L5-S1 Lumbar....

[rpowell01]

I need some advice since I haven't been getting much help from Neuropain after telling them my Lower lumbar needs urgent attention and that they only want to work on one part of the spine at a time.

I am getting a lot of pain in the ridge of my lumbar, enough to put tears in my eyes. I now have more radiculopathy, more pain in my calves and front of the thighs.

I don't take any opiates because the VA will not give me any. I guess this is the new policy. I do take Tramadol 300mg per day and Gabapentin 3200mg per day.

Is there any thing that will help this pain. I have tried ice but it comes right back. I can't lay on my back because it gets worse. The only thing I can find that helps is to lay on my stomach.

Are there any other home treatments I can try? I know about heat which never has helped me, its always been ice that has helped but not this time.

Thanks

Rob

[rpowell01]

There is a type of tens that can be implemented and what it does is stops the pain signal being sent to or from the brain.

Edited September 7, 2013 by rpowell01

[bhoward422]

I have had back problems for years surgery on L5/S1 in 1994 reinjured my back in 2000 used heat pads then I had a heart attack in June 2002 that caused me to have an ejection fraction of 25% and the VA docs told me to file for SSD that I could not return to any type of work that also put me on their "we ain't operating on you anymore list" the back pain was pretty bad at that point and my PC doc got a new MRI on my back it showed L3, L4, L5/S1 all herniated she did put me on percocet since I had quit driving and my wife drove me everywhere knock on wood I am scared they will try and stop them now with this new push to get vets off of opiates, but my medical condition has worsened over the years.

After the last major heart attack in April 2011 they told me I could NOT use my hot tub any longer, the heat supposedly is not good gor my blood/oxygen levels yada yada yada I quit listening as to why it was one of the last real enjoyments I had in life, but I can still use my pool and I have found that if I get in and float on a big fat noodle or 2 of the smaller ones it takes the weight off my back and just let my legs dangle for about 20 - 30 minutes twice a day that it helps keep the back from screaming in pain down from make a "noise and I will kill you feelings" I have tried everything known to man I think TENS unit didn't work acupuncture didn't work heck I offered to let them operate on my using an epidural to stop the pain they refused to attempt it

the only surgical procedure they did was place a pacemaker/defib in Sep 2011 that risk was acceptable because of the defib function not all emergency vehicles have the heart attack paddle units in them in our area the police chief has one but there is no guarantee he is the car that will respond and not one of the deputies one time I passed out and he was there a good 5 minutes before the ambulance showed up that was about 4 years ago. We bought a house that had a pool because the VA told me I could only use theirs for 5 minutes three times a week it wasn't worth driving there for that with my own pool I can go in every day and as often as I like Oct to May is to cold to use and heating it would be to expensive I do miss that hot tub good luck finding some relief back pain sux

I know what you're saying is correct I have chronic back pain concerning my S1,L1, L2, L4, L5 disgenerated disc disease the T.E.N.S unit does not work i'm on 500 mg napfloxen for pain now where do I go from here i've filed for IU I stays in the hot tube to ease the pain.pain runs down my leg because of it.

[iceturkee]

I know what you're saying is correct I have chronic back pain concerning my S1,L1, L2, L4, L5 disgenerated disc disease the T.E.N.S unit does not work i'm on 500 mg napfloxen for pain now where do I go from here i've filed for IU I stays in the hot tube to ease the pain.pain runs down my leg because of it.

i have had a bad back since the mid 70's when i fell down 2 flights of stairs (and broke the fall after the first flight). i was awarded 10 percent when i was medically discharged in 1988. the va gave me IU almost 2 years ago this december. but here is whats wrong with my back.

i have degenerative disc disese and osteoarthritis in my entire thoracic spine; my neck is badly messed up; i have spinal and foraminal stenosis; a slipped vertebrae and a couple of bulging discs in my lumbar spine beside degenerative disc disese and osteoarthritis. i also have radiculopathy on top of this, i also have inflammatory arthritis. my pain meds are much stronger than yours.

[rpowell01]

i have had a bad back since the mid 70's when i fell down 2 flights of stairs (and broke the fall after the first flight). i was awarded 10 percent when i was medically discharged in 1988. the va gave me IU almost 2 years ago this december. but here is whats wrong with my back.

i have degenerative disc disese and osteoarthritis in my entire thoracic spine; my neck is badly messed up; i have spinal and foraminal stenosis; a slipped vertebrae and a couple of bulging discs in my lumbar spine beside degenerative disc disese and osteoarthritis. i also have radiculopathy on top of this, i also have inflammatory arthritis. my pain meds are much stronger than yours.

Actually what people don't know is Osteoarthritis might be considered non-inflammatory but the process of it creates inflammation. Its a catch 22 thing. The VA RO will try to use this against the VETs but I guess they don't read medical journals where it shows OA does have inflammation even though its considered non-inflammatory.

Something like RA is inflammatory because that is what its disease is based on. OA causes inflammation because of the proteins that are sent to the OA area. So, OA does cause inflammation.

Your stuff sound exactly like mine. Do you get pain in your chest muscles? BTW if you have inflammatory arthritis in your thoracic spine I bet you 110% its actually traumatic arthritis from the fall and somebody diagnosed it wrong. I could be wrong but this is exactly the same thing as me, in a way. I hyper-extended my whole spine and this is the cause of my issues.

I found bring myself down off the Gabapentin then bring myself back up helps a lot. The mornings are the worse for me, instead of the normal 30 minutes medical journals say it takes to get out of bed for people with OA it takes me 2-3 hours. They don't take into consideration the extent of OA disease...

Hot water is good for the muscles where ice will help bring down the inflammation. I usually have to try both until one gives me some kind of relief...Hot water does help bring that blood up through the spine which is needed.

[iceturkee]

Actually what people don't know is Osteoarthritis might be considered non-inflammatory but the process of it creates inflammation. Its a catch 22 thing. The VA RO will try to use this against the VETs but I guess they don't read medical journals where it shows OA does have inflammation even though its considered non-inflammatory.

Something like RA is inflammatory because that is what its disease is based on. OA causes inflammation because of the proteins that are sent to the OA area. So, OA does cause inflammation.

Your stuff sound exactly like mine. Do you get pain in your chest muscles? BTW if you have inflammatory arthritis in your thoracic spine I bet you 110% its actually traumatic arthritis from the fall and somebody diagnosed it wrong. I could be wrong but this is exactly the same thing as me, in a way. I hyper-extended my whole spine and this is the cause of my issues.

I found bring myself down off the Gabapentin then bring myself back up helps a lot. The mornings are the worse for me, instead of the normal 30 minutes medical journals say it takes to get out of bed for people with OA it takes me 2-3 hours. They don't take into consideration the extent of OA disease...

Hot water is good for the muscles where ice will help bring down the inflammation. I usually have to try both until one gives me some kind of relief...Hot water does help bring that blood up through the spine which is needed.

i really do have inflammatory arthritis. my hands suffer from swan neck deformity and ulnar drift. my sed rate is out of control. my rheumatologist didn't want to call it rheumatoid arthritis because my ra test was negative. but because my blood sed rate is high, it is another indicator its inflammatory. she use to call it inflammatory idiopathic arthritis.

Edited September 17, 2013 by iceturkee

[71M10]

I have been labeled as an Undifferentiated spondyloarthopathy, I don't qualify as RA (flunked the test) and I don't qualify as Ankylosing spondylosis since I didn't have a certain marker present. So I get to (sarcasm on) enjoy a little of each (sarcasm off)!

Edited September 17, 2013 by 71M10