Decades of pain

My pain started when I was 11 years old. It first started with having scoliosis and neck pain. Originally these would cause discomfort, headaches and painful muscle spasms. It calmed down after awhile, but the neck discomfort would persist.

When I was 27 years old, the neck issue was causing numbness in half of my left hand mainly my thumb and index finger. Physiotherapy was ineffective. After consultation with an orthopaedic surgeon and a neurologist, i unfortunately declined surgical intervention under the neurologists advice. A few years later, an additional symptom appeared, hot electrical pulses down my left arm with certain neck movements. This time I opted for surgery and an orthopaedic surgeon fused c5 to c6 in my neck. The surgery was unsuccessful at restoring the sensitivity in my left hand, but the shocks were stopped. Please note I would have occassional low back pain but it was manageable.

In a few years when I was 30 years old, new neck issues arose. My right arm would go severely numb if I were to run, lift my arm over my head or use tools that vibrated. This time I was referred to a neurosurgeon. I informed him of my complete history, mentioning my left hand numbness. The surgeons advice was to perform a decompresion on all of my cervical levels. I believe the two surgeries took place in 1995 first my right side. The surgery was a resounding success. Then the left side in 1996. Unfortunately the numbness did not clear up. The nerve has been damaged. However the surgery was very helpful almost eliminating all the neck spasms, but discomfort has remained.

In 2005 I returned to see my neurosurgeon with new symptoms. Physiotherapy had helped resolve the issue with pain in my right elbow but changed the dynamic. Now I was experiencing, one time complete loss of feeling in my legs, but I could move them. And then hot electrical pulses into my legs when I would sneeze, laugh or use vibrational tools. This time I had c6 and c7 fused. The surgery was very successful. At this time I would like to mention my appreciation for Dr Perron, neurosurgeon, who had performed my last 3 surgeries. I am sincerely grateful and thankful for his skill.

In the times of these 4 surgeries I had been using opiod meds for pain management.

In 2007 I had been involved in two motor vehicle accidents within two months in a work vehicle, once when I was not driving and the other time I was. The result of these 2 accidents increased my use of opiods (t3's to half the daily dosage}. The pain at times was excruciating. At this time low back pain was increasing. This is the time I started to experience doctor's reluctance to prescribe opiod medications. I found myself unable to get t3's,ince I had recently moved. Some clinic doctors were willing to prescribe tramacet. which was effective.I had seen my neurosurgeon once again, and he did not recommennd surgery unless I had incontinence issues. Through much physiotherapy my condition improved and I could reduce my usage of tramacet.

I have been diagnosed with degenerative discs, osteoarthritis and lumbar stenosis. Through all this time I have tried to maintain being active and using many pain management tools as possible.

Now along the way to the present, I am unable to partake in any kind of activities that would jostle me, I am aware of how to make movements that do not exacerbate my symptoms. I have very significant low back pain that causing weakness in my legs, increase of sensitivity loss in my left hand, at times burning sensations in both forearms and headaches.

I am grateful for my family doctor for helping me manage, monitor and advise on my pain management. I use a multitude of tools, physio, massage, mindfulness/meditation, salon pain patches/a535, cold, heat. Chiro is ineffective, tylenol and ibuprofen do not work. And if i would take high doses, it could and would cause other issues. As a chronic pain sufferer I am proud to say that I use 3 tramcets daily, gabapentine , diazepam sparingly and sleep medication. Could I use more, yes, but I realize I need to keep things to a minimal, so that the treatment stays effective.

My neck has caused me much undue hardship, and I have no recollection of sustaining any injury in my early years that has damaged my cervical spine.

My childhood scoliosis is now contributing immensely to my low back pain.

I use opiod medication because I need it so I can have some kind of quality of life.

If you were to ask me to give up some years of my lifetime so that I could have a guarantee of some quality of life, I would answer with a resounding YES!