PLEASE HELP!! Sever back pain -

[alecia632]

Hi there, my mother is 57 and has had chronic back pain since and injury over a year ago now, a slipped disk that lead to nerve damage which has never healed, and is now more chronic than ever, she is in constant devastating pain which, along with all of the medication she is taking, is slowly killing her, she cant even eat now. she has has ALL scans possible, MRI, bone etc, she has had 2 cortisone injections that didnt work, and she just recently had Prolotherapy which is meant to heal damaged ligaments and tendons, that was 2 weeks ago and now the pain is worse than ever. the only thing the doctors have said is that she needs to push through the pain and exercise her muscles to strengthen her body which may relieve some of the pain in time, but it is too sore for her to even get out of bed now. there MUST be another answer???? please help. watching my mother go through this is devastating for the whole family as we dont even have an answer or a legitimate solution for it. please help.

[alecia632]

hi there, thanks for your reply.
the prolotherapy has worked (she thinks) in the injected areas, however she is now experiencing more chronic pain in her tail bone and other areas in her back. she is in bed 24/7, crying, having panic attacks and anxiety all the time and cannot eat. she is taking a mixture of pills, oxynorm for pain and ativan to help with her anxiety. however her Dr has advised she has been taking too many ativan and is now too reliant on them and is making her anxiety worse if she doesnt take enough, so we now need to cut them down, she is not in a good head space to move herself or travel to have more prolotherapy. she is also now battling depression and is really struggling to cope with the pain as she cannot get comfortable. we are at our witts end as it is so stressful on everyone watching someone go through this, not knowing if there is anything that can be done? we now have to wait until the ativan addiction wears off, and see if there is a mind/pain connection, and see if the pain lessens once the withdrawals and anxiety settles down. if she is still experiencing the chronic pain once she has cut down the ativan we will try to get her admitted to a hospital in a different city to see if we can get a 2nd opinion. that is really all we can do at this stage. thanks for your help.  

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Prolotherapy is usually associated with discomfort/ soreness/ increased pain due to the inflammation. This gradually settles with times as healing takes place. Though I am not sure about the severity of the disc prolapse in her case, with the therapy recommended I would assume it to be moderate. I would suggest continuing with the treatment plan as advised with exercises/ physiotherapy to strengthen the back muscles; after the initial period of acute pain is over. Hopefully things would begin to get better. If conservative management fails, interventional/ surgical measures may be considered later.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!