Pain Pump

[Rayne1502]

Hello I was hoping someone could help me with this topic. I have have a C spine fusion and a bulge at the base of my skull from another accident. Along with this I was crushed by a car when I was younger. This crush my pelvis, broke my left hip, broke my femur in several places and from the knee down was completely crushed. This happened when I was only 2 so I have walked for a long time, but over the yrs I have gradually gotten worse. This combined with the knew injuries has really taken its toll on my body. I have had facet injection, epidurals, trigger points, and just about every other type of injection or therapy imaginable. I am now on oral medication that I am to be on indefinately. This past week my doctor approached me with the pain pump idea. I wanted to look into it further before I agreed to even seeing someone about this procedure. I also wanted to get more imput from others that may have this pump.

[Tuckamore]

Please begin a new post and not add on to someone else's thread. This is almost two years old.

I want you to obtain the best suggestions and responses, you'lll do that with a post of your own.

Thanks so Much,
~Tuck

[grapjuice123]

BY GRAPEJUICE  AUG 22,2011


AM TO HAVE AN IMPLANT ON SEPT 6,2011 AND I'VE BEEN DOING SOME RESEARCH ON THE MATTER BUT SOME REASON I'VE BEEN HAVING THIS FEELING NOT TO HAVE THE PAIN PUMP IMPLANT, ME AND MY MOTHER WAS IN THE DOCTOR OFFICE LAST MONDAY HE WENT OVER ALL THE GOOD AND BAD WITH US BUT I WAS ON SO MUCH MEDS. AM WELLING TO TRY ANYTHING MY DOCTOR THINK THIS WILL BE THE BEST THING FOR ME AT THIS TIME CAUSE LIVING WITH PAIN ANT LIVING AT ALL TO ME YOU CAN'T DO ALL THE THINGS YOU USE TO DO, DUE TO THE PAIN MOST OF THE TIME AM IN BED ALL DAY AND THAT'S NOT LIVING TO ME.  I PRAY AND PUT IT IN GOD HANDS AND TRUST HIM THAT HE WILL BRING ME OUT ALRIGHT AND BY ALL MEANS I DO ASK QUESTIONS AND SO DOSE MY MOM.  NO ONE CAN MAKE MY MIND UP FOR ME BUT AM GOING TO KEEP PRAYING I TRUST GOD FOR HEALING AM WORRY ABOUT THIS PAIN PUMP. THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO.

[freebird63]

I had the pain pump, the trial went great and then came time for the real deal, my doctor put it in on June 13th of this year, by Monday June 15th I knew something was real wrong about it.  I had the most terrible headache I had ever experienced and was vomitting, I could not even keep water down.  I called my neurosurgeon's office and his PA told me to call my pain doctor, called my pain doctor and they wanted to see me right now, so I drove my self to his office they put me in a room and came in and talked to me, from everything I had told them they figured I had a CFS spinal fulid leak, so they called around to different places that would take care of the treatment that was needed for this.  They got me into a place the next day, they did a high volume blood patch, that is where they take blood out from your arm and inject it into the spinal canal around where the leak is.  They used a total of 17cc's of blood and send me home with strict instructions to lay flat on my back for 24 hours and then I could get up and move around.  That procedure worked for about 3 to 4 weeks and then started getting the headaches again, but not as severe.  Also my pain doctor had adjusted the pump many times increasing it by a total of 48% and still no relief from the pain.  So he decided to not increase the pump anymore and put me back on the oral pain meds and ordered an x-ray to see how everything looked.  Well through out all this ordeal I had many different little things going on with the pump that I did not like and talked to both my surgeon and pain doctor about, my surgeon was a total jerk about it all. Well finally I had enough and wanted the pump taken out, my surgeon turned into a real jerk then.  Well the surgeon and his PA had looked at the x-ray and said everything was great, which was a lie, because around that time I got a copy of the report from IMI who did the blood patch and they noted that the catheter had multipule kinks in the line, so my guess is that was the reason why I was not getting any pain relief from the pump.  At that time I told my surgeon that he was going to take the pump out, I didn't care what he thought, it was not working for me and was causing more pain and my CSF spinal fluid leak was back.  So on August 7th the doctor removed the pump, when he was done he came out and told my wife that he never wanted to see me again.  So with having 14 staples in my front incision and 14 staples in my back incision I chose to take them out my self because I didn't want to be subjected to his bad attitiude.  Now I don't know if either my pain doctor or my surgeon even looked at the that report from IMI  and about the mulitpule kinks in the catheter???  I have sensed started going to a different neurosurgeon and am still going to the same pain doctor as I don't want another doctor to think I am just out shopping for pain meds and I do like my pain doctor, he is better then the last pain doctor I had seen.  I figure one of these days I will ask my doctor if he knew why the pain pump didn't work??  There are things about the pump that they don't tell you about prior to putting it in.  Like real hot-hottubs, you can't do those any more, you must consult your pain doctor about flying, every 6 to 7 years they have to replace the unit, battery life issue, I have been hearing about some problems when it comes time to refill the pump and having it dump more meds then its suppose to, can be fatal, you have to find out the strength of the MRI unit when you have an MRI done, it will set off metal detectors but you will get a card from medtronics "they are the primary maker of pain pumps these days".  If you get an enfection you will never be able to have another pump put in "according to my pain doc",
Here are my recomendations for you, at any point you feel uneasy about the answers your doctors are giving you, either ask more questions or consider switching doctors, this is your life we are talking about here, we don't care about the neurosurgeon's ego and all neurosurgeons have some sort of ego.  
Also, ask the neurosurgeon to please surture all 4 corners of the pouch that will hold the pump, most will only suture the top of the pouch.  Have them suture all 4 corners.  Good luck and if you have any other questions please feel free to message me

[sandee1818]

I know we have some members here that have had the pump and some were great results and some were not so great. They will respond to your post hopefully.
You are certainly doing the right thing researching this before even seeing the doctor about it. I always suggest that anyone taking a new medication or thinking about a new procedure to always do the research first. So many people complain after they have had bad experiences but with the technology we have at our fingertips today it is unimaginable why someone would not research these things first and foremost.
You made a very wise decision to do the research and talk to those who have had this done.
I have never had one so I can't be of much help with experience but from being here for a long time in this community I have heard alot about the pump from numerous members.
I think it has alot to do with how experienced the doctor is and the individual person as to how well it may work.
Please keep us updated on how your doing and if you decide to get it how it is working out for you:)