greymouser7
Vagrant Vagabond “Veni Vidi Vici”
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- Apr 17, 2010
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Thanks. I know the "muddle headed" feeling all to well. I am very hopeful that I can at least lower the dose of my Dopioids, actually I am hoping to get off of them entirely. The TENS unit is just...what the hell did the doc call it...superficial (?). This is entirely different. The electrodes are actually placed above where my pain is being generated. My L3 disc has slipped a bit, my L5 is herniated into my spinal canal. As one of the docs put it...my back is twisted up between L3 and S1. Anyway, the electrodes are actually placed in the thoracic area of my back. If I remember correctly they are covering the L1-L4 area. Guessing that is how they work, they place the stimulation above the area generating the pain so that the electrical charge generated by the pain is intercepted/interrupted by the stimulator. The one I am currently wearing, as well as the permanent one have both types of stimulation, the type you feel (just like the TENS) and the one you don't. Right now I am on the one you don't feel. When they were wiggling the leads in the turned it on and set it to the stimulation that I could feel....turned it up far enough that it actually made my toes wiggle around.Wish you all the best. Been there, done that as to injuries and pain meds. I made the choice to discontinue the pain meds a year following back and knee surgery. Hated being muddle headed. Besides, they only took a little of the edge off the pain for about 2 hours and couldn't take them but every 4 hours. TENS unit didn't help a bit. Neither did injections. So I just made the decision to live with the pain as best as I can and got off the meds. That was 24 years ago. Hope this new procedure works for you. Chronic pain is no fun at all.
We are having some bad weather here just now. Heavy rain, hail, lightning, wind gusts over 70 MPH. Tornado watch just expired. So will post this whilst we still have electric.
Best regards,
Harry
A friend in AZ...he has been clean & sober for 25 years or so. His wife and kid packed up, left in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. He had Hep C, which the VA was treating. He was on some sort of shots/pills. VA knew of his addiction problems and were giving him bottles of codeine. He would give the bottle to me and I would take them to the pharmacy I was using for disposal.Very glad to hear this new tech unit is helping you. I made the decision to have the operation (herniated disc). Knew the risks going in. But following 6 months of being off work doing physical therapy and taking vicodin & soma...... I knew it was what I had to do even if I ended up in a wheel chair or didn't make it through the operation.
Had a good surgeon and the operation went well. Pain was not completely gone afterward, but it was a lot better and I can handle it. I spent 6 more months doing physical therapy following the operation before returning to work with restrictions. Was off work a year in all. The vicodin and soma, I continued for a year following surgery.
Next challenge was to get off the meds. Didn't realize it until I put them down (the first time), but I had become hooked on them. After a month or so, they were out of my system and the physical dependence was gone. The hard part was not taking them to take the edge off when the pain came back from time to time. Or just to catch a buzz to be honest about it. That took nearly a year. During the first several months, I had to put them down 3 times. And 24 years later, I still have to be mindful of it and just say 'No' if the thought crosses my mind. But as time goes by, its easier...... Just a matter of making your mind up and doing it.
Must admit that as I have grown older and chronic pain from knees, right shoulder and neck have come on me, I must be ever mindful not to allow myself to take strong prescription pain meds such as I did with the back when I was younger. But anyone can do it if they really want to badly enough.
Best regards and G-d bless,
Harry
P.S. >>> Thanks for your well wishes. We made it through the storm OK. Need to do some fence work after things dry out, but house and trees came through it well.
When the itch is more annoying than the pain...it is a good day!Still no pain....but the effing tape is really starting to annoy me....the itch...
A friend in AZ...he has been clean & sober for 25 years or so. His wife and kid packed up, left in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. He had Hep C, which the VA was treating. He was on some sort of shots/pills. VA knew of his addiction problems and were giving him bottles of codeine. He would give the bottle to me and I would take them to the pharmacy I was using for disposal.
Bit concerned with getting off of the meds. But I will cross that bridge when I get there.
Because of my mental health troubles, they are why I am collecting disability, I had to agree to continue seeing my shrink. I have had rather lengthy discussions with both the shrink and my primary care doc, who is prescribing my meds. The doc is well aware of my desire to get off of the narcotics. He warned of quitting "cold turkey". Told me my chance of success is fairly low....at first I did not believe him. But after spending many sleepless nights thinking about it I do believe him. In addition to the narcotics I am taking Gabapentin, not a real high dose (3@300mg daily) but high enough that, according to some of the stuff I have read, if I were to simply stop taking them I may go into a seizure.Any day above ground is a good day, Doug. When you are ready to take those steps, you will find that bridge is a bridge of faith. Meaning you must be ready to cross it without any assurance of what lies on the other side except that ultimately, it will lead to a better life. For yourself and everyone who truly cares about you.
Regarding the meds themselves...... I am not a doctor. If they are something that you must wean off of for medical reasons rather than put them down and quit cold turkey as I did...... Consult your doctor about that.
Only thing I can tell you is when you are ready to take those steps...... Do so. And understand that being clean and sober have no modifiers. There are no ifs, ands nor buts about it. It means everything that is used to alter your perceptions including booze and pot and anything else such as that. No substituting one addiction for the other. It also means that you will have to stay away from certain people, places and things...... Folks who have a drink, smoke dope or who take mind altering substances of any kind...... And places where they go to do so.
And it means that you will have reached the point where you are more afraid of dying than withdrawal symptoms and living without whatever substances you are addicted to. And you are ready to do whatever it takes to live instead of dying. That is what is called your 'bottom'.
You will also find that its easier to quit than to stay quit. Find a program such as AA or based on AA principles such as Cenikor and you can do it if you really have the desire to change your life for the better. Stay away from places that claim to have miracle cures which don't involve working the 12 Steps based on AA. They will warehouse you, dry you out physically and take your insurance money until it runs out, then drop you like a stone without the tools you need to remain clean and sober.
Wish you all the best,
Harry
The second device, the one that will be turned on today, is still in the clinical trial phase. If the FDA does approve the device it will be a few years before it is available.All the best to you, Doug! Hope the new unit will give you relief from your pain. When this trial study is completed, will you be able to choose whichever unit gave you more relief and begin using it?
Best regards,
Harry
You are correct about the "opioid crisis"...it is indeed more about the folks that use Opioids more for recreational use. Wish I had kept it but a friend had sent me a report that he requested from one of the government agencies under the "Freedom of Information Act". It was several hundreds of pages about the real crisis. The "street" Oxycodone. The stuff that the cartels are pushing, the stuff mixed with Fentanyl, Ketamine....there was several other drugs mentioned in the report, one of them was some sort of rhino tranquilizer.You are in my thoughts and prayers, Doug.
I sure hope you come up with a happy medium between the stim and meds to control your ongoing pain issues.
Over the years I have read your posts about your pain issues, and feel you deserve a good outcome finally.
Please don't feel that ''the opioid crisis'' includes people like yourself who need the pain management to deal with day to day activities just to be functional.
The ''opioid crisis'' to me is for targeting people who take them for ''kicks'' and does not apply to you..........at all.
Many people don't understand the full extent of what persons like yourself are going through just to move around and have a semblance of normal life without the aid of medications.
Personally, I too have issues with back pain and knee pain and it can be frustrating at times, but with anti inflammatories and rest as well as pacing myself, I have managed my issues to a point where I am functional.
Please keep on posting your results, as well as the trials and tribulations you face, there are a lot of people here that may be living in silence for fear of embarrassment for needing and taking the pain management that they need just to cope with life in general.
Thank you for your perseverance, you are helping more people than you realize!
Morning HarryDoug, have you given consideration to having the surgery for your back rather than continuing to deal with the symptom (pain)? Having done that, I can tell you one thing for sure...... Its easier on you if you have the operation when you are younger and stronger. Better chance of success, less likely to develop other health issues whilst putting it off, some of which might make it too dangerous to do the operation at all when you are older. Not to mention continuing to live in pain until the operation is done.
Wish you all the best,
Harry
Evening HarryThanks, Doug. I believe I understand your reasoning. Only thing I would say is that it would be a good idea to get a second opinion from another surgeon. Not to hear what you want to hear...... But to have another opinion to weigh when making your decisions as to care.
The other thing is...... There are advancements in medicine. I don't know how long its been since you saw the last surgeon, but if its been several years or more it would be good to see another doctor for a new assessment and to get a second opinion to his or hers as well. Back surgery has come a long way since my surgery when I went home on crutches with big bottles of Vicodin and Soma and a long incision with metal staples holding things together for a couple of weeks following.
When I had the herniated disc nearly 25 years ago, following 6 months of PT, my surgeon did a lumbar laminectomy rather than fusion. He brought a full sized articulated plastic model of a human spine with him to our meting and explained that if he fused vertebrae, the remainder of unfused vertebrae would need to move even more (than before the fusion) for every movement I made with my back following surgery. And that would limit my range of motion. Or if I wasn't mindful to limit my range of motion on my own...... To make me more likely to develop another herniated disc.
Of course, my range of motion was already limited in my legs due to nerve damage as a result of the back injury anyway, but he meant I would have less range of motion in my spine as well if he did a fusion. So he did the lumbar laminectomy and said that if it didn't work, a fusion might be necessary. Fortunately, it has worked and except for having degenerative joint disease which has progressed since that time, it is still working as long as I don't overdo things and get my spine out of alignment.
In any case, I wish you well and if the pain management units you are trying will be of help, I hope that you can be pain free and possibly come off the pain meds or at least take a reduced dosage if your doctors (with your concurrence) believe it will work for you.
Best regards,
Harry
Evening Harry
Hope all is well......
Plan is to have the stimulator put in. And do my damnedest to get off of the Dopioids. If I need something to supplement the stimulator for pain management I am hoping that I pass the trial for a pain medication pump. No more Milligrams of narcotics coating the pain receptors in my brain...and making me foggy. It will be Micro-grams injected right into my spine....the only receptors that will be effected, if I understand the whole thing, will be the ones in my spine. No more brain fog.
I am tired of more or less having no emotions. I used to be very sharp mentally. Was quick to respond when talking with people. Now I feel about as sharp as a ball peen hammer.
I hope I am doing the right thing.