SCS - T8-11 - Mid-thoracic injury
 

Hi everyone - this is my first time on a forum of any type so if I do it wrong forgive me - I have suffered in silence for 16 yrs since a Doctor of Osteopathy placed his right hand against my right T 8-12 and placed his left hand on my right shoulder with his forearm over my mouth and twisted me nearly 180 degrees to the left until my thoracic spine was avulzed (sp?) tearing all the tiny muscles, tendons, ligaments holding that part of my spine together - I had a slight injury there which was compounded by 1000 after this treatment.

I could not breathe any deeper than my very upper lungs for 8weeks following and due to certain circumstances was not able to seek other medical care than this doc. The pain along my spine feels sometimes like a broadsword stuck through my spine and sometimes like an ice pick always with sharp breathtaking mind numbing pain. My diaphram and rib cage were displaced to the left as well so the intercostals wrapping around to my sternum are also in constant state of pain and spasm. Even a very light touch is painful. I did not receive an MRI until 2007 because no doc would believe that my pain was mid-thor and not predominately cervical or lumbar.

MRI showed herniation at c-4-5 thrust forward toward throat, 3 herniations at T 8-11 with disks thrust forward toward sternum, and s1-L5 herniation. After years of self-care, suffering in silence due to some weird belief in toughness, alternative medicine and stripping the mucosal layer from my colon from eating aspirin like candy (allergic to Motrin), I read about the brain damage chronic pain causes and finally went to a pain mgmt doc in 2007 because I recognized the symptoms of deterioration in my own cognition.

She wanted to inject me with steroids which I rejected. There is a mass about the size of my top thumb joint very very deep slightly to the right of T-8-11 which has only been articulated by 2 people who had the patience to spend 45 minutes opening the guarding muscles to get down to it. I have asked for an injection of lidocaine only into the mass just to see the result but have been refused; my belief is that a steroid will irritate the existing scar tissue rather than help.

I finally asked for pain killers in 2008 after the MRI due to the inability to concentrate during trading day and my inability to do any activity after a day of sitting in a very expensive ergonomic chair with special mouse controls to trade stocks.

I started at 5-10 mg a day of hydrocodone/tylonol and am now up to 20mg except for partcularly bad days which require 30 mgs. That scares me. I have tried Oxycontin once which made me vomit, plus I know a researcher quite well who has a patent pending on a truly tamper proof narcotic delivery system so I know too much about that class of meds to allow my dosage to go any higher. I was laid off following the market crash (my clients were all safe as I moved them to cash in 2007 when 14k Dow looked outrageous and unsustainable to me - really annoyed the old guys inclduing my boss who had death threats against them:eek:) and lost my Cobra 3 months ago.

As a result, my pain doc just dumped me because she claims a new federal law says cash paying patients can't receive pain relief even though I am the poster child for responsible use of narcotic pain meds along with diet, yoga, supplements, hot baths, heating pads, ice, anything to put off taking a pill for another hour. When meds wear off I am flat on my back but changing position every 2 minutes and unable to think straight or sleep due to pain.

Also diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1987. Neurontin made me dyslexic and unable to sign my own name with correct spelling, I was one of first to use Cymbalta specifically for pain which helped some but then the liver failure reports started. As I age it gets worse and worse and the neuroma has enlarged in size the past few years. A good day is pain level 5-6 bad day is 10+ and nearly zero activity - I am a former ballet dancer and triath competitor and this life is not what I imagined in any way. So that's my sob story. Life sucks. Pain sucks. But I do have loving people in my life or I'd have taken a ride on the bullet train by now.

So, I notice that most of the pain syndromes here are lower back, neck, legs, feet, unknown etc. Is there any one with any experience or knowledge as to whether SCS would help in my situation? Where would it be placed. I don't care about the neck and lower back/limb pain - it is the sword thru the mid-back and wrapping around my right ribs restricting breathing that has me and my brain buzzing and dancing in pain like someone electrocuted.

I am going to see if I can get approved for Medicaide and am going to go to a lawyer about SS disability since no one will hire me for anything due to drug testing requiring me to reveal the injury and physical limitations -I am automatically assumed to be an undisirable employee due to pain meds and the jerks who abuse them-the level of pain meds needed to get through a work day at this point (prob 45-50 mgs just to last from opening to closing bell and still having to lay on the floor every half hour which doesn't go over well at investment banks plus it is hard to adjust computer screens to see from the floor) would put me into a addiction risk level I am not willing to take.

Has anyone had an injury like this and tried SCS? Did it work? Will Medicaide or Medicare pay for it? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Again, this is my first time on any type of forum or social network so forgive me if I told too much or sound like a whiner - I'd rather die than be a whiner. Thank you for listening and for any input you may have.

Hi fairyqueen and welcome to NeuroTalk. Here is the link to our SCS forum...http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum118.html

You'll find a lot of information and great support there. :grouphug:

Hi,
Since your post has so much info on it I placed a copy on our Spinal forums so you don't have to repeat it all. You might get more help on the details of the spine issues there.
( I added some paragraph/spacing as many have a hard time with large blocks of text):)

We also have a Disability forum where you can find help for that part of it.

I would try to get some medicare or some sort of coverage - I just think the mass should be looked into more deeply - or do they think is it scar tissue of some sort?

Sometimes with chronic pain you do need long acting meds and not wait until the pain is beyond control.
We have a Medications forum for more info on that.

I'll just give you the main index page- you can scroll down to find those forums that interest you.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/index.php

I would try to get more consults & treatments before looking into the SCS.
SCS is more for a last resort when nothing can be done except to manage the pain.

Thank you
 

Thank you for your replies and guidance. It is very much appreciated.

The mass does not show in MRI but has grown from large pea size to bigger tham dime size in recent years. Only people to actually feel it and acknoweldge it is there are my spouse and a PT trained at Upledger Institute who I waited 4 months to get into who then moved 3 months into treatment to California with her husband's job transfer closing a 17 year PT practice - may stinkiy luck. Loads of massage therapists and PTs from the "best" schools just feel the surface and say they don't feel anything becuz they don't get how very deep this injury is and don't have the skill to work their way through the spinal erectors an inch thick or more to the mass. I believe it to be scar tissue as a space occupying lesion would have shown in MRI - I think. Again, thank you very much. Hugs back to you all.

If the mass is scar tissue -there are things that can help to dissolve/shrink it
- but is it painful?
is it in the muscle? could she tell from feeling it?

but then if it isn't actually causing a problem or a cause of pain I'd focus on the spinal stuff - as long as it isn't a missed tumor or something serious like that...

You can get a start the SSD filing online at the gov website
http://www.ssa.gov/disability/

fairyqueen
 

I am so sorry to hear about your pain and situation. I hope that everything begins to turn around for you. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Dear Fairyqueen,

That is some story. You say you are from NY, if it's Manhattan your first call should be to HSS(Hospital for Special Surgery). From your post you have some major spinal problems and need to be seen by the best. There web site is www.hss.edu. I have had many surgeries there,my husband also, really never had a problem with a thing. I don't want to bother you with our problems. I also see you go to Conneticut also, they have a satelite office in Old Greenich, it's on there web page. If you are up to more information and some of the doctors post to me anytime.

As far as insurance it's a little tricky. But there are ways around that there also.

It's nice to meet you. This is a great site for getting information and meeting some truly great people.

Gabbycakes