[treefrog]

Time to introduce myself. My name is Cathy, and I live in North Carolina.

I have been having back problems for many years, though for about 12-15 years they were intermittent. It first started when I was shoveling snow. But I think that was just a catalyst. I think my DDD is genetic, as both my mother and sister have lower back problems as well. I would have pain that would come and last for a few weeks or months, but then would go away again. But back in Nov/Dec of 2006 I started having pain, and it hasn't gone away. Around July of 2007 was when I realized that the pain was not going away and decided to see a doctor.

I first went to an orthopedic surgeon, whom I had previously seen for some knee pains. With the knee pains, he did x-rays, and then sent me to PT. The PT did help with the knee pains. This time he also did x-rays and sent me to PT. And he prescribed some oral steroids. Well a month went by and the PT was not helping my pain, and in fact if I did more than the stretching exercises it would lead to greater pain. He then sent me to a PM doctor who specialized in chronic pain. She is fantastic, Dr. Zimmerman at Triangle Orthopedics. I am still seeing her.

Dr. Zimmerman ordered an MRI, which I was finally able to get done in Dec. of 2007. It showed mild DDD in L4/L5 and L5/S1, a little bit of bulging, though no nerve impingement, and arthritis. So, I started on gabapentin and relafen, and had an ESI. I had very minimal relief from the ESI, and it only lasted for about a week. My pain level back then was around a 2-3 going up to a 4 if I over did it.

My pain is mainly on the right side of my lower back, goes into my right hip, and down into the front of my thigh. I sometimes have pain on the left side of my back, and occasional pain going into my butt, on both sides.

Dr. Zimmerman is a doctor who believes that spreading the ESI's out over a year is the way to go, so I didn't have another one for several months. In the meantime my pain was becoming worse, on average about a 4. Over and extended period of time I tried different pain medications, trying to find one that helped with the pain, but didn't make me sick. I ended up taking percocet, which helped to bring the pain down to about a 3, on average.

The next ESI also gave me very little relief and lasted only a short amount of time. She suggested that I might want to give acupuncture a try. So, I spent this past summer having weekly acupuncture treatments, 15 in all. They did not help.

I also had a facet steroid injection, which gave me a little bit of pain relief, enough for her to try a facet block. The facet block did nothing. So, it was back to try another ESI. This one did give me a good amount of pain relief, but it still only lasted about a week. Incidentally, I had my very last acupuncture treatment the night before having the ESI. I don't know if that had anything to do with the results or not. I also switched from relafen to mobic (meloxicam). And my pain was not really being controlled with the percocet, so my doctor switched me to Opana-ER. This did bring my pain down, though it was not gone entirely.

On Dec 3rd, 2008, I had a discogram. This confirmed that the discs at L4/L5 and L5/S1 were the pain generators. And I set an appointment to talk with a surgeon.

The discogram has led to increased pain, which did not go away after the few days that are normal. It was weird, I would seem to be getting better and then all of a sudden it was worse. Much, much worse. I had excruciating pain going down my right leg, into the thigh and then the knee. It felt like I had hot pokers being jabbed into my knee. I could hardly walk, it was painful all the time. Dr. Zimmerman increased the dose of the Opana and has me on a course of prednisolone. That pain is still there, though it is not as severe. But every morning when I get out of bed, I feel a stinging and burning pain that runs down toward the inside of my thigh to my knee. I almost always have pain in my knee now, but I am able to walk, drive and work again.

The surgeon, Dr. Musante, said that he recommends either a two level fusion, or a hybrid surgery with a Prodisc-L at L4/L5 and fusion at L5/S1. So now I am trying to decide which surgery to have, and how long to wait before having surgery.

With Opana-ER 20mg 2xday, my pain is very manageable, as long as I don't do much. I don't feel like I have a life anymore. My work is extremely limited, I work in an academic research lab and I am confined to doing computer work, lab management, and cannot do experiments. At home I only do the bare minimum as far as housework goes. I can't remember the last time I vacuumed.

I look forward to participating with this group.