Thank you so much for the support, help, and kind words. It is nice to have a place to go to to talk about things and have people understand. Don't get me wrong, I have an amazing support group of friends and family but I can still feel so incredibly alone at times. I appreciate the contacts and help searching for info. That means so much!

I have a mixture of Dilaudid, Bubificane (sp), and a small amount of Clonodine. I don't know the exact amounts of each but I know that I receive ~6mg/day of the mixture and most of it is Dilaudid. If there are steroids I have not been informed. However, even with the pump I have had my share of steroid shots. Last March I had 3 sets of shots on each side. The third round wasn't all steroids but just added for anti-inflammation since I was having a nerve ablation procedure done. The year before I had 2 rounds of shots in my cervical discs. I have also had some injections prior to that but it was before the pump was inserted and I didn't have any side effects.
Is it possible that the steroid shots could still be causing issues?

The only way that I can prevent the swelling is to just not eat- anything. I was talking to my sister about all of this today and she remembers sitting outside with me last summer and I ate a small snack and my ankles and calves blew up. She said it's like you could see them expanding. I have had my weight fluctuate by 15 pounds within a week. I also understand that weight changes with age but something is up, I know it. We're talking 50 pounds despite the fact that I eat textbook healthy.

I have decent pain relief with the pump and being so young I went through hell to get it and finally off all of the pills and patches so I definitely will not just take it out without the most careful consideration because once it's out I am back to square one.
I do think back to a 5 year period (after surgery #1) where I dealt with chronic pain but took no medication, except for the occassional vicoden on a really bad night. I felt alert, alive, not sluggish, and like myself. Then again it can be easy to forget pain and I have to remember that I spent plenty of time miserable. It just seems that many of my problems started when the regular pain meds started- it's a vicious cycle and becomes a question of which is worse (especially because I still have quite a bit of pain).

I guess I have a lot to think about and at this point I am trying to find any and all information that I can. I found an interesting article that someone posted on here and it says that a side effect of the pump is loss of menstruation. Bingo! I don't think my Dr. meant to keep this from me but I am not his typical pump patient. My hope for right now is that I can get these side effects under control. Thanks again for listening and for your support