I meant to say I am off those pills & now on tapentadol 100 x 3 times a day & tramadol 50 for breakthrough pain. These are working well & control pain to a manageable level.
Thanks, Sue

Hello and welcome!Sorry to hear you're going thru so much. I would suggest getting a second opinion regarding the surgery-it almost might be something to pass on-but you're the one with the pain..
They do rent (I would think) those wheelchairs that you control with a knob-electric in other words...when you have areas of your body that basically work against each other-you have to find drs and therapists which works on both otherwise you're just contradicting everything :(

Good luck and keep us informed

Thanks for your response Annette. The pain has been severe to the stage I can't sit comfortably as it hurts & makes me move all the time.
I do get back massage at least once a week as my husband is doing a massage & remedial massage course. That relieves the pain short term so I can function for a day or 2.
I already have a scooter & wheel chair & use them a lot due to ms.
I have gone through the public hospital system here which is free & has some very good Dr's & specialists. I was sent to this particular Dr as my pain clinic Dr who is also an anaestist said he is one of the best & not quick to jump to surgery unless needed.

Normally we get whichever Dr they assign but because I have so many different things wrong & interacting the pain clinic Dr gets into the booking & refers me to particular Dr's. I had the same when I had foot surgery, got referred to a particular surgeon who is the top of dept & research etc. I am fortunate in the way my Dr's are often assigned.

I did speak to GP who does acupuncture & he said that wouldn't help back but may help shoulders once he knows where the issues are. He said the same about surgery, to delay if possible but if constant pain not fixed by my pain tablets or cortisone injection then should consider.

I had the cortisone injection to L4 &L5 this morning & it hurt a lot to have the local anaesetic in severa spots on both sides of spine & into muscles. I had to lay on my stomach & have my arms above my head & that hurt my left arm (weaker from ms), so not comfortable.

Afterwards it feels like it's on fire across the back on about hip level, I had it done about 3 hours ago & it was sore on both sides but not on spine straight after it. I took a tramadol 50 soon after to try to ease the pain. Now I am home & it is getting more painful & the spine itself is very painful already. I am dreading when the anaesetic wears off fully.
I hope it is worth it.

It's now Sunday evening & I had the injections on Wednesday, I was hoping for some relief of pain by now. Instead the pain is worse, back feels like it is on fire 24 x 7. I can't sit still as my back is spamming a lot of the time - constantly. It also feels like the nerve endings are having electric shocks/neuropathic pain.
I am so over the pain, worse now than before & I don't go back to the orthopaedic surgeon till March. I am holding onto slim hope it is taking longer to work on me.

sometimes meds do take longer to affect one person over another.I'm very sorry you are still in so much pain.
Do you have an recliner by chance to rest in?

Thanks Annette,
I do sit in a recliner most of the time but it still hurts my back constantly. It is a very good velvet covered recliner with lots of padding. Usually very comfortable.but nothing is since had the cortisone injection, it hurts to sit on any chair. The back spasms are constant now so the injection has made me worse off.

I have had a challenging start to the year already in some ways. Sorry for long post.

I went to see the Orthopaedic surgeon on January 5 re protruding disks L4-S1 & C4-6. He went over MRIs & I have the myelin degeneration, & arthritis through my spine too.
He suggested to try the cortisone injection/epidural first & if that didn't work or last long I may need to consider surgery.

I had the cortisone done on Wed 14th using CT for it. My back spasms hit several times when they were trying to put the locals in, they said it hit more than the times I felt it. I could feel the injections & the epidural so I felt about 6 of them. Usually takes about 20 mins but I was in there for 1 hour.
I was told to expect some easing of pain between 24hours - a few days. The pain got a lot worse that day as the locals wore off & I was in a lot more pain the next few days. It eased a little bit on Sunday but then got worse again on Tuesday when I went to physio. I could not sit back in the chair at all, & the spasms were constant all day/evening.

David gave me a massage Tuesday evening & that helped a lot. It is still constantly sore. Add to the back pain the daily ms pains & struggles with standing, walking on legs that don't want to support me.

Also add to the mix I have got 18-20 sunspots on one arm & 9-10 on other arm that I am putting a gel from gp on once a day. On Wednesday a couple of red spots appeared on one side of the neck, now Saturday on neck & throat I have 9 on left, 3 on right & about 4 on front - front only showed today, some on back too but can't see them (been told). Not happy as they are very noticeable. The weird part is if they are excema that is always itchy before it even breaks the surface (had it since baby), where these ones are just appearing & not itchy at all. Increase from 2 on Wednesday to 16-20 on Saturday is fast for anything to spread.

I went to the GP on Friday morning, She looked at the sores & said that they are excema so put a cortisone cream on them.
I went to the Neurologist in the afternoon & he did al the tests etc. I haven't lost any more strength since last saw him in August so that is good. He noticed the neck sores & immediately said that they are sun spots & with the number on my arms & now neck I should be going to a dermatologist to get them seen to. Will get a refferal from GP

I won't start a new post as above describes so far with back.
My neck & shoulders are responding well with massage & a few exercises.
Wish I cou say same for back. It is worse with spasms & pain 24 x7. On days I have massage it eases that day & next but starts to hurt more & limits movement from after 2-3. By day 4-5 I am usually in pain again.

Wednesday week ago at night In the morning it was very painful & stuck straight. Can't bend leg much at all & the pain is constant. It's my right leg which was always my good/stronger one, now both are bad. This is 10 days later & still bad, Dr said nothing can be done probably ms spasm but I don't think so. I still can't walk properly with it so now got 2 bad legs & so both dragging.
It is so bad now I'm getting worried could lose use of leg - like paralysed from knee down, today left did same with spasms & constant pain.

I'm fused from L3-S1 and the recovery time for that type of fusion is 1 year. You have to wear a bone grower every day for 3 hours so the bone can fuse together, it's a bothersome thing but definitely needed. I had DDD & herniated discs for almost 19 yrs before anyone would touch me as they all said I was too young. The advice I give everyone who is thinking about surgery is to get a discogram done. This is a test to make sure the pain is coming from your discs because if it sung then the fusion won't take away any pain. Always remember akso that once you start fusing then other areas degenerate faster and there will be more surgeries to correct until your entire spine is fused. I'm not looking forward to that myself but there was no other choice for me. I hope they do the discogram so you know for sure about the pain. Best wishes & feel free to message me if you want to talk more. God Bless

Thanks cdfrance, I am not having the discogram as he said that wouldn't help when I have the 3 issues already. Arthritis, demylination of spine & protruding/herniated disks L4, L5-S1 so thats why not suggesting that would be helpful.
Also when hubby does massages on my back he can now feel the disks in my spine when he is is passing hands over spine.


I go back & see orthopaedic surgeon next Monday.
If anyone can think of questions about surgery, before/after I should ask before agreeing to surgery I would appreciate it. I have some questions but don't want to not ask things I haven't thought of.

I can't say I have ever been in your situation, but my goal is to spread joy and to try to support the members as much as possible. I hope you find a way to relieve your pain and recover. Be patient and the doctor's will find something!

Best wishes!

Thanks all, I finally got a letter comfirming I am on the wait list for spinal fusion. It had a different Dr's name on it & I am listed as cat 3 which is non urgent & no pain, wont get worse & not disabling.
I rang the outpatients & they checked the paperwork & he didn't fill it out to be put on priority list. This has a wait list between 12-24 months. By that time I think I will probably be in a wheelchair in under 12 months as barely walking now & can't stand straight now & I am almost always bent over.
To get rechecked & put on quicker wait list I have to get a refferral form GP/pain Dr explaining how severe the pain is & how it is affecting me. They wouldn't give me another appt so have to get reassessed.
I am really p'd off by this as in pain 24 x 7 & severe most of the time. For instance this morning when I woke up my back had spasmed & was stuck in bent over pposition, left leg was straight & couldnt bend it at all.
Add to this hassle ms is flaring up from stress of back & also because I had so many skin spots buny off - 12 on left arm/hand, 17+ on right arm/hand & 1 on chest, 1 on nose 10 days later it appeared. All frozen off.
Got 1 spot on left wrist had to be biopsied & that is now back as a basal cell carcinoma. Had one on bridge of nose near top & eyes, was biopsied (& thst hut a lot at the time of local injection) & when healing. That one now has come back as Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Both have to be cut out & possibly stitched. Wrist one has the danger that it can spread through lymph nodes so has to be done promptly. There is a gp at the clinic (the one that froze all off & dx them) & he will do these 2 this Tuesday.