Hello to everyone! I'm sorry for all of your issues. I hate that there are many stories about pain and suffering though each one is different. This is my story.

I was dx'd in 1997 with MS after having many problems with symptoms from the time I was very young. I couldn't tell you what and when my first symptom was, but I can tell you that I believe that it all started with the mumps when I was 4 or 5 y/o. after that I can remember complaints of what I described as headaches behind my left eye when I was about 7 or 8 but after that I believe I had foot drop in high school and am undiagnosed case of optic neuritis when I was 18 which was dx'd at the time as a migraine when I went to the er. At the age of 19 and 20, I had problems with trigeminal neuralgia, and then at the age of 26,I started having another optic neuritis episode and numbness in my left arm and leg. I was dx'd with MS in 97. Years later after several relapses I started noticing what I called an aching in my legs that I I was given tramadol for and that worked for me for many years, but as my pain increased my dosages increased and by the last increase my neurologist decided to send me to a pain management Dr. I've always had a fear of becoming addicted to pain medications and I explained that to my new Dr who immediately told me about the pain pump and I was ready to get it put in immediately, but was told that I'd have to do the trial first so in the latter part of November I had the trial done where I had to go to the Dr's office at 7 am, which btw, is attached to the hospital and had the trial done and then transferred to the hospital where I stayed and was monitored by the nurses for the rest of the day and was sent home by early evening. That day I had the trial done and by the end, I knew that it was for me, because I had not been without pain like that for a very long time. The next week I went back to the Dr's office and he put the referral in for the surgeon who was to perform the surgery and waited for them to contact me. Once I got the call, they had an opening for the following day so I went in and told them that my only wish was to have my pain pump put in for Christmas. By this time it was already mid month and so he sent me to the front to see if he had anything avail prior to Christmas and by a miracle there was an opening for the 23rd of December, so I was scheduled. I went in to surgery the early morning of the 23rd and I got out of the hospital on the 24th and I was taken to my mother's house where I spent that evening and the next day with them recovering. The only problem I have had from the surgery is some weakness in my left leg along with some pain in my hip. The Dr's believe that it was just due to swelling at the site where the catheter was placed at the base of my spine and gave me steroids to help reduce the swelling. As of date, I believe that I've experienced a relapse of my MS since the surgery because I've had some other things that have crept up including some vision problems, ringing in my right ear and more weakness and sensation issues in my right leg this time. As for the pain, it increased after the surgery but I called my pain management Dr who, unlike the rest of you whom have had problems finding a Dr that would manage your medications after your surgery, mine is the same Dr that referred me to the surgeon who did the surgery, so that once the surgery was completed, I could go back to my original Dr and have him so all of my fills and manage the pump itself. Anyway, back to my story, I called my Dr and he got me in within a couple of days and he increased my medication by 20% and said that I should expect to start noticing something within a few days and several days later, I did notice that I could go longer between my methadone doses so that I can begin to start my withdrawal process from the methadone. Currently I'm on methadone, Lyrica, percocet, and now the morphine. My hopes are to be able to reduce all of that to only taking what I need to take to cover any brake pain that I may have. He told me that if I found that I needed another increase in several weeks to contact him again and he would get me back in and increase my dose. I'm currently on morphine in my pump and if things continue to go well, as stated earlier, I'll continue to withdraw from the methadone and then I can hopefully get back to my life! I'm disabled due to the MS, but at least i can enjoy what I was enjoying before this pain got to the point that I needed a pain pump. I'm a huge fan of riding motorcycles and I have a 2004 Harley Davidson sportster XL1200C which I can't wait to get back on and I am also a lover of horses and I enjoy riding for pleasure, so I'd love to be able to get a chance to go riding again as well. Btw, I'm glad to have finally found a group of people who also have or are considering to have the pain pump. I'm a member of several MS pages on Facebook and have yet to find someone who has a pain pump. It'll be nice to be able to share experiences with you all and to hear each of your stories as to how you all came to your decisions about having it done. Seems like my Dr from the ones I've read so far, it's the only one to have offered it as a first choice instead of offering the scs as a first option. I'm glad I chose the Dr that I did as well, because he is not on my insurances list of Dr's so I decided to go out of network in order to see him, so I'm glad I did! Seems to me that a lot of little things went right in order to lead me to this miracle! I truly believe that this is my miracle!