AllBodySurgery.com
failed back surgery syndrome?
Has anyone found a cure or a way to live with the constant pain other than morphine? My dr. wants to do a nerve block but has to go through the base of my spine due to the 7 inch rods in the way. He states that if it does not help then I need the rods removed. I have had the back of three vertebrae L3-L5 removed, the rods+screws+plates hold it all together. The original surgery put me using a walker for 3 months when I was 37. Has anyone had their rods removed? I would really like someone to talk to. I have since found that my original neurosurgeon has been sued 8 times since 1999, 3 times for wrongful death. I though he was a good doctor as I checked with the AMA. Now I don't know who to trust or if this nerve block is the right thing to do as I don't know anyone who has ever had one when they had harrington rods. I have also read that harrington rods are not meant to be left in, has anyone had them for longer than 3 1\2 years. Thanks in advance for the help :)
Public Comments
- http://www.scoliosis.org/resources/medicalupdates/instrumentationsystems.php
- I won't be of much help answering your question, but, I, too, have been through the same kind of thing. I now have all but the first level in my cervical spine fused. My first surgery was rather simple, or so I thought. The doctor was going to fuse one level. Instead it has turned into a four year ordeal where I can no longer work because I have such severe pain in my shoulders. The original doctor used faulty equipment and I had to have a "repair" surgery and another level was fused. Then a year later I went to swing my hair over my shoulder and hear three pops....oh no!! Yet two more levels fused. One month later during a routine follow-up xrays revealed that the hardware had fractured two vertebra. Now I have 14 screws, a cage and two plates and two rods holding my neck together. I have been to a few doctors and they all seem to agree, I will never be pain free, which was a very big, difficult pill to swallow. I feel like I have spent much of the last fours years in a drug induced fog with the only option being in constant pain. My doctor recently talked about a pain management clinic. I have found the best relief to be from Cymbalta and Zanaflex...I posted the question about the Zanaflex. I later found out that there are several other patients with the same problem, although not as bad, with the hardware that I had in the first surgery. My first surgeon was asked to leave his practicing hospital. I consulted attorneys but was told "there was evidence to support a life-long injury" even though I am on disability because of all this. Anyway, good luck with your situation. My heart goes out to you!
