Considering cervical rhizotomy; seeking input/support
 

I'm a new member. I'm a 52-year-old court reporter. In 2001, I underwent ACDF at C4-5 and C5-6 and for two years had no pain and complete relief of my radicular arm symptoms. Since, I have had increasing neck pain above and below the fusion level, extending down my back to the area between my shoulder blades. I've been on Celebrex (hard to afford since I don't have health insurance) and I take Ultracet as an Rx med for pain. The pain causes migraines which I treat, if I catch it early enough, with Excedrin Migraine, and if that doesn't get it, I take Imitrex. I have 10 pillows of varying sizes, thicknesses, shapes, hardnesses, etc. on my bed, which is a Sleep Number bed that I bought also in the hopes of getting some decent rest, and I cycle thru those pillows every night. When it gets to the point that I absolutely can't sleep, I'll take 5 mg of Valium that I have hoarded carefully and sometimes that will relax my neck muscle spasms enough that I can sleep. I rub Ben Gay down my neck and between my shoulders and I have some Voltaren gel that I sparingly use sometimes. I move my head and neck in small increments constantly, trying to find positional relief - ineffective. I took a deposition last night of a doctor who is a pain specialist anesthesiologist and spoke with him after the deposition and he told me about cervical rhizotomy and the preliminary trials, etc. This sounds like an option for me. Of course, this morning I researched it on Google and found it's NOT a permanent thing. I'm considering taking my tax money and doing the trials and having the rhizotomy done. Does anyone out there have experience with cervical rhizotomy that they would share with me?

Hello Songbird!
 

Welcome to NT!

You've come to a great place for support!
I'm sorry you are dealing with this pain and I hope you can get relief very soon. There's alot of people here who know what you are going thru, so post anywhere you like.
Perhaps the Spinal forum would be a good place to start. Here's the shortcut link to get you there:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum22.html

Also, you might try using the search feature in the bar toward the top of the screen and type in "cervical rhizotomy". This will bring up posts that may be of help.

It's great that you are here!

Caring,
Rae
:grouphug:

Great to meet you!!
 

songbird,

Hello and welcome, :Wave-Hello: happy to see you have come to be with us, it a great place to be. As you can see we have a great number and caring fellow members here, welcome to a supportive and relaxing place. Have fun looking into the different forums. Our shoulders are here for support in many ways.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you. :smileypray:

Darlene :hug: