I am a 39 year old male that has had three spinal surgeries.
1. Cervical dissection C-3 C-4 no fusion – date 2000
2. PLIF lumber fusion L-3 L-4, L-4 L-5 w/instrumentation – date Dec 2005
3. Instrumentation removed - date Dec 2006
My main issue is continued pain with the low back upon any exertion of the back. After the last two operations I am not ready to re embark on the journey to find the source of the pain. After all of the mylograms, discograms, MRI’s and X-Rays I am tired. Tired of the tests and all of the cost incurred by the tests, I now find myself considering pain management. Is it wrong for me to seek after appropriate pain medicine for the pain that I know will come just from everyday living? I am not in excruciating pain all the time, but the simple task of needing to get down in the floor or play tag with my daughter sends my pain level through the roof. I have taken just about everything for pain, my Nuro had me on Ultram ER and that was a terrible experiment in pain management. I found myself needing to take upwards of 600mg to get relief, and then I tried to back off of it and went into serious withdrawals. I am currently treating myself with Alieve that is not effective and reluctant to ask for Hydrocodone that actually works very well for me. All I want is to be able to manage my pain, so am I ready for pain management?

DavidE