Brian: Okay, you, too, win! :) How do I go about getting magnets? Can you explain what to do in simple language for me? I'm getting overwhelmed here. (no, I'm not doing worse, I'm okay, but there's an impending death from cancer in my family, and the vigil and help caretaking are draining)[/QUOTE]
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We are all hoping that you win really,
Magnets are really easy to work with, general rule is were its sore is were you put them, all I do is push my thumb into the sore area looking for the most sensitive spot, sometimes you may need to push in pretty firmly until you hit the spot, other times just a light press will let you know, but seeing that you are having deep massaging you should have a pretty good idea were the most sensitive spots are already, so that’s were I would be putting the magnets, it helps if you can get someone to help you put them on, it gets a bit hard when your trying to place them on behind you.
You will need some strong water proof adhesive tape, otherwise when you start sweating they will just full off., also a small piece of moleskin the size of the magnets, to put on the skin before the magnets gets stuck on, if you don’t, you can get a magnetic burn were the magnets was.[ a real red color skin spot].
I have been looking around for you on the net and I come across the web address below, so I emailed the company asking were they were, apparently they are situated down south in Texas, :confused: i wouldn't have a clue, delivery wouldn’t be a problem because but they do deliver world wide..
CMS Magnetic’s Secure Online store .

https://www.magnet4sale.com/xcart4/home.php
On the home page to the left you will see Neodymium magnets d/click then go to page 13
Page 13, the very last one down the bottom of the page.

SKU: ND0558-40NM

Material: Neodymium magnets, grade N40
Magnetization: through 0.25"
Rating: 12,900 gauss
Pulling Force: 32 lbs.
Plating: Ni+Cu+Ni 3 layer plated, the best coating available
Application: Physical massage.

These ones read to be very strong,, I think they are very good value for money at $3.18 each, but you have to buy minimum of 4 magnets.
These particular magnets read to be really strong [thats great] so if you did decide to buy them , please handle with care as opposite poles attract to each other and they can slam togther with an almighty force and if your fingers are in the way , well, it hurts believe me, but as long as you are carefull with them there shouldn’t be any problems at all.

They normally come all together and are seperated by plastic between them, but once you separate them, place them down well away from each other.just in case they attract to each other.
If it was me , because of the strength of these ones I would just take one off for now and place it on the sore spot , it doesn’t matter what side of the magnet you use and see how it goes, if you need to put extra ones on, just let me know and I will explain it a bit further.
If you happen to find some magnets elsewere, i reckon anything above 3,000 gauss is good.
I wish you luck and I hope that they help you.
Brian

HI LizaJane,
I just wanted to say "hi" and sorry to hear about the impending death. They are never easy.
Also, glad you are doing better than you were. I hope it continues.
Take care,
Linda :)

Hello LizaJane
 

Don't know if you remember me posting about these wonderful ice packs or not, but you might want to give these a try, if you opt for the ice. They are not at all like regular ice packs and don't get you all wet. They are called ColPak by Chattanooga and are available online. An 11x14 placed in a hand towel folded in half feels so good on what hurts.

These are filled with a gel and come in a very heavy blue bag-you keep these in the freezer. I think they use these in sports medicine, but I am not positive. A friend gave me the first one, which she had gotten from her Chiropractor. It sold me on them. They are not at all like the ones you buy in the store or get in the hospital. I have several and change them around at night. They are amazing.

Hope you are doing OK.
Cathie

More opinions
 

My acupuncturist today tells me--HEAT!

I give up. I think it's 6 of one, half dozen of another, as to what helps different people.

Has anybody here heard of RSD? I have the gene for this, and I'm beginning to wonder if the persistence of pain down my leg isn't something more unique than a structural problem.

I carry autoimmune markers for: the neuropathy associated with gluten intolerance; psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, narcolepsy, RSD.

Interesting, but I hardly know what to make of it.

My internist says I have enough markers to justify going onto methotrexate, as my rheumatologist has suggested, but I've continued to say no for about 6years now.

The acupuncture is helping me to be able to move my back, and it's helped the low back pain from the surgery. That is much better. And the relief is immediate. But I still have pain in my left butt down the front of the leg. The acupuncturist, Feldenkrais worker, and massage therapist, all say it's a tight ITB (connective tissue band down front of leg). My neuro says he thinks it's something structural, and has ordered another MRI (tomorrow).

And I have no idea who is right: heat/cold; muscle/nerve; autoimmune/idiopathic?

Rsd
 

LizaJane,

I have a friend who got RSD following a routine abdominal surgery several years ago (the docs said it was probably nerve damage during the surgery) - the first couple of years she suffered pretty severe abdominal pain, has seen many specilists - endured more surguires that revealed nothing - and is now seeing docs that supposedly specialize in RSD and give her some type of injections....

When I first met her - she was homebound and in constant pain - while still in pain - she is now able to drive again, travel, clean, cook, etc..... and on bad days takes I believe vicodin to help her thru.... she is actually doing very well overall however, shes actually out of town right now for a week for some pain treatments in Philadelphia - will let you know what they are and if they help her when she gets back on-line....
:)

You know how I feel!!
 

Still resisting the methotrexate huh?? You know I think you should give it a try. You can always stop it if you don't get better after a period of time. You and the rheumatologist can agree ahead of time what is reasonable. Another thing I've suggested to you is a regular anti-inflammatory. I know we mentioned Indomethecin. That one is pretty high powered stuff but there are others that aren't and maybe taking one on a regular basis would help.

I learned a lot about Reflex Sympathetic Distrophy (RSD) when I first developed this mess I have. I had a couple of the sympathetic blocks but didn't benefit from any of them. There is a RSD forum here on BT2 and probably one on the old Braintalk 1.

Later,
Billye

Billye--Well after looking over my genetics and seeing all the liabilities I have, I decided, once again, to call the rheumie. But it was 5pm, and his office was closed. Tomorrow I may feel better, and forget to call him. It does seem that my handling of this recovery is very much based on how I am feeling day to day.

I read a bit about RSD tonight, and this is defintely NOT that. So that's good.

I am taking Ibuprofen, Billye, regularly, (or sort of regularly) and it does help.

MRI tomorrow.

Oh, the "impending death" by cancer of a family member--it's NOT happening. He's in hospital and doing really well. This is a great relief.

The MRI was totally normal, so the radiologist threw in a CT scan. He thinks the pain is coming from a facet, and wants to see if the fusion took. I don't have the result yet, but he seems to think I need a facet injection and all will be fine.

visit to neurologist
 

(Oy, I've just looked at this and it is way too long. I'll try to edit when I'm less tired and more focussed.)


No real good news today. I've been having more sciatic type pain, and my lower back has been gripping more. The "sciatic pain" is a shooting pain from my butt down the side of my leg that occurs when I do anything twisting. If I roll onto my left side, or bend to the left, it's a pain that knocks the wind out of me and near brings me to the floor. On the other hand, it's not constant. My right butt has caught some of this pain, and now there's some aching there too. And because of this, I think, my lower back is gripping more, undoing most of the good results from feldenkrais and acupuncture.


I had an MRI and CT last week. And saw my neuro today. He said there's evidence of irritation at L4, L5, and S1. My knee jerk is way down, and I've lost sensation on the top of my foot. I get tingling down the back of the leg. That's a lot of irritation. He moved me around and saw that it was all positional and said this is clearly something mechanical. Since the MRI and CT were read as healing perfectly, he couldn't find a reason for it. Maybe, he thought, a pedicle screw was irritating the nerves, and taking out the hardware would be required. At the time, he was thinking the fusion worked.
It's not arachnoiditis, and everything is in place, so he was puzzled.

But he just phoned me. He talked more iwth the radiologist, and I'm not at all fused. This leads them to think that maybe I'm unstable. I shouldn't be being held together by the nuts and bolts, he said. So Monday I have to call to set up plain films with bending and extension and such.

I do feel like my back is totally unstable. I feel like I'm swaying in the wind: if I get bumped, I'm both off balance and the pain feels like my spine is being torn. I took a subway last week and the swaying made me sway, and hurt. Sitting having dinner tonight and talking and gesticulating a bit---it felt like my spine snapped--kind of like cracking a joint, but this is happening in my lower spine, like a vertebrae just snapping out of place for a second, and unlike when your neck "cracks", this causes major pain in the spine, nerve type pain, lasting briefly. But it's a second of scariness. Turning in bed is the hardest--the twisting that tugs my spine causes sciatic type pain down my leg--like lightening pain. It just feels like it blows with the wind--no stability at all.

In the meantime he offered me Lyrica, and then thought that maybe since Soma works for getting me to sleep (and I'm scared of being tired during the day) I'll be okay with what I'm doing now: Soma, Klonopin, and Oxycodone.
But I do need more Oxycodone to pull the level down down.

My son has a suggestion. Looking wet-eyed, he said: why don't you just get your back casted and lie in bed for a month, just drinking lots of milk and taking calcium. Somehow, he has a point. But is it too late? I have no idea.

My surgeon had told me to be as active as I could after the surgery. The rods and posts would hold my spine rigid enough for the bone to fuse, and nothing I could do moving could interfere with it. I haven't found anybody else on the spine site who had this advice. Everyone else was put into a heavy corset and told not to move for several months.

I've just rethought this, and think maybe we should have gone with the Lyrica, and starting on a weekend would be good. So I"ll call and ask him to phone my pharmacy.

That's where I"m at. I'm not pleased, but people/patients who know, say this isn't that unexpected, and reallydoesn't qualify as Failed Back yet, being under a year. I don't know--it feels like a failure to me. Like it's going in the wrong direction, if any direction.

So that's the update. I just have no idea how worried to be about long-term, so I'm trying to stick in the moment.

steroids (like prednisone) and NSAIDs both
 

affect fusion negatively. Our old threads at spinal at OBT mentioned that alot.
You might want to have a serum Vit D run, to see if you need to
supplement it.