Confused, Scared Newbie Getting Ready For Radiofrequency
 

Hi everyone,
I just discovered this forum and have spent the past couple hours reading the various threads. I am a 45 y/o male that had a cervical fusion surgery 18 months ago on c4-c7. The surgery, in my opinion, was not a great success. I originally went to the neurosurgeon complaining of neck pain along with pain and numbness radiating down my right arm, which got much worse at night, making sleep a misery. An MRI found compression of the nerves and the discs in the above mentioned vertebrae sufficiently deteriorated to warrant the surgery.
Post surgery, I still have all the symptoms of pain and numbness. I have been going to a pain management doctor for the past year. Having been taking Darvocet and hydrocodone for nearly 2 years on a daily basis, I know I am addicted to the medications, but cannot make it through the day (pain-wise) without the meds. I have tried steroid injections, which did nothing. Now the doctor is going to be doing a facet rhizotomy on the c3-t1 vertebrae on Nov 1. He did a single diagnostic injection on the c7 facet joint and I did notice some short-term relief.
I was scared enough thinking about this upcoming procedure and have been browsing the net looking for any input on rhizotomy. Reading the other threads on this forum has enhanced my nervousness, for I certainly do not want to go through this ordeal to have no effect, or worse yet...to comeo ut of this with more pain than I have now.
But I am at my wits end dealing with the severe pain and desperately want to be off the narcotics.
If anyone has any input, I would greatly appreciate...

Thanks,
Lou

Hi, Lou,

I'm a cervie and a lumbie. I haven't had any surgery. I do have a couple of pieces of experience to pass on though.

I had radio frequency lesioning done on L1-L2-L3-L4-L5 (5 levels, both sides). It did absolutely nothing. I didn't even get the relief that you get from the anesthetic.

About a year after the procedure, I could just tell that the nerves had grown back. The pain got much-much worse. Felt like I had been kicked by a camel.

I then went in again and had an epidural -- that WORKED!! I knew as soon as he did the ESI that it worked. It's been over a year and a half now and it's still working.

Now -- nobody told me this -- this is just my opinion: I think when the nerves grew back after the RFL that they grew back in a place that was more accessible to the ESI. I'd had many ESIs before that never worked.

I, too, have compressed spinal cord in my neck. I take Effexor XR. I also have taken Cymbalta which works just as well. Both of these drugs stop all the pain from the compressed spinal cord in my neck. I also fibromyalgia and neuropathy in my hands and feet from a blood condition. All that pain is stopped by the Effexor XR.

I don't have any side effects from the Effexor XR. I just have to be very careful that I take all my pills on time. I've gone into MAJOR withdrawal a couple of times during the winter when I couldn't get to the pharmacy for a week.

Also, one of my doctors tried increasing the dosage from 2 Effexor XR per day to 3 per day a few months ago. It stopped working when I took it 3 times per day. And I felt like I was on speed at the higher dosage -- couldn't sleep at all.

The only pills that I take for pain relief are the Effexor XR (2 pills per day) and 800mg Ibuprofen (1 to 3 times per day).

Effexor XR and Cymbalta are chemically similar. They both work well on neuropathic pain. Talk to your doctor and see if it might be worthwhile for you to try one of these drugs.

Good luck.

Barb

Lou,

I sympathize with you completely! I had ACDF C5-7 back on June 22, 2006, and I am still having pain. Two weeks ago I had the RFA test procedure done on the facets at C3/4/5 which didn't give me any significant pain relief. I was disappointed that it did not work because now I still need to find out where the pain generator is. Two days after that test procedure, I started having pain just above my hip and down into my pelvic region, on my left side where they had done the iliac crest donor graft (on 6/22/06) and two hernia repairs (on 7/8/06). It felt just like the same hernia pain I had experienced after the ACDF surgery. I went to my General surgeon who did the repairs on the hernias and he's set me up for an RFA on the ilioinguinal nerve that passes thru all 3 surgery sites and is probably being irritated by scar tissue. A needle in the abdomen just above the hip, is scarey enough in itself, but then to know that the pain will be recreated to ensure they have the right nerve, is a thought that turns my stomach. If you are anything like myself, you want the pain gone, but at what risk? I'm just trying to keep a positive outlook and believe that the procedure will take care of the pain i'm experiencing because the alternative is to live with this pain daily, and that really is not an option in my book!

Also, I've read quite a few posts on another forum where many others have had wonderful success with pain relief for extended periods of time. Occasionally the nerves regenerate and the procedure has to be repeated, but each time it was done there was a longer period of relief.

I go to my PM doc on 10/30 to meet with him about this RFA. Keep us posted on how well it works for you.

Best wishes,

Kim