Bad back

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by nearlythere

Spondylolisthesis is a condition that occurs when one vertebral body slips with respect to the adjacent vertebral body causing radicular or mechanical symptoms or pain. It is graded based on the degree of slippage of one vertebral body on the adjacent vertebral body


Spinal fusion is surgery to permanently join together two or more bones in the spine so there is no movement between them. These bones are called vertebrae. Abnormal curvature in the spine is known as scoliosis, and generally begins just at the onset of puberty and progresses during the period of rapid growth.

that's what happened to my back

[nearlythere]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

I had an L4-5 fusion last November as my joints had moved forward and squashing nerves. One thing I learnt is that Neurosurgeons don't do surgery for no reason, the surgery went fine but about 4 weeks post surgery I rolled over in bed and felt a sharp pain. In February this year the pain in my back didn't seem to be subsiding so my GP sent me off for a MRI, it appears that I have a small posterior disc bulge in the L3-4 jointI have seen the surgeon a number of times since, the pain has him a bit confused as structurally everything is fine, 2 lots of MRI scans, 2 lots of CT scans, a SPECT CT and a Gallium CT have all cleared of any infection, etc.I saw a specialist pain Doctor last Tuesday; he believes it is the facet joints giving me grief (something my GP mentioned way back in Jan/Feb interestingly). I have to some gentle exercises to do, so hydrotherapy, walking etc and I am going in for 7 bilateral L3-4 facet and paravertebral acute pain block injections early next month. He thinks it will give me enough relief so that I can get on and do some core muscle regeneration exercises to build up the lower back strength.So, I feel your painimagecheck out these tek screws lolimage

Well I hope it works out for you mate. You're spine looks good now in the images atleast. The angle of mine side on is weird. I'll post a pic soon, I don't have any after surgery yet. How did you go with pain the next day after surgery

[nearlythere]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

I have spoken to 2 Neurosurgeons about my L3-4 issue and both do not recommend surgery

They are on the way out to is what i meant but I'm definitely not having surgery on those. Do you have any pics of before surgery?

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by nearlythere

Well I hope it works out for you mate. You're spine looks good now in the images atleast. The angle of mine side on is weird. I'll post a pic soon, I don't have any after surgery yet. How did you go with pain the next day after surgery

Drugs are your friend.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by nearlythere

They are on the way out to is what i meant but I'm definitely not having surgery on those. Do you have any pics of before surgery?

I saw them, but never saved them

[nearlythere]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

Drugs are your friend.

Mmm....I'm on oxys...I like them and it's not good to get addicted.

[Trevor 57]

Steer away from those ****ers

[prydey]

I was on lyrica (can have nasty side effects), palexia (tapentadol) and now tremadol. I think if things don't improve after a week or so I'll go back to the dr and ask for more palexia. Tremadol doesn't seem to be working as well.

Other than that it's just keeping up with panadol osteo.

I don't like taking drugs to get through the day so I often find myself just trying to soldier on, but according to the doc that's not healthy. He says if you're in pain, take the drugs.

I'm no risk of addiction according to his character assessment.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by prydey

I was on lyrica (can have nasty side effects), palexia (tapentadol) and now tremadol. I think if things don't improve after a week or so I'll go back to the dr and ask for more palexia. Tremadol doesn't seem to be working as well.

Other than that it's just keeping up with panadol osteo.

I don't like taking drugs to get through the day so I often find myself just trying to soldier on, but according to the doc that's not healthy. He says if you're in pain, take the drugs.

I'm no risk of addiction according to his character assessment.

I was on Lyrica, total waste of time for me. It's supposed to be a pain killer for nerve pain but did nothing for me. I should say I had a neck fusion in May last year as well and I was on Lyrica for that and my back - it did **** all. The bloke (an Anaesthetist and pain specialist) I saw last Wednesday didn't rate it at all. Palexia was great but super addictive, it really zoned me out and just put me to sleep. So I steered away from it, plus my GP would only prescribe so much and then stopped. I just take 2 Panadol Osteo and 2 Nurofen Zavance together twice a day, I find that very helpful, I will take it a bit more often if the pain gets too bad

[nearlythere]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

I was on Lyrica, total waste of time for me. It's supposed to be a pain killer for nerve pain but did nothing for me. I should say I had a neck fusion in May last year as well and I was on Lyrica for that and my back - it did **** all. The bloke (an Anaesthetist and pain specialist) I saw last Wednesday didn't rate it at all. Palexia was great but super addictive, it really zoned me out and just put me to sleep. So I steered away from it, plus my GP would only prescribe so much and then stopped. I just take 2 Panadol Osteo and 2 Nurofen Zavance together twice a day, I find that very helpful, I will take it a bit more often if the pain gets too bad

Lyrica....Bad bad bad.
Sent me to the mental ward for a few days 2 years ago

[prydey]

Originally Posted by nearlythere

Lyrica....Bad bad bad.
Sent me to the mental ward for a few days 2 years ago

I've heard a lot of stories about bad reactions to lyrica but it was ok for me. I was on the max dose (300 twice a day) for months and the only real side effect was jumbling up my words when speaking. Apart from that they were very effective.

[HIPO]

Tried Lyrica, didn't help with the pain. Affected my balance & weird stuff like choosing the wrong cupboard doors when after items in the kitchen etc.... i'd imagine it could trip you up doing other stuff too which led me to stop.

[HIPO]

Have been offered & in talks ATM to try out a new pain - nerve block implant. A quick procedure to install & trial for up to 7 days. If things work out , then a permanent implant.

[nearlythere]

Originally Posted by HIPO

Have been offered & in talks ATM to try out a new pain - nerve block implant. A quick procedure to install & trial for up to 7 days. If things work out , then a permanent implant.

Is that the nerve stimulator?

[HIPO]

Originally Posted by nearlythere

Is that the nerve stimulator?

Yes, Ultra Low Frequency though as opposed to the U.H.F & epidural (gulp) type.

[nearlythere]

Originally Posted by HIPO

Yes, Ultra Low Frequency though as opposed to the U.H.F & epidural (gulp) type.

Make sure to do some in depth research before jumping to the permanent solution.

[nearlythere]

I don't mean to be negative but thought I'd share this. I know everything medical has risks but it's good to know what they are.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-...tors/103776134

There's plenty more on this. I'd have to be really really bad to consider it.

[Trevor 57]

Had the injections into the L4/5 and L3/4 facet joints yesterday arvo, he also used some heat ultrasound therapy at the same time. It was a full on operation procedure with anaesthetic nurse and Doctor who administered a light anaesthetic, radiologist, other nursing staff and Doctor administering. I was kept in over night as I had no-one to drive me home to the country

Did it hurt? Hell yeah, I dropped the magic a couple of times, but then I woke in the recovery room, so they must have whacked me with the good stuff ��

He used lidocaine

[kevino]

Hope it reduces your pain Trev.

[Trevor 57]

I hope so too

[HIPO]

Originally Posted by HIPO

Have been offered & in talks ATM to try out a new pain - nerve block implant. A quick procedure to install & trial for up to 7 days. If things work out , then a permanent implant.

Too many scary cons, so not going ahead with this.

They also seemed too keen & a little pushy, which with anything, has me automatically digging my heels in.

[hawkgirl]

Originally Posted by HIPO

Too many scary cons, so not going ahead with this.

They also seemed too keen & a little pushy, which with anything, has me automatically digging my heels in.

I have one, has cut my pain by 50%

I have seen the story on the abc, and sis #1 had one that was a drama from day 1. That had a lot to do with her surgeon / insurance company though.

I've had nerve damage since 1989, and nerve blocks since about 1997; T12- S1.

You should always be offered a trial of a stim, to assess if it will work for you, usually 7 days. My trial went for close to 20 days, as the device was changed to a different one after the 1st week, as he thought it might be better for me.
Then you can go away and think about if it's for you or not.
It's fine to say no. It's not fine for a clinic to push it on you if you are unsure or don't want it.

I had issues with healing but none to date with the unit.
I went with it as I'm aware the long term cortisone in the nerve blocks is not good for me (plus is on the banned list for sport)

It doesn't fix my issues, and it's not a cure - it does give me a quicker recovery when I do something that annoys the nerves. I also still need the odd round of RF ablation extra around L5 S1

[HIPO]

Originally Posted by hawkgirl

I have one, has cut my pain by 50%

I have seen the story on the abc, and sis #1 had one that was a drama from day 1. That had a lot to do with her surgeon / insurance company though.

I've had nerve damage since 1989, and nerve blocks since about 1997; T12- S1.

You should always be offered a trial of a stim, to assess if it will work for you, usually 7 days. My trial went for close to 20 days, as the device was changed to a different one after the 1st week, as he thought it might be better for me.
Then you can go away and think about if it's for you or not.
It's fine to say no. It's not fine for a clinic to push it on you if you are unsure or don't want it.

I had issues with healing but none to date with the unit.
I went with it as I'm aware the long term cortisone in the nerve blocks is not good for me (plus is on the banned list for sport)

It doesn't fix my issues, and it's not a cure - it does give me a quicker recovery when I do something that annoys the nerves. I also still need the odd round of RF ablation extra around L5 S1

Ah ok, thats great its helping! appreciate your input! thank you.

[hawkgirl]

If anyone wants more info feel free to PM me.

I'm not going to sell it to you lol but I can tell you first-hand what it's like, and about RF ablation treatment as well.


I've done pretty much everything in the way of pain management/ relief and if the stim hadn't worked the only option left was an intrathecal pump - and to his credit my specialist said he wouldn't do that anyway

[Citroënbender]

Good that your device is doing its thing. I’m managing without medication or any surgery (yet?) but definitely trying to not do the silly lifts of 2+ years ago - learned to swallow my ego and ask/plan for help. A far cry from apprenticeship days when we were expected to carry two 40kg bags a time, unloading from delivery trucks into site.

Also, I reckon a seven day trial is totally inadequate, it might work on the physical side of injury but not enough time for the brain to reevaluate soundly.

[Trevor 57]

Well, the lidocaine injections did bugger all at this stage (one week later) IMHO. I spoke to my GP yesterday; he said what he hears it is a 50/50 of 'yep great' or 'nah'. Results should be pretty much straight away he said. He was unsure of the elctro-therapy, but his body language didn't give me confidence

[hawkgirl]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Also, I reckon a seven day trial is totally inadequate, it might work on the physical side of injury but not enough time for the brain to reevaluate soundly.

Basically it works like a phone exchange. If the nerves are already occupied with the pulses from the device (on a call), then the pain signals can't get thru (like getting a busy signal). That's why it's only 7 days - it will either work in the first 3 days or it won't. Plus it's really horrible not having a shower for a week

Medtronic was the 1st device, currently they have been suspended by the TGA. It works by creating paresthesia, and that was a No from me (get that for free in my foot, thanks). The one I have is a Nevro, biggest issue is forgetting to charge the wireless charger, and remembering how to turn it off when needed.