desperately seeking answers and relief

[sabrina101]

I'm 45 years old and in 2005 I broke my Tibia and fibula in my right leg. I've had 5 surgery's, including a bone graph the 3rd surgery. I'm still in horrible pain in the ankle,foot,and the approx. place where the brake was. I've had a cat scan 1 month ago and they told me there was still some non-union in the bone, is this normal after the bone graph being done 5/2/06?  And what about the pain... I'm not sure how much longer I can tolerate this, but for some strange reason I keep telling myself that if someone told me this is normal and will get better in another year I could tolerate it. Sounds stupid I know but these are the strange things we do to convince ourselves.Any information you could give me,would be of great help.

[sabrina101]

I really appreciate your reply, the information was helpful. Since I have moved I finally was able to locate a new ortho., I feel pretty good about the info. that he and I have exchanged though still have a few questions. He has mentioned the possibility of a nerve block due the constant pain, do you think this could help and what is the pro's and con's of it? It's kinda scary to think about killing something that may not need it and may not end the pain you know?? He has me on Lyrica right now 50mg. twice dailey and wanting to up it to 400mg. a day but I'm already having some side affects (blury vision) at 100mg. I'm scared to up it, what do you think?  Thanks ahead for any advice or suggestion.

[dr_simran]

Hello Dear
There exists a subpopulation of patients sustaining these fibular fractures who develop symptomatic incomplete union or nonunion despite appropriate management, and later require operative intervention to eliminate pain.
The treatment of nonunion is to reverse the conditions which may predispose; freshen up the area to allow a new blood supply to grow in, immobilise the fracture, and use bone graft to give the process of ossification a good start. Most often this means surgery with bone grafting and exchange of hardware.You should consult your orthopedic physician regarding this option.
Surgical stabilization of fibular nonunion seems to be a reliable means of resolving these symptoms when conservative measures fail.
[Reference- http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15948400]

Regards