Debilitating neck pain

My 40 yr old daughter has had chronic neck pain the last 3-1/2 yrs with pain 24/7.  Most medications no longer help and she has been detoxed once to give her body a chance to get relief from meds.  I might add she also has fibromyalgia.  She was diagnosed w/disc disease and 6 mo. ago she had the removal of 2 herniated discs in the neck area.  Prior to this she was seen by numerous skilled doctors from 1 end of the country to the other, who could not find what was wrong. The Cleveland Clinic finally discovered she had a chiari Type I malformation.  Two months ago she went to the Wisconsin Chiari center where brain surgery was performed to give her brain more room.  The neck pain went away for 2 weeks and we thought she was out of the woods. But it came back with a vengeance.  They also did another surgery on her 3 weeks ago which was "Tethered cord syndrome" which they said she badly needed.  Again, she had a 2 week reprieve from all neck pain - which has again returned same as before.  She's had all the nerve blocks and all conventional treatments normal to these procedures which all failed.
Depression is beginning to set in because it looks like she will have to remain like this the rest of her life - in constant pain - and bed-ridden a good amount of the time.  Are we at the end of our search?
I also wonder what kind of "state" her body goes into after surgery which seems to free up her neck pain? Do you think this could possibly be some kind of clue?                                      mb

[Abhijeet Ghosh]

Dear Friend,
If such intense type of treatment was given and still there is no relief, then we will not have much options.
Presently the best way out is to consult a pain and palliative clinic where they can guide her for a better pain relief.
I presume, all the factors which were thought to be a cause of pain (like Arnold chairi malformation / teethered cord syndrome/etc) have been addressed.
What's really disturbing me is the fact that the pain is re-occuring after 2 weeks.
We really need to have this consultation.The more we wait, the bad is for your daughter as she has already undergone such surgeries, but the end result was "No Pain relief".
I have got no idea about the doctors in US, but would request you to give a search for the effective and good "Pain clinic" as they can be of real good health.
Praying for your daughter's fast relief.

Please discuss, if you got any doubt.
Regards..

[tipperari122]

The surgeon has told my daughter not to do any exercises yet.  My daughter tried chiropractic a few years back and had her neck "cracked".  However, she feels that all her problems manifested from that one treatment because she began having terrible pain from then on.  I learned that a person with chiari malformation of the brain should never have their neck cracked so perhaps because of that it brought to light an underlying condition that was already there waiting to be exposed.  AFter that any time a doctor would attempt to do anything to her neck by moving it in any position she would end up in the hospital with more overwhelming pain - so we're very cautious about doing anything like that at this point.
I will, however,look into the MedX for I have not heard of that.  Thank you so much for your offering, though.  Every little bit of help & information may bring us to some resolution.    mb

[tipperari122]

Thank you also for your reply to me.  Actually my daughter does have a pain management doctor.  At this point the meds are not adequate to meet her needs and the doctor no longer sees her to check her progress.  She hands out Rx's to patients in a "herding in and out" mode which is rather distasteful.  My daughter is looking for a new pain specialist but it is hard to find one who treats with meds.  My daughter is considering a pain pump but that is something she was really didn't want to do.  It may be her only resort.  We're praying much as are many other people.   mb