Quote:
Originally Posted by phillyjoe
Could you please tell us the symptoms you are currently experiencing? ASD can be managed, and the neck can be strengthened. The future might hold even better solutions for the neck (at least that is what I am hoping for, since my C2-3 and 3-4 are in still in bad shape even following ADRs). If you are currently having severe arm pain from what you are , I guess, calling a failed fusion, likely you should focus on that first. Why it happened, how to fix it. Who will fix it, in my humble opinion, comes next. Gather information. From any surgeon that will provide it without your budget. At least that is what I would do, and in fact did. Don't self defeat, fight back!
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It's the other surgeon calling it a failed fusion, and I know I have three other herniated discs, one of which the other surgeon claims is likely the cause of some of my pain. I don't really care where the pain is coming from, I just want it to freaking stop, and if nothing else, it was nice to have another surgeon validate that things in there are NOT right.
My arm pain is actually one of the least of my troubles, though it is bothersome. Essentially none of my pre-surgery problems resolved, so I still have all the radiculopathy pain in my arm and shoulder, and numbness in my fingers. My neurosurgeon says he thinks it's technically not radiculopathy from a crushed spinal nerve, but instead a result of damage from my spinal cord that probably won't heal: it was shaped like a banana at C5/6, according to him. And I've got weakness in my arms and so forth. That I could live with. But then I have new problems after the surgery: now I've got new weakness in my legs, and half of a foot that's paralyzed, which again, mostly just bothersome.
The most debilitating thing is that the night of surgery I had the worst migraine of my life, and ever since then, I've had a migraine. Every. Single. Goddamn.Day. I've seen neurologists, and everyone agrees it's from the muscle spasms in my neck and shoulders. Even my surgeon admitted it's all probably related to the huge graft cage he used (at least he did before--now he's changed his tune to CYA mode). As far as strengthening other things, I go to PT every week for that, if that's what you mean. Maybe it'll help in the long term, but now PT just makes everything worse. I hate it, but I do it just to say I'm doing it and I'm seriously trying everything. On top of that, I've tried a slew of other "conservative" measures to deal with the pain:
Epidural injections
Facet injections at C5/6
Medial Branch blocks 2x from C2-C5
Radiofrequency ablation from C2-C5
Ongoing rounds of trigger point injections
Occipital nerve blocks
Ongoing physical therapy, as I've said
Dry needling
Botox injections for migraines
Countless medications for pain, spasms, migraines, and neuropathy
Probably some other procedure I'm forgetting that involves jamming needles in some part of my body.
I've been fighting back, but I refuse to be crippled and homeless, and I'm running out of time. I can't be non-functional for years waiting for new solutions to arise. I need a solution now or I'm done for.