I was injured on the job 20 years ago, first day on the job and only there 45 minutes when I ruptured 2 discs L4-S5. It took me a while to get insurance to cover therefor and got a lot of nerve damage from the time spent. I did have my first fusion in 90 and it failed. The one in 91 seemed to fuse but did not help the pain. So, the best my surgeon could tell me was "failed back syndrome". I have been on and off pain meds since then. Seen too many Dr.s to count and even got the boot from one pain management Dr.
Now I have a new one in Austin that seems pretty good. But, he wants me to try this morphine pump. I was already unsure about it, then when I came accross this page today (thank goodness) I really started to think hard about it. He told me it would take the place of meds. I read here some folk have the pump and still take meds. Don't get me wrong, I would do just about anything to have my functionality back, but I don't see the sense in having to use both and then have to have the pump refilled every month. For me that drive is a killer 140 round trip which I am making every two weeks right now. It's all I can do to walk when I get there. Then there is the trip back home. Lucky me!
Anyway, enough cryin'. I am lookin' for any direct information I can get. Professional, I did see some here and there, personal experiences from patients I have read good and bad things about this pump. I guess I am looking for a bit of guidance.
As you can imagine, 20 years is a long time to have to tolerate this. I can't even sleep without taking pills and sometimes they don't work, like tonight. It's 1 A.M. right now and I will be here all night getting ready for my Dr. appointment tomorrow. I know he will push for the pump. But this is a decision I will not be pressured into. Especially if I still have to take pills with the pump. I'd rather just stay with the pills. Easier to refill, ya know.
I was so glad to find this site and I plan on spending a lot of time in here. Just gotta learn how to use it. Hope I didn't step on any toes here. If I did, shut my mouth and call me a corndog!
A special thanks to all of you for being here to share your stories. This place is full of information. I hope to learn a lot.
Welcome to ChronicPainConnection! We're happy to have you join our community. There are lots of great people here who are very supportive and willing to help however they can.
Although I don't have personal experience with the pain pump, I can tell you one of the big pluses is the fact that you can get pain relief with an incredibly small dosage of medication because it is delivered directly to the spinal cord and doesn't have to be digested and processed by the body first. Generally it only takes 1/300 the amount of morphine delivered by the pump compared to taking it orally to have the same effect. That greatly reduces the possibility of side effects and is so much better for your body overall. So even if you have to occasionally take some meds orally for breakthrough pain, it's better for you. You shouldn't have to take oral meds on a regular basis with a pain pump. If you do, it's an indication the dosage on your pump needs to be adjusted.
Actually, the very best place to get answers to questions about pain pumps is on our forum. There is an excellent ongoing thread entitled “Willing to share experience with intrathecal morphine pump implant” that was started and is maintained by Bob Englebardt. He's had a lot of experience with pain pumps and will be happy to help you. It's a pretty long thread, but rest assured your post will be read and answered. Browse through some of the posts to see what's already there, then just click on the last page and post your question. Here is a link to this thread on the forum:
http://forums.healthcentral.com/discussion/chronic-pain/forums/a/tpc/f/7251032/m/8491036
(Note: If you've never been to the forum before, you'll have to register separately from your registration here on ChronicPainConnection. You can, however, use the same e-mail address and password if you like to make it easier to remember.)