Chronic Back Pain
About ten years ago I began to have chronic back pain. Up until then I had had a few problems, but nothing to speak of. Then, taking my kids to school one morning a lady turned in front of me…and it began. Now, my back problems aren’t from the wreck…but it aggravated it…and it’s been hurting ever since. I’m not telling Y’all this story for sympathy. I’m telling you so that you will understand what is about to happen with my blog, and hopefully my journey will help someone else making the tough decisions that I’m about to.
When this all began, the doctors let me know that I needed surgery. Sort of like the flamingos in the picture above, my neck and back are all out of alignment! I have mild Scoliosis, I have numerous discs that are protruding on my nerves, and I have what is called a spondylolisthesis<em>. </em>which is basically a broken spot in my back. I also have a place between two of my vertebrae that fused itself, and degenerative disc disease. Fusion is about the only option for the broken spot. But with fusion comes many other problems.
Fusion generally cause the vertebrae above and below the fusion to need fusing in about ten years. So, with my age came the risk of A LOT of surgeries throughout my life. So, I’ve learned to live with the back pain. I’ve had physical therapy, drugs, shots, injections, massages, heat, ice and shocks. I’ve had EVERYTHING!!! Everything and anything to avoid surgery.
Two years ago I began to fall fairly frequently. I just thought I was getting clumbsier than I always have been. Then, about two months ago, my feet began to burn and tingle. I couldn’t tell if they were hot or cold. My doctor sent me to a neurologist, whom did an MRI, and a nerve induction test. He discovered the reason I was falling was peripheral neuropathy in my legs. He, then, sent me to a pain specialist. He was going to do an injection last week in the L4-L5 area. Three days before the procedure was to take place I got a pain in my shoulder that went down my arm. Suddenly my left hand was so weak, that I haven’t even been able to open a flip cap on the shampoo bottle. So, we opted to have the injection put into my C5-T1 hoping to stop this. It did seem to help the pain, however this week-end my right had began to tingle, and the left hand was still pretty useless. On top of all that…my lips began to tingle also. So, now the game changes. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be having to have surgery pretty quick. I’m scared, and nervous, but I don’t want to lose the use of my hands, so I’m not putting it off any longer.
Why am I telling y’all this? Well, I know chronic back pain is pretty common. I’m hoping that anyone else that has these same problems will be helped in some way by all of this. But mostly…I want y’all to know how grateful I am for y’all…and I’m hoping you’ll be patient with me as my posts might get slim for a while. I have some AMAZING blogging friends, that are going to try to take up some of the slack for me….but I can’t ask them to post every day for me. So, I’m asking y’all to be patient with me.
That’s about it for now. Thanks so much for the Love and support! I’ll keep you posted!
January 23, 2013
Today I’ll go for an MRI of my brain. Along with issues with my hands, I’ve been having tingling in my lips. The Neurosurgeon is curious about this, and wants to look into it further. Tomorrow I will go for my L4-L5 epidural. I had some of these about ten years ago, with no luck. They say they’ve changed the way they do them, and I’m hoping for better luck with this one. The injection I got last week didn’t help too much with the loss of function in my hands…but it did calm the pain. We will see. I’ll keep Y’all posted.
January 24, 2013
Today I had my injections in the L4-L5 spine. It will most likely be a day or two before I’ll know if they were a success. Right now, all I know is my hips are killing me from the shots (actually from the medicine). I’m so hoping this works better than the neck shots I got last week.
January 26, 2013
I feel like there could be some progress in the way of pain, although I’m still a bit soar still from the injections. I noticed yesterday, however, that my toes are still dragging a bit, and my feet were on fire again. This morning my right foot seems to be getting the worst of it. Still very limited used of my right hand, which is odd and scary. My prayer is that the neurosurgeon will have some answers for this. My hands are everything. They called me yesterday, and have set the consult with him for the 30th. That’s the day my youngest son flies in from Montana for a week long visit.
January 30, 2013
Yesterday we spent the day in Lubbock to find a daycare for Jude. We are trying to find a place where I can begin to acclimate him. This needs to happen, whether or not I have surgery. I need a back up…and he needs to socialize. We just don’t want to have to just dump him.
I was suppose to see my neurosurgeon this morning, however they called me yesterday and said that he had way too many surgeries and need to reschedule for Friday. So I guess we’ll put the updates off till then!
February 4, 2013
Well, once again, they have rescheduled my appt. for tomorrow. Hopefully this one won’t get moved. Saturday my feet went numb and haven’t returned to normal. So now all the appendages in my body are numb and tingly. UGH… I wasn’t very nice on Friday when they cancelled! Hopefully I will have more news for Y’all tomorrow.
February 7, 2013
Okay…the fact that I just can’t seem to connect with the surgeon is getting rather frustrating at this point. Once again, it’s suppose to be tomorrow. I saw my pain management Dr. today, and he’s sending me to physical therapy AGAIN for the L4-L5 problem. He says that no matter what I’m feeling…I have to have surgery on my neck….no getting around it. So, I guess tomorrow will just be to finalize the time and place. So I guess even though I haven’t met with the surgeon, and haven’t been told by him officially, I will be having surgery….and pretty quick according to Dr. Sahindler. More after tomorrow’s appt.
February 8, 2013
After seeing the neurosurgeon today, there is no choice about surgery. He says that my spinal cord is almost completely compressed at the neck, and that I have bone spurs protruding all over the place. Also I have the discs pressing and pinching the nerves. So surgery and fusion of two discs and bone graphs on the 25th of this month….like it or not. He said it wasn’t a choice…and it couldn’t wait. If I were to wait, I could completely lose the use of my hands. so….off I go to have surgery. 🙁
February 22, 2013
I haven’t updated y’all in a while. Surgery is set for this coming Monday…yes two more days. I have to be in Lubbock at 6:00 in the morning. I’ve had to jump through so many hoops to get this done. The insurance company has acted like royal pains. We had a little snafu, and the hospital threatened to cancel the surgery. We got that all worked out…but they discovered I had a UTI that I didn’t know about. So, today, I go back to see if the antibiotics they gave me, have worked. They won’t do surgery if I still have any infection. This will be the last hoop, I hope. I’m super nervous…and have been having to take xanax every day for anxiety. Dave flies in tomorrow evening at 6:30. I’m hoping having him home will ease the anxiousness a bit. It’s really hard going through this alone. Unless something comes up today, this will probably be my last post prior to the surgery. I’ll keep Y’all posted as soon as I can. Thanks to all of Y’all for your caring thoughts and comments. I can’t express how much it means to me, to have this much love and support…if it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t be handling this near as well.
February 27, 2013
Two days out from surgery. I’m sore as I can be. I woke this morning unable to move. Surprisingly though, most of the tenderness is in my chest, where the tube was…and my shoulders. The nurse kind of warned me about this. Apparently they weigh your arms and shoulders down during surgery to stretch the neck. She told me I would be having muscle spasms there…and boy she wasn’t lying. I’m really amazed that the pain isn’t worse than it is. I really could be so much worse than I am. I can’t really move my neck very well…but I’m sure that this will improve with time also.
May 2, 2013
It’s been a while. Things are good…just very busy. I’ve been trying to get the mojo back into my heart. With warm weather coming…I hope to get motivated to be more productive. I still have quite a bit of pain in my neck…and my left hand still isn’t what it needs to be. I had a nerve induction test done yesterday….and the neurologist said…it’s definitely not anywhere near what it should be. Not sure what that means…but he didn’t feel that the physical therapy that I’m scheduled for would help much. I guess I’ll find out on the 22nd where that puts me…I have another appointment with the neurosurgeon then.
October 9, 2013
It’s been several months. I still hurt on a daily basis. My left hand still doesn’t work like it’s suppose to. Although…I’m not paralyzed from the next down…there really haven’t been much improvement. I have discovered that I am not falling near as often as I was…so that’s definitely a plus. Doc says the only way to fix this issue with my hand will be another surgery. I have decided not to do that. He and I are discussing lower back surgery. I really haven’t decided I want to do that. I certainly don’t want to before next spring….so that will be off the table for now. I do hurt constantly…but it didn’t fix my neck pain…in fact, my neck hurts more now, than before. This makes me somewhat hesitant to venture into another surgery…especially one as extensive as this one. So…for now, I’m living with it.
Love Y’all!!
You are in my prayers dear friend.
Thanks girlie!
Have you tried Chiropractic? There are good ones and bad ones just like any profession but when you find a good one you’ll know! I suffered from Migraines for 14 years. I’ve seen 4 different chiropractors, each one made an improvement (longer time in between migraines) until the current (my now husband) performed a specific technique…No more migraines. In his office, he even treats people with fusions.
One thing to remember about back surgery…The doctors consider a “minor reduction in pain” a success and the success rate is only 40%.
If you’d like more information please feel free to send me an email. I work with people in your condition every day and I know it’s very difficult and painful.
I did try Chiropractic care at one time. We are praying for a miracle, however they are saying that the nerves are being pressed on enough that there will soon be permanent damage if I don’t relieve part of the pressure that no one seems to be able to.
I just stumbled on your site through Hometalk and have posted your wonderful recycled dragonfly on my Facebook page. I, too, have the degenerative disc disease and I also had fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue for 15 years. I found a wonderful Chiropractic, who is gentle and uses a small tool (can’t remember the name of it) to adjust my back. This process has been unobtrusive and has helped me tremendously. Being in my 70’s I’m still learning that God has made our bodies to heal themselves and through prayer, for I believe our God is the Ultimate Healer, and seeking others for help… my body is healing.
Now enough of me… May Our Lord bring swift healing to your back and peace to your mind, and know in your heart that nothing is impossible with Him.
Thank You! I too believe in the power of prayer! Thank you so much! Thanks for posting my dragonfly! Enjoy my site! I hope you find a lot of things you like!
you are in my prayers. i know some of what you are going through as my husband has had 3 back surgery over the past 30 years & it has not been fun for any of us .
Oh Ellie, I’m so sorry. I know first hand how horrible this problem is to live with…for the person dealing with it, but most especially for all those around them. Thank You so very much for your prayers.
I have just found your website & am enjoying it alot! I am so sorry to hear of your back troubles!! I will also add you to my personal prayer list. I know it must be frightening to be faced with all of this…..Hope that you or someone will keep us updated.
Thank You so much! I appreciate all the prayers. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the site! Just snoop around all you like! 🙂
I had the same thing happen to me. I am 36 & had 20 screws placed in my back last year & it has helped a TON.. if your body has gotten used to the pain meds. I don’t know if ur dr has told u about a med called “Suboxone”. It came out about 10 yrs or so ago to treatment drug addicts to whein them off the drugs & the side effect of the drug was pain relief. it is NOT cheap if u dont have health insurance. .. If no one has told u about this then u need to check this out, u can not get addicted to it or high off of this med. it comes in a film & u place if under ur tongue & relieves the pain right then, unlike pain meds u have to wait up to an hour for the meds to kick in. I don’t know why more dr’s do not tell people about this drug.
I feel for u!!! I know how it feels to wake up everyday for the past 10 yrs & ur back feels like its broken & u cant hardly move..
No…None of my doctors have told me about that drug, but I will ask them about it. I have gotten pretty good about not taking too many medications…I have a strong fear of addiction, so that keeps me in check. They keep me on Ultram…and it works some of the time, but sometimes you just have to breath deep and live with it. Thank you so much for your kind words…and I pray for continued advancements in your back situation too.
My heart went out to you reading your post. I’m 60 and have back problems but no where near what your dealing with at such a young age. You have every right to be scared and nervous anyone would be. But know that I plus I’m sure a lot of others will be praying for you and God is the Great Physician!
I’m also sure no one expects you to worry about posts….but just keep us informed as to how your doing we will be praying hard for you!
Talk to our Father in Heaven he will help give you peace right in the middle of the storm!
Sandi Reagan
Oh my Goodness….I have tears in my eyes! Thanks so much for your kind words and prayers! I appreciate Y’all so much! Thank You!
I have also dealt with back problems from a injury 11 yrs ago,I wake up every morning with pain & car trips are miserable, 2 years ago I started having the tingling in my lips it scared me I thought I was having a stroke, my dr at that time said its not coming from my back it could be from my birth control, I have buldging disk in L4 L5 I have taken pain meds for about 2 yrs now my next option is cortisone shots I do want to stay away from surgery if all possible just for the reason I have heard from many that its not a cure, but If the pain isnt manageable I guess a person doesn’t really have any other option. I do hope you get some relief & find out quickly before anymore nerve damage
yeah….I’ve been told the same thing. I’ve had two of the injections in my L4-L5…but neither worked…and actually I go again this morning. I haven’t been all that concerned with the nerve damage in my legs…but I have to have my hands….and now that the Neuropothy has started…I’m kinda worried about the legs too. Anyway, I’m hoping the surgeon has a new suggestion.
I had two spinal fusions at age 44. Several years later I had a cervical fusion. They have changed my life- no pain,etc.! It was the best thing I have ever done! I couldn’t put my socks on, etc. before the spinal fusions; I had degenerative discs. Concerning the neck area I had numbness, balance issues and clumsiness prior to the fusion. I tired everything before the surgeries and nothing worked. My Neurosurgeon was the best and I thank God for him everyday! It has been thirteen years since the first fusion. Good luck in your decision! I know it isn’t an easy one. You are in my thoughts and prayers!
Thank You so much! I seriously think you are the first person that has EVER told me that spinal fusion was the best decision they ever made. That makes me feel so much better. I have been so worried about this decision…and put it off, living in agonizing pain. But I can’t face the total loss of my hands or feet for that matter. I appreciate you telling me your story! Thank You so much for your words of encouragement!
So sorry,I have a friend that is suffering as you are it was caused from a car accident and she has not found any relief yet also my grandughter has had two surgerys so far and now her legs hurt so bad from this last surgery they say that she had so much scar tissue that they may have cut a nerve that went to her legs.From one of the posts that mentioned Suboxone will pass this on to them. But I stll think that the God I serve stills heals and will pray for you also. Some times He uses Doctors.There is a scriture that addresses healing. Palsams103, and my favorit. is MK 5:34. God bless.
Thank You so much! Your kind words are so appreciated! I realize how deep these problems run with so many people! Thank You so much!
Thinking of you and praying friend … you are one of the strongest ladies I know!!!!! Love you!!!!!
Thanks Girlfriend! Love you too! I have you in my prayers too girl…and you’re no weakling!
Tammy I am so sorry that you are suffering so. It sounds like surgery is the best option for you, as scary as it is. My father-in-law had surgery on the disks in his neck after having debilitating pain for over 15 years and woke from the surgery with no pain and has been pain free since (15 years)! I pray for the same kind of relief for you. As far as your blog goes–love it and keeping your readers updated on how your doing would be great. Lots of prayers and love to you sweetie!
Thank You! I so appreciate all the Love and prayers! I know that God is in charge of this. I’m nervous, but I’m just kinda calm about it now, and I haven’t been for a really long time. Thanks for your kind words of encouragement! 🙂
Dear Tammy,
I just found your blog tonight and saw this and had to read. I too suffer from chronic neck, back, and leg pain. Mine is not as bad at the moment as yours. I wasn’t walking 3 years ago when I found by chance an awesome chiropractor. I’m now walking, but with a lot of pain. I live on morphine. Anyway, I wanted to express to you that I’m a new follower and I am praying for you and will add you to our church prayer list. I’m a firm believer in prayer. In 2004 I survived 2 brain surgeries for anuerisms on the main artery in your brain.
God Bless you and your family.
Tiffanie
Tiffanie,
Thank you so much for your kind words and prayers! I too believe in the power of prayer…and appreciate that! I’m so happy you’re following me…I hope you enjoy my site. Although, posts may be a bit slim for a while….I’ll get back to it soon I hope!