what does a pain free day feel like

Off topic..... can i get a pain free day??? Most of you know I had neck fusion back in June 2010..well I had pain in both my upper arms before surgery..doc. said that was pain from my neck ..huh..well the pain in my upper arms did go away for about 2 months after my neck fusion..well, now it is back really bad..Like can't even lift my right arm and in constent pain..(nothing new for me to be in pain everyday) I thought it might be corprol tunnel.No..... it is a nerve problem in my neck.. maybe pinched..nothing like another surgery..Has anyone else had neck fusion and then had a pinched nerve afterward??/ I am so sick of being in pain...and nothing is taking the pain away..I tried Vicdin, tramidol and percocet..nothing..HELP>>> I can't get in to the doctor that did my nec****il April 8th...that is if I can stand it that long....Lucky

 
My sis has chronic hard core pain.  Pain big time.  It's in her neck but for different reasons.  She's trying to get ins approval for a neuro stimulator.  You might want to look into this, do a bit of research.  It changes the pain signals, you still feel it but it's not perceived by the brain as pain anymore, sometimes it's supposedly even a nice feeling.

www.medtronic.com/our-therapies/neurostimulators-pain-condit ions/

If ins does not approve she may be coming to Mexicali, there is a neurosurgeon here that does them.  I think there is another guy in India she's looking at.

Just wanted to say I'm so sorry about your chronic pain.  I have chronic pain in my legs but luckily enough for me, 300mg of Tramadol works to keep it at bay.  I was suffering last night for some reason til I realized why this morning when a line of thunderstorms came through.  I was worried about the 300mg pill and my band.  The WLS surgeon said to cut it in half but my pain doc said NO since it was extended release.  The solution was for me to get 2 scrips. I take 100mg tablet and a 200mg tablet of Tramadol now..since borth pills are small.

I KNOW pill size isn't your problem...I just am sorry to hear about your pain.  My DH was using Fentanyl patches when he went through chemo last year but those patches are sooo strong-they really knocked him out.  WASA's idea about the pain device sounds like a great idea and I hope that can work for you!

Lucky, I'm so sorry to hear about your pain.  That really stinks.  Have you gone to a pain specialist?  Have they tried Fentnyl patches or Lidocaine patches?  Or a TENS unit?  I'm grasping at straws.... 
I will pray that the pain gets tolerable until you see your surgeon. 

Hugs,
Kristi

Do ask about that stimulator, I have one and it is AWESOME! I had lower back pain from severe arthritis. I tried shots and every treatment possible but nothing worked. I got the stimulator in Nov. and while I still have mild pain it is nowhere near what it was before, I can atually move around now. Now if they could just make it work thru my whole body for my arthritis and fibro I'd be lots happier. Good luck to you!

 
Ohhhhhh, I have questions for you! ;o)

I never thought my sis would go through with this (she's super neurotic) so i never really researched it.  Does the device go in a place depending on where the pain is?  She would have part of it placed under her scalp in the back of her head and the other part above her left breast. Where is yours?

What does your pain feel like now with the device?

I can see you are happy with it, so you would suggest it for others?

Do you have a message board with others that need/have this device?  I keep telling my sis to find a message board but she's not good with computers or internet.

I truly feel for you. I had 4 spine surgeries and all my disc are fused with instrucments, 32 discs. The fusion stops right above where your bra strap is. I live in cronic pain. My right leg has nerve damage so I louse my balance sometimes. I get epidurals every few months for pain.  I take 2 percoet a day and they really don't work well but without it I can't function at all. Surgery only makes disc weaker above the last fusion. I really undersand your pain level. I even had a breast reduction to help.  Now I have the band to help me lose weight so I don't have extra pounds on my legs and feet.  Good luck.. I have been like this for more than 6 yrs. and learned to live with it and sometimes its more over bearing than other times. I have a lot of faith and thats what keeps me going...

Was gonna PM ya so I didn't hijack Lucky's post but then thought maybe others would like to know too. I had a trial run with mine for a week before permanent implant to make sure it would work. For some it works and others doesn't do a thing. This is one implanted device that DID work unlike a certain WLS but that's for another time. When they put it in for the test run there was one part that hurt like HELL and then some when they put the wires thru to my power source but it only lasted a second or two. You don't feel it for the final implant cause you're totally out then. Mine is for lower back pain so is attatched to the outer layer of my spinal cord, that made me a little nervous but I was too desperate to care, and then I have a power pac by the top part of my butt about the size of a silver dollar. Now I still have to take pain meds for arthritis in other parts of my body where this won't reach but I take about half as much as I did before, plus this takes the pain in my back from excrutiating, makes ya wanna cry pain to hardly anything. Kinda like a mild ache at times but most of the time nothing, in fact I turn it off at night and the affect seems to last till morning when I turn it back on. I do have to make sure I recharge it periodically but the control tells me if it's time to recharge and you do have to make sure you don't lose the control piece. My controller has several different programs of different kinds of stimulation I can choose from altho I tend to only use one of them. So anymore questions just holler. Oh and don't have any websites except the co. that I dealt with which is bostonscientific.com.

thanks for all your answers... i have a call into the doctors right now..I swear if i could cut my arm off I would feel alot better.. It is so getting worse.. As for the stinulator, i read about that years ago, they were going to give me one of thos before my last back surgery... i think i will talk to the surgeon about it..I don't want a test run...lol .Just put the damn thing in..!!! I told my daughter today that i feel like a hyrocondriaic (spelling) lol you know the person that is always sick or ailing..that would be me...lol. If i woke up without pain I swer I would be in Heaven...It is a everyday thinkg for me..It is just lately it is just becomming to unbearable for me...I can't even use my right hand or arm..I am dropping things and the pain is unreal..So I am now a "SouthPaw, lefty"..lol..Thanks again....Lucky