Pain Management Community

Hi, every one. I am new to the pain mangement community but have been a member of the Fibromyalgia community for about a year. I am a 36 year old mother of 2 girls ages 18 and 10. I worked hard all of my life doing much physical labor up until about 3 years ago when I had to stop working due to chronic pain and fatigue. I have multiple medical issues and take a number of medications.

I take 50 mg of Savella twice a day for Fibromyalgia, 12.5 mg of HCTZ for edema of my calves, ankles and feet, bupropion twice a day for depression, Rx Vit D and OTC calcium+D for Vitamin D deficiency, flexeril at bedtime, klonopin at bedtime for restless leg syndrome and a Vit B12 supplement as well.

In addition to FM, RLS and chronic back/neck pain I have a multinodular goiter, cartilage deformity of the knees (knock kneed), flat feet, depression/anxiety, sleep apnea, mild scoliosis of the lumbar spine and chronic migraines.

I was recently referred to a pain management clinic for epidural injections. My lumbar injection was a massive failure. As he was injecting the medication I started have a burning, throbbing, salt in open wound feeling from the injection site all the way down thru my thighs. After a month I still have these new and infuriating symptoms. The doctor decided that he won't be doing any more lumbar epidurals for fear of making it even worse. Two weeks ago I had a cervical epidural and it did absolutely nothing at all.

A little more background...In the last 3 years I have seen 4 doctors, 2 nurse practitioners and 3 physical therapists for my back and neck. Failed medications include Norco, Tramadol, naprosyn, ibuprofen, cataflam and yes flexeril too. I did over 6 months of PT using different therapies and exercises all to no avail. I feel as tough I am being passed around like a hot potato that no one wants to touch. I have had 2 surgeons say that while I may need fusions they really don't want to do it as they feel it will increase my pain. Now that the epidurals are failing the pain management doc wants to send me back to the surgeons to see if they will reconsider. I am currently on no pain medication for my neck and back and I am losing a lot of sleep due to unbearable pain. I am supposed to hear from my pain management doctor tomorrow to see what the new plan is going to be. At this point I am willing to try ANYTHING at all if it means I can knock my pain level down to a consistent 4.

Ugh! Fibro fog moment...sorry this is so jumbled and out of order. I am to tired to go dig out my MRI results but I can tell you that the majority of my discs are herniated albeit most of them mildly. I have one cervical disc that impinges on my spinal cord, 2 thoracic discs that impinge on the thecal sac and 2 lumbar discs that press on the nerve roots to the nerves leading to my legs. I have daily spinal pain from top to bottom with 3 really tender spots and my trapezius muscles are constantly sore and tight. I also get spasms in back and legs off and on.

The only exercise my doctors allow is water aerobics in a warm water pool at my local YMCA. It doesn't really matter what I do. I am really restless and frequently change from sitting to standing to walking to laying down in bed all in attempts to ease the pain. Because of the FM I wake up very stiff in the mornings and it takes a few hours for that to wear off. I start my day with a pain level of at least 4 (sometimes higher) and it ALWAYS gets worse as the day goes on. I am often between 7-10 by bedtime which is why I have extreme difficulty sleeping.

I am here to learn all I can in hopes of finding a treatment that helps me get my pain to a manageable level. Any advice is much appreciated.