Running out of options NEED ADVICE!!!!!

[Female_Trucker]

Hi everyone,  I also am new to this site, and I decided to join after months of just visiting and reading what the people were experiencing and their concerns.  And I really was surprised how other members responded with sharing some of their own personal experiences, and how they were very welcoming to new members showing genuine concern.  

With than being said, I will give you a little history on my background and why I am here. I was injured on the job in Dec 03,  My left arm and shoulder were completely torn from the socket.  Since then I have seen a total of 14 different Doctors from Chiropractors, Orthopedic Surgeons, Spinal Neurosurgeons, Orthopedist, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neurosurgeon, and 4 QME Dr's, and 2 AME Dr's.

I had sustained multiple injuries which included left brachial plexopathy, torn posterior labrum and torn supraspinatus tendon and disruption of adjacent glenoid cartilage. that was just the injuries to my left shoulder. MRI images revealed  Injuries to my cervical spine were  exuberant spondylosis spondylitic spinal stenosis with foraminal encroachment of the cervical spine and upper thoracic spine, injury to my spinal cord suggested myelosis, cord compression and cervical radiculopathy, severe multiple disc herniations at C4-5 C5-6 C6-7 and L5-S1 and severe loss of normal lodotic curve and permanent nerve root damage..

I have had 2 left shoulder surgeries to repair the the torn ligaments, tendons, and to repair the 3 tears to my rotator cuff.

I have had 4 spine surgeries, the first was to put in 2 titanium rods one on each side of my upper spine to stabalize it. the second surgery was an Anterior Cervical Discectomy with a level 3 fusion and hardware at C4-5 C5-6 C6-7 to decompress the neck.. The third surgery was for L5-S1 Microdiskectomy and 8 foraminotomies.. And the fourth was for  ALIF L5-S1 with Pedicle screws/Cage. I have also had cervical epidurals and facet joint injections, trigger point injections. and other procedures of that nature.

I am 42 years old and up until I got injured on the job I have never been sick a day in my life never even had the chicken pox.  I mean I worked for this company for 5 years and never missed 1 day of work (except for vacation time) total perfect attendance.

December will make 5 years since my injury, and it has been one hell of a nightmare.  For the last 5 years not one single day has gone by that I have been pain free. And I still have not been made P&S (permanent & stationary). Can you believe that....

I will list every medicine that I have tried or taken and believe it or not NOT ONE OF THEM GAVE ME ANY RELIEF. And so this is why I am posting this hopefully someone may have some suggestions and/or advice for me.

Ultram 100mg,
Flexeril 10mg,
Soma 350mg,
Vicodin 5/500mg,
Vistaril 50mg,
Daypro 600mg,
Zanaflex 6mg,
Temazepam 15mg,
LidoDerm Patch 5%,
Valium 10mg,
Lodine 300mg,
Norco 10/325,
Naproxen 500mg,
Neurontin 900mg,
Elavil 100mg,
Trazodone 300mg,
Lortab 7.5mg,
MS-Contin 60mg,
Nabumetone 500mg,
Oxycontin 40mg,
Amrix 15mg,
Flector Patch 1.3%,
Toradol 10mg,
Dilaudid 8mg,
Fentanyl Patch 50mcg,

So as you can see why I say I'm running out options.

The advanced pain management Doctor I am seeing is GREAT. He is very dedicated to helping me. He has made himself available to me with just a phone call anytime.  And as a last resort he has discussed trying Spinal cord stimulation (SCS), Spinal pumps, Neurostimulation, or maybe a Intrathecal drug delivery.  But before I decide to go that route I wanted to get some feedback from people who are familiar with this type of procedure or treatment.

[Toomanyadvil]

Hi TemaleTrucker

         It seems like you have just been through the gauntlet with both DR's and treatments. I can imagine how frustrated you must be and how much you want to get past this pain and on with life.
Im unfortunitly only familiar with your injuries through talking with others who have similar pain. So really would not be much help in offering any suggestions for the prosedures your PM DR is thinking of as a last resort.
But I did want to just tell you I understand how frustrating and devestating Chronic Pain can be and offer you my support.
It seems lik eyou have gine through many many medication options that have not worked in lowering your pain. I'm so glad you have a PM DR that is really willing to work with you in any way he can and wants to get your pain under control.
I'm so sorry youve worked for 5 years on this job without having them make you perminant.

I wish I had some suggestions for you or some medication ideas that you havent tried.
I'm sure there will be others here who are better familiar with what you may be able to do or what you may want to talk with your DR about.

TMA

[Mollyrae]

Hi Female_Trucker, Welcome to the site. I am Mollyrae and am new also. I have had some really great advise and support from ppl on this site. I am so sorry to hear about the constant suffering you are experiencing. I am all too familiar with backs, shoulders, ect...I don't have any additional advise for you except maybe try a more potent Fentanyl patch. I wear the 75mcg's and will possibly go to the 100mcg's today, depending on what the doc say's. They have worked for me in terms of taking the edge off. Do you still drive? I was wondering because of the meds you take. Please take care and you are in my prayers. Mollyrae

[sandee1818]

I am so sorry your having such pain. My uncle is in the same position he is still working with workers comp to get P&S.
He has been through all the things you describe and he did get the SCS pump and he is doing alot better. He even drove a truck.
He still has to take some meds but not near the amount he was taking. I don't know alot about the procedure but I will do some research for you. My uncle ( Elvin) says the pump has really given hm some of his life back. I know different people react differently, he says the drugs oxy and lortab were to much for him as he could not do things he wanted while taking them so he had the pump put in.
Let me know if I can help any further!

[jmbirds]

woweee Well I hope you can find the peace and comfort you so deserve!!!  i have a portable TENS unit but you need a  heavy duty machine  the pt dept has several machines one is an ionophoresis which stims a medication  dextrothemosine sp  which is suppose to help like a cortisterioid , i use another machine its like ENS EMS  nerve and muscle stimulation this cuts me down on pain medication put in your case your body is so immune to pain meds electric stim and or ultrasound stim may help you ?
now my only other thought is this my endocrinolgoist discovered i had a dangerously low VIT D LEVEL  and i had alot of bone and muscle pain  and nothing was helping  per sae i have serious allergies so the stim works best for me and massage therapy and water therapy and my VIt D seems to be working  so if possible have your dr do a blood test to check the various vitamines   we lose so much when we are in pain we dont eat properly or we use drugs and alcohol to numb us so it ca'nt hurt to check into a vit difieceny  have you tried glucosimine chondrotin MSM?  VIT E  i think walmart has a rebuilder supplement avail  can't hurt to go natural now since RX arn't working? maybe by changing your life style you can do both natural and rx? I guess its called rebound now i think if you really want to try something homeopathic you can do a organ cleanse  and see if you can find some new ways omega 3 is suppose to be good and  coQ10? now someone said they used horse linement not sure what the active ingredient is , soo preceed with caution if anything sounds  appealing or tempting? in hopes i could help you in some small way..