to get treatment with pain meds. I was driving back once a month to my PM for treatment and it was over 300 miles one way and in the winter it was brutal. So I talked with him about a pain pump and he referred me to the University of Indiana pain clinic in Indy. and they accepted the referral and took over my pain management and implanted the pain pump. Now I only have to go there every six months for a refill and I am on no other pain medications!

Anyway if I can be of any help to you about this just let me know. Again I welcome you to the forum! I wish you well and good luck to you!

White Beard
Posted 3/15/2015 11:07 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Tracie - and good luck. There are a few of us here with pumps - mine is mainly baclofen (muscle relaxant) for dystonia but I also have a lowish dose of morphine to help with pain relief.

As you probably gathered from Whitebeard's reply, the pump isn't a whole body solution ...though exactly where the catheter is placed will influence where/how much pain relief you get...my problem is mainly my legs, so that's where mine is directed. I still take other pain meds (topamax - for nerve pain) and when I really crash I have oxycodone for breakthrough. We all respond differently too and there are various med combinations that can work in pumps, so it's important to have a doctor who'll put the work in with you & listen to you in order to get the right combo and dose.

Like being on any oral med, your body will develop a physiological dependence (in that you would experience withdrawal symptoms without it) but this is different to the issues of addiction - which has psychological/behavioural aspects to it as well. If it helps comfort you, the doses used in a pump are miniscule compared to those used when you're taking the same med orally and is delivered directly to where it's needed - so there are far fewer side effects when getting meds this way.

Any questions, just ask :)

Laura
Posted 3/15/2015 12:17 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Tracie.You taking Pain Medication should be between you and your Doctor.I'm sure your Grandfather wishes you didn't have to take it.


Heck.I wish I didn't have to take it.But I do.

To be able to get out of bed.To be able to go to the store.To live.

Don't beat yourself up about it.And don't try to change peoples' minds.

Do what's best for you.

Take care,

Rick
Posted 3/15/2015 3:36 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Tracie & welcome to the forum. So sorry to read about what you are dealing with in the pain area.

I too am a pump patient, my first one was implanted in 2005. I had ran the gambit of oral medications & we literally ran out of meds that I could take, so the pump was the last report.

Like WhiteBeard & Laura said the pump will only cover your back pain. You spoke of knee pain, is that something that can be repaired by a good knee specialist by chance, or have you already been that route too?

Normally when the trial is done if your pain is reduced by 50% the trial is considered a success. I thought I had died & gone to heaven when I did my trial, lol. It had been so long since I had that kind of relief it was unreal.

I suggest going to Medtronics.com & reading up on the pumps. They have a very informative website. It not only shows you the pump but tells you all about them. Be sure to ask your PM dr if he will allow you to use a PTM, that will handle your break through pain.

You asked about becoming addicted, there is a huge difference between addiction & tolerance. Forget about trying to convince the family members the difference between the two. We find that people that do not suffer with chronic pain simply cannot relate to what we live with. This is about improving your quality of life, its not about the family at all.

Normally a person ends up on less medication with a pump because the medication in them is in a concentrated form, no additives or fillers like what is in oral medication. You should not be groggy or loopy with a pump if you are then your dose is too high. In the beginning the drs use the least medication possible & will increase the pump to get you where you need to be.

I have an old style pump & either its failing or the catheter has a mass on the tip & I am waiting to have a new Medtronics pump put in. I am excited, I will also have the use of the PTM.

I always say the pumps are only as good as the dr maintaining them. If the dr does not know much about the pumps or the medications & dosages used in them then it will not work in managing the pain.

Good luck with your trial & I hope its a success for you.
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