Hi Kim and Valerie,

Yes, it helps tremendously to bounce things off of each other. As far as the constipation thing goes. I have had that for a long, long time along with GERD. Nexium, which I take for GERD, can cause constipation and then when you add the pain killers it just makes things much, much worse. I asked my gastro guy for a prescription for Miralax. It has worked wonders! However, you are not supposed to use for more than two weeks. BUT I have read of people taking it every day. I take very little...not the usual 17 grams they have you take. I try to get by with half. And it works...that and PLENTY of water. When I can, I will go back to my usual Benefiber and still MORE water LOL!

Kim, I was a big ole chicken too! You don't know how afraid I was to face this second fusion! The anxiety levels were sky high! I was NOT afraid of the surgery per se. I was more afraid of the spasms and pain afterwards. Which we are speaking of now. I hate it! Did your doctor, by any chance, prescribe Valium for the spasms? I don't like advocating the use of "benzo's" but they work better than muscle relaxers in my opinion. The Klonopin I take pretty much takes them down to a bearable level. Anyway, I had my choice...to come off of the Klonopin and go to Valium after surgery. Or, just to stick with the Klonopin and "up" it to two pills a day instead of one. My NS suggested that I just stick with the Klonopin and so did my Neurologist. It would have caused more problems (withdrawals) if I had had to taper so quickly. Anyway, I am only taking one Klonopin a day and it seems to work so far. At least if you had some kind of anti-spasmodic med maybe you could get to a therapist without too much pain and start working on those issues. And, to be honest with you, I had much better relief with a massage therapist than regular PT. It seems the PT made me much worse. I don't know why but perhaps they had me stretching way too soon without getting those darn knots out first. Finally the PT had to use that tool I spoke of. And that hurt! BUT...she eventually got those things out! I guess we all do what we can to eliminate those types of pains. So, my opinion is is to try anything within reason to help with the pain. Now, what I want to know is what is up with Norco???!! I didn't get Vicodin this time and Norco is supposed to be more mild but supposedly the same as Vicodin. I don't think so! The Norco seems to keep me awake, although a little loony, and then I sweat a lot with it. With Vicodin I only needed very little...like 2 pills a day, slept like a baby and was extremely happy all the time LOL! I know, it was the opiate part of it LOL! Oh, well, when I go back to the NS, I will ask him about all of this. As far as sleeping, I had a rough time last night. See, it is the darn Norco keeping me awake! I had a few spasms, so I put on my soft collar and grabbed the cervical pillow and adjusted myself until I finally went to sleep. But, like you, I always start out in my recliner. I don't like that either but it does help to get sleepy and then I crawl into bed. Anyway, I also wanted to ask you what meds you are currently taking. My PM once mentioned Lunesta to me to help me sleep but I never did take it. Let me know! Kathi