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Joecole

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As most of you know I had a series of pain killing jabs in my spine on Tuesday which lead to a couple of pain free nights sleep. Unfortunately today the pain killers failed so its back to square one and a visit to the docs on Monday. I now have to seriously think about surgery
 
Not good joe, sorry to hear that mate☹️ Do you have any more options buddy or is surgery it ?
I was warned that the injections might be good for one day or the effect might last a year Mark, because they failed so badly this time I can't see the experts wanting to carry out the same procedure at the cost of a couple of grand a time so yes surgery is probably the only option left
 
Hi Joe.
Bugger mate sorry to hear that.
Had much the same myself.... But did not want to mention it.
After a few attempts down that route.... They offered an epidural into my coccyx..... It worked for me.... surgery was the last resort.
Worth mentioning to your Dr mate.

Gutted for you mate..... Good luck with it.
 
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Hi Joe.
Bugger mate sorry to hear that.
Had much the same myself.... But did not want to mention it.
After a few attempts down that route.... They offered an epidural into my coccyx..... It worked for me.... surgery was the last resort.
Worth mentioning to your Dr mate.

Gutted for you mate..... Good luck with it.
Thanks Bill its just a case now of following any advice I'm given
 
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Morning @Joecole

Hope you had a better night mate.

The procedure that I had........ and was trying to remember............ was an "Epidural and Caudal nerve block" This is what you would do well to discuss with your Dr mate......the next step...... unless they decide on surgery.

I have added a link for you to have a read and understand whats involved.......I can appreciate your worrying..............nothing to worry about at all mate :thumbsup:


 
Morning @Joecole

Hope you had a better night mate.

The procedure that I had........ and was trying to remember............ was an "Epidural and Caudal nerve block" This is what you would do well to discuss with your Dr mate......the next step...... unless they decide on surgery.

I have added a link for you to have a read and understand whats involved.......I can appreciate your worrying..............nothing to worry about at all mate :thumbsup:


Thanks for going to all that trouble Bill, right now I'm prepared to try anything including the local witch doctor
 
Condolences to you, I can very much sympathise. Unfortunately this is an area in which I have a degree of experience as when I hit the grand old age of 31 my spine also took the decision to fall apart. In my case it started of with a knackered disc to which the advice from various drs was to let it rest and it would sort itself out. Eventually I convinced them to send me for an MRI and after a 3 month wait for the results the consultant called me in to say I needed a discectomy.....urgently and I went under the knife a couple of days later. This initially worked but about 4 months later it fell apart again so I had a second discectomy. This didn’t work :( I then went through a similar rigmarole to you from the sounds of it, a couple of goes at steroid injections in to the spine as well as the caudal epidural mentioned above which both made matters worse rather than better. Eventually I was given the option to have a fusion although it was stressed the it was only 40% it would help, 40% chance it would make no difference and 20% that it could make things worse. By this point I was in enough pain to take the chance but I was un/fortunate that I was in the no difference camp (small mercies in hindsight). We’ve now reached the point of this rambling post (eventually I hear you all say :D ) at this point the NHS said something along the lines of “you’ve tried everything else so we’ll now give you another option”. This “last chance fix” is a spinal cord stimulator which is best described as a cross between a pacemaker for pain and a TENS device wired directly in to your spinal cord. Long and the short of it is I now have a battery/control implant behind my hip that is connected up to a paddle containing electrodes that has been implanted inside my spinal column to directly stimulate the nerves within with the aim of reducing pain and which I can control and recharge with what is basically a remote control
image.jpg

I’m not going to claim it 100% effective, in fact at time I’m in enough pain I’m sure it isn’t working until I have to turn it off (if I’m welding or around magnetic fields) but it’s something that might be worth asking about (I’d certainly whole heartedly recommend it). I will say that it’s something that they’ll only try as a last resort due to the cost, I have about £30ks worth of kit in my back now before the cost of fitting (I believe surgeons hourly rates are a bit sharp ;) ). Apologies for the long winded rambling post but I honestly think it might be something worth discussing with your consultant :)
 
Condolences to you, I can very much sympathise. Unfortunately this is an area in which I have a degree of experience as when I hit the grand old age of 31 my spine also took the decision to fall apart. In my case it started of with a knackered disc to which the advice from various drs was to let it rest and it would sort itself out. Eventually I convinced them to send me for an MRI and after a 3 month wait for the results the consultant called me in to say I needed a discectomy.....urgently and I went under the knife a couple of days later. This initially worked but about 4 months later it fell apart again so I had a second discectomy. This didn’t work :( I then went through a similar rigmarole to you from the sounds of it, a couple of goes at steroid injections in to the spine as well as the caudal epidural mentioned above which both made matters worse rather than better. Eventually I was given the option to have a fusion although it was stressed the it was only 40% it would help, 40% chance it would make no difference and 20% that it could make things worse. By this point I was in enough pain to take the chance but I was un/fortunate that I was in the no difference camp (small mercies in hindsight). We’ve now reached the point of this rambling post (eventually I hear you all say :D ) at this point the NHS said something along the lines of “you’ve tried everything else so we’ll now give you another option”. This “last chance fix” is a spinal cord stimulator which is best described as a cross between a pacemaker for pain and a TENS device wired directly in to your spinal cord. Long and the short of it is I now have a battery/control implant behind my hip that is connected up to a paddle containing electrodes that has been implanted inside my spinal column to directly stimulate the nerves within with the aim of reducing pain and which I can control and recharge with what is basically a remote control
View attachment 22934
I’m not going to claim it 100% effective, in fact at time I’m in enough pain I’m sure it isn’t working until I have to turn it off (if I’m welding or around magnetic fields) but it’s something that might be worth asking about (I’d certainly whole heartedly recommend it). I will say that it’s something that they’ll only try as a last resort due to the cost, I have about £30ks worth of kit in my back now before the cost of fitting (I believe surgeons hourly rates are a bit sharp ;) ). Apologies for the long winded rambling post but I honestly think it might be something worth discussing with your consultant :)
No apology needed mate because I'm glad of every bit of advice that I can get. My main problem is that although there is major damage to my lumbar spine the majority of the severe pain is in my left leg and both hips so i difficult to know exactly where to afix my tens pads
 
My biggest issue was to my right leg, it used to spasm so badly it would tear the muscle and that hadn’t happened since I had the implant. Before they implant the final version you have a trial fit to see if it will work for you (I won’t go in to details but that ops not a lot of fun as they keep you awake to test the best location in your spine). TENS never worked for me either and if I’m honest the final version doesn’t work as well as trial one did but I’d never go back now :)
 
My biggest issue was to my right leg, it used to spasm so badly it would tear the muscle and that hadn’t happened since I had the implant. Before they implant the final version you have a trial fit to see if it will work for you (I won’t go in to details but that ops not a lot of fun as they keep you awake to test the best location in your spine). TENS never worked for me either and if I’m honest the final version doesn’t work as well as trial one did but I’d never go back now :)
I'm prepared to do whatever it takes but have to be in for the long haul because right now I'm also waiting for an aneurysm repair which should now happen beginning of next year because the stent I need is custom made in Australia and that takes about 2 months
 
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