I suffer severe chronic pain due to several thoracic disc protrusions/extrusions with the worst one compressing my spinal cord 7mm at the T6-7 level. Fortunately I only suffer from pain and occasional nuerological issues. I am on SSD because of the pain and medications used to treat the pain. Since information is so hard to find on thoracic disc herniations and types of treatment, I would like to ask the following:
1. What is the probability of recovering from this situation without surgery?
My doctor is hesitant to perform surgery and those that have surgery seem to get only a few years of slight improvment before experiencing problems.
2. What are some of the newest pain medicaitons available to control breakthrough pain? I currently take 20 mg oxycodone 3 times per day for breakthrough pain. Duragesic (200 microgram) patches, opana (60mg), nuerontin (3600 mg) are used for baseline pain.
3. How successful are the implantable pain pumps?
Thanks in advance,
Brian





