I read once that people with Parkinson's (PWP) don't have pain. That's a bunch of el torro poo-poo! This is a long post, but I believe talking it out will help. (and yes, Virginia! There is pain with PD!)

Does anybody have severe low back pain - neck pain - numbness and tingling in your legs or arms/hands? I have suffered from all of the above for about 5 years now. They tell me that it is PD related due to the improper gait of PWP, and I am sure sitting long periods at the computer doesn't help.

I have had two cervical fusion procedures done (3 levels) due to herniations in my neck - no trauma other than getting rear-ended several years ago, and I do have pretty flagrant dyskinesia at times. (I think Jackie, a friend who posts here, calls herself a "Bobble-head.") I had this incredible neck pain and was losing the use of my arms when the neurosurgeon found the herniations on an MRI. Cervical fusion was the remedy at the C5/6 and 6/7 levels. Then one year later I had another herniation and cervical fusion at the C4/5 level. Did it help? Tremendously!

Now I have been suffering from low back pain, which I have had for 10+ years, but not as intensely as recently. Although an MRI shows a "buldge" in my lumbar spine (L 5/6), the pain radiates to the sciatic nerve and isn't bad enough yet for surgery. But I've had 3 babies, and it didn't come close to the level of pain I've had with the sciatica. I sometimes get spasms in my hip and upper thigh that sure isn't a picnic! So I am referred to a doctor who specializes in pain management. He suggests a series of three injections into the area around the buldging discs.

I had the first injection, and although it really hurt going in, the relief from the pain was well worth it. However, when I went to have the second injection, he kept "hitting" something that ached horribly, sending a sharp pain from my low back to the tip of my toes (right side only). It felt like sciatica, which I have had several times, only much, much worse.

The next option was to be sedated – he called it some type of L5 ??? block. I was supposed to be sedated so that I wouldn't jump and mess up his injection. I fasted from midnight on – had to be at ambulatory surgery at 7:00 AM the next day, and everything seemed to be going well. Then the RN that admitted me blew a vein in starting the IV. I lay there in holding not even close to being “sedated” (I guess they don’t realize that I’ve been taking heavy duty drugs for 14 years). Anyway, around 9:00 they take me back to the OR. The sweet Egyptian doctor has a wonderful bedside manner, but he can’t seem to give me a nerve block without killing me.

The doctor shot that stuff in there and I came off the table! He asked, “What kind of pain are you feeling?” I told him it hurt like a serrated-edged knife being drug down the back of my leg from my hip to my toes. Then he continues and does it again. By this time the two nurses in the OR are coaching me like I’m having a baby (but trust me – none of my births felt as awful as this). They were shouting “Breath in and out! In and out!” and were holding me down. The doctor was yelling “Almost done.” And I was literally biting my pillow and in my muffled voice saying, “I can’t take this!” I don’t know how, but I survived.

As I was leaving the OR I said to one of the nurses, “I thought I was supposed to be sedated.” She says, “We did give you a sedative (what ? Tylenol PM?) and we couldn’t put you all the way under because we have to know where the pain is.” That was obvious!!!

In spite of thinking I was dying, I have felt much better after two days of hell. I believe they suggest a series of three injections, but they can mark my name off the list for the last one! I still shudder when I think about it.

There! I already feel better. I was just wondering if any of you have had similar experiences?

Peggy